RED BOAT TROUPES AND CANTONESE ... - University of Georgia

can immediately switch to sing a response passage of a young man in more masculine ping hau.
The performer is usually a female singer who can also sing in the low register. There are
different schools of singing styles. A well- known performer may have impersonators who try to
imitate his/her singing style and timbre. Very often the younger, or less well-known performer
may establish the stage-name by adding sun, (meaning new), or siu, (meaning small) to the name
of a famous performer s/he imitates. For instance, Sun Ma Tsia (New Little Ma) was stage name
of an impersonator who sang in the style of the famous opera singer Ma Sze Tsang of the 1920s
and 1930s. “New Little Ma” became famous and just as successful as Ma Sze Tsang.
The Orchestra
The Cantonese opera orchestra accompanies the singing in heterophony. The
accompanying melody played by the orchestra is similar to the voice part, often lagging slightly
behind the singing voice. Sometimes, gaa fa (adding flowers) ornamentation is employed. Only
one person in the orchestra plays the main melodic instrument. The position of the
instrumentalist is known as tau gaa. The tau gaa is either a violinist or a goh hu player. Very
often, the person can play both instruments.
The orchestra is usually quite small. Very often, fewer than 10 people are in the
ensemble, but larger ensembles do exist. The pre-Westernized instruments in an opera
performance included er hu (a 2- stringed bowed instrument), yanqin (a hammered dulcimer),
pipa (a pear shaped plucking instrument), dizi (flutes) in different ranges, sor lap (a double reed
instrument with an origin in the Middle East), wood blocks, cymbals, gongs, clappers, bells, and
drums. Liu Man Xing (1898-1981) used a metal string to replace a silk string in er hu (er means
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