Folk art Yongcheng Chuida drums new beat

During every major festival in Yongcheng town, Qijiang district of Chongqing, Yongcheng Chuida (or Suona Art) is performed.

Yongcheng Chuida, a much-liked and best-received treasure of folk art, has been listed in the national-level intangible cultural heritage since 2008.

Liujiaban, or Liu's Family Band, the most famous local band of Yongcheng Chuida, can perform folk music with seven kinds of over one-meter-long suonas, and percussion instruments such as Sichuan cymbal, Tang drum, Bamboo drum and horse gong.

Like many other Chinese traditional folk art forms, fewer young people are attracted to Yongcheng Chuida and willing to learn it.

As the representative inheritor of this folk art and Liujiaban's 18th inheritor, 79-year-old Liu Daorong used to worry about successor.

But to Liu's relief, supported by the local government, he established a Yongcheng Chuida school in 2011.

Later, Liu's daughter Liu Chunlan returned home and established a modern performance company of Yongcheng Chuida. Liu's nephew Liu Chonghui started to innovate the traditional performance adding lyrics and instruments like gong and Sichuan drum to the original songs.

Now, Qijiang has more than 400 Yongcheng Chuida music bands with over 2,000 members and nearly 1,000 songs.