Shuozhou yangko was formed in the early Qing Dynasty and evolved from kicking drum yangko and small yangko. Shuoxian County is located in the frontier fortress, and the folk customs are martial arts. Every village has a "martial arts hall" dedicated to coaching martial arts. In order to increase entertainment, martial arts practitioners wrap flowers and drums around their waists and make sounds while fighting, so that boxing gradually becomes a dance, thus producing the kick drum yangko. There is a large venue for kicking drums and yangko, with group dancing and various complicated formation changes. Dancing is good for the public. Xiaoyangge is a small musical with simple plot performed by two or three people. Mainly based on folk songs, taking people by songs is deeply loved by the masses. Every winter, "Wu Fang" who teaches drum yangko and "study room" who teaches small yangko often get together to rehearse. Next year 1 February and Xia Hou's performances in June and July often go hand in hand. Over time, the military and civilian workshops merged into one, forming the "Yangko Square". The two performance methods also infiltrated and merged with each other, and gradually formed a relatively complete performance form, singing and dancing "Tutan Yangko".

Zhao Family Records of Mayi, Shuozhou

By the time of Yongzheng, Shuozhou Yangko was very popular in the local area. According to "Zhao's family in Mayi, Shuozhou", "In the sixth year of Yongzheng, there was a man in Xifu at the age of forty, and he made a wish: when he was one year old, he sang a wish play for his daughter. Yangko opera is a shower on June 6 from time to time, and the matinee is "the tongue of a clever girl". Finally, the troupe will be invited to sing "Wish", "Six Women Send Children" and "Picking up Gold" in Grandma Temple. During the Qianlong period, the local operas in China flourished, and the yangko Shuozhou gradually grew up by picking the essence of various operas in an environment where many people competed for victory. During this period, the repertoire broke through the "three small tricks", and the whole drama appeared, and even Taiwanese dramas appeared, such as Li Nao Pu, Old and Young Exchanging Wives, Liang Shanbo Going Down the Mountain, Three Sages and Three Resurrection, etc. With the changes in the Collection, the number of transactions is also increasing. On the basis of the "Three Small Doors" of Xiao Sheng, Xiao Dan and Clown, the "Three Small Doors" of Xu Sheng, Hualien and Tsing Yi were developed. Musically, from the aspect of tone, a tone cavity system with both board cavity and tone has been formed. The performance is constantly improving, and some performances brought from the original drum-kicking yangko, such as "pulling the mountain" and "four hammers", are gradually standardized and developed into traditional opera performances. The band is divided into civil and military fields, with four people playing different instruments, which is more expressive than the early two hoops (positive and negative strings) and a flute.

A new period of development

After liberation, Shuozhou Yangko entered a new development period. In the past 30 years, many new talents and experts have emerged. In 1950s, there was Zhu Yuan (Xu Sheng) with a mellow voice and a sincere charm. In the 1960s, Bai (Gong Qingyi) was eloquent and articulate, and saw kung fu in singing and reading. Hou Qi, a rising star in the 1980s, is ugly, and his performance is unpretentious and ridiculous. Wu Sheng, Beijing Opera Blues, Wu Erhua and Wu Chou all joined this profession. In singing, he created new tunes "Yellow Cattle Tune" and "Improved Duet". In the aspect of band accompaniment, try to add pipa, erhu, cello, dulcimer and some brass music.