Shaanxi

Shaanxi

' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...

 is a province of China that has a long history of folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

. The Shaanxi Music and Dance Troupe has toured across the world; there is also a Shaanxi Provincial Song and Dance Ensemble that performs historical music from the Tang Dynasty

Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...

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Qinqiang

Qinqiang

Qinqiang or Luantan is the representative folk Chinese opera of the northwest Province of Shaanxi, China, where it was called Qin thousands of years ago. Its melodies were originated from the rural areas of ancient Shaanxi and Gansu...

 is the most well-known opera style from Shaanxi, said to date back to the Qin

Qin

-Chinese dynasties and states:*Qin , a state of China during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty*Qin Dynasty , which followed Qin's unification of China in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC*Da Qin , Roman Empire, 202 BC to AD 220...

 emperor during the Tang dynasty. Folk dances from Shaanxi include the tichangzi, Ansai waist drum dance and the grand yangko.

Shaanxi's folk songs include "Lan Huahua" (Blue Flower), and come in more than twenty styles, including most commonly xiaodiao and xintianyou

Xintianyou

Xintianyou is a folk music style from Shaanxi province. The name literally means rambling in the sky. The style was originally sung and developed by porters carrying goods to far off regions. One of the most famous songs in this style is lan huahua...

 (short, improvised pastoral songs). A folk singer from the province, He Yutang, was discovered Li Yarong, also a singer and sculptor and journalist; Yarong made a music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 around one of Yutang's songs, and the result won second place in the Music Video Awards. Wang Xiangrong is the most widely-known singer of Shaanxi folk music.

More recently,modern Chinese rock

Chinese rock

Chinese Rock , occasionally referred as Mandorock or Cantorock depending on the language of the song in question, is commonly used to describe a wide variety of forms of rock and roll music, in connection with the rock bands...

 emerged from the Northwest Wind

Northwest Wind

Northwest Wind is a style of music which emerged on the popular music scene in mainland China from the northwestern or xibei portion of China specifically from the Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. The style is a western-style fast tempo, strong beat and extremely aggressive bass lines that is...

style folk song of Shaanxi.