Tianjin Allegro (天津快板)
This is a follow-up of my previous posts about the street musicians in Shenzhen and specifically in and around Honghu Park.
In my previous blog here and here I noticed that Spring brought many musicians out of there Winter hibernation to the streets.
Since then I have, almost on a daily basis, seen (and photographed) street musicians on our afternoon walk!
Of all the street Musicians this was the most fascinating encounter.
When he became aware of me, he put all his attention to me. At the time, I thought that is just because I am a foreigner, but later I actually learned that this is part of his act.
Xiaoyi mentioned to me that it is called Tianjin Allegro. Back home I had to investigate this interesting performance.
He is a Tianjin Allegro artist!
Tianjin allegro is a kind of folk art that was "invented" in the 1950s by amateur actors of the Tianjin province in China.
It is actually a storytelling act performed on the rhythm of a musical instrument of which the most popular is the bamboo hand clappers.
These hand clappers are apparently very difficult to master and one can buy "entry-level" clappers that consist of only two pieces of bamboo per hand, al the way to 6 pieces of bamboo per hand. The clapping is controlled with the fingers.
To the right is an example of these bamboo clappers of the online Alibaba store where you may buy your own set!
So, the attention I got was actually to tell me a story. The sound created by these hand clappers is in fact very melodic. It is definitely not a skill that is mastered overnight!
Once I left, he stopped for a while, but I was not too far away when I again heard the melodic clapping start. Turning around I saw that his next audience was a grandma with her grandson.
