三棒鼓传承人符兴兵：方寸之间，挥洒刀光 | The Triple-Dagger Drummer

“小时候，红包拴在房梁上，要甩刀打下来才算（自己的）奖金”，符兴兵一边甩着尖刀一边说。这门耍刀舞棒的绝技和上锣鼓和唱词，就成了一种传统土家曲艺：三棒鼓。

"When I was a kid, the red envelopes with money were tied to the roof's beam. We had to get them by throwing daggers at the ropes," Fu Xingbing recalled while tossing and catching his daggers. The combination of dagger juggling, drumming and singing forms the traditional folk art of Tujia ethnic group called Triple-Dagger Drumming.

三棒鼓源于唐代的“三杖鼓”。表演者脖子上挂一只扁鼓，手抡三根木杖，在将其中一根木杖抛至空中的同时用另两根击鼓。天灾不断时，民众背起乐器逃荒。为了吸引观众，表演者以刀代棒，将这门技艺演变成刀光凌厉的三棒鼓，广泛流传于现在的重庆、湖南及湖北一带。后来，它传到中欧及东南亚数十个国家，表演者被称为“中国的吉普赛人”。

Triple-Dagger Drumming originated during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). Hanging a flat drum on the neck, the performer would juggle three sticks and beat the drum with two sticks. People usually escaped during famines with their musical instruments. In order to draw a crowd, they used daggers instead of wooden drumsticks, which gradually evolved into the current art form that is popular in today's Chongqing Municipality, Hunan and Hubei provinces. Later when it was introduced in Central Europe and Southeast Asia, the performers were regarded as "Chinese Gypsies."

符兴兵就是符家三棒鼓的第五代传人。鼓声一起，唱词即出，锣钹相和。符兴兵抛出三柄尖刀，刀刃在空中闪着凛凛银光。但他毫不畏惧，随手将刀子接住又顺势拋起。时不时，他还做出更高难度的动作，让刀子从腿下或身后飞出，令观者目不暇接、心惊胆战。

Fu Xingbing is the fifth-generation inheritor of the Fu-style Tripple-Dagger Drumming. When the drum is hit, Fu starts to sing with the gong and the cymbal. He tosses three sharp daggers in turns and catches them without any hesitation. Sometimes he plays thrilling tricks, such as tossing from under the leg or from the back, leaving the audience stunned in awe.

少时，符兴兵的父亲会在农闲间走家串户表演三棒鼓。符兴兵在跟着父亲走江湖的时候喜欢上了这门技艺，便想子承父业。他从八九岁开始练习，从石头和棒子扔起，直到进阶至扔刀子。

When Fu was young, his father would take him to perform in the neighborhood during farmers' slack seasons. Fu fell in love with the craft as a little boy and decided to learn the skills. He started practicing when he was around eight years old with stones and sticks, before he was capable of juggling daggers. 

面对刀锋，“胆量是关键，越怕它的时候越扔不好”，符兴兵说。而且，练刀讲究手感，三天不练就会退化，要把刀带在自己身边时常练习。砍柴的时候，他拿镰刀来练；菜刀，杀猪刀等，也都被他当作道具。

While playing with daggers, "Of course it takes guts. The more you fear, the more you fail," said Fu. Muscle memory is essential in practice. It fades. That's why Fu always carries his daggers to practice now and then. He also practices with sickles, kitchen knives, and cleavers.

在这个过程中，手被割伤是常态。甚至“刚开始练的那段时间，连指甲都不用自己剪”。但有父亲的鼓励和自己的坚持，他还是接过了传承的重担。

Getting cut is normal. "In the beginning, I didn't have to trim my nails," said Fu. With his father's encouragement and his own perseverance, he grew to shoulder the responsibility of passing on the cultural heritage. 

十八岁后，符兴兵开始单独表演。现在，他父亲那一辈，会这项技艺的人均已凋零。目前，传承三棒鼓全部技艺的人在全国范围内仅有四个。得知这项绝活马上要失传，他更下决心要让它流传下去。除去尖刀和镰刀，他还发掘出新的表演形式，比如抛菜刀甚至斧头。“菜刀最难耍”，他说，“功夫再高最怕菜刀”。菜刀前后的重量不一，表演的时候又要蒙住眼睛，就只有凭感觉来抛接。

Fu became a solo performer at the age of 18. As most of the masters of his father's generation have passed away, there are only four people in the country who possess the complete knowledge of Triple-Dagger Drumming. Realizing that the unique folk art might be lost, he is determined to pass it on. Apart from daggers and sickles, he has invented new tricks with kitchen knives and axes. "Kitchen knives are the most difficult," he said. "Even the best performers can't play them well all the time." That's because the kitchen knife's center of gravity is different, causing troubles for the blindfolded performer who has to rely on his instincts.

胆大、专注，且肯干，这是三棒鼓带给符兴兵的人生信条，也是他为了传承技艺而收徒的准则。如今，他仍保持着这样的信念，一边创新技术，一边训练着精挑细选的爱徒，让三棒鼓这门绝技得以继续发扬下去。

Courage, concentration, and consistency are the credo that Fu learned from Triple-Dagger Drumming, and also the virtues he seeks in his would-be pupils. Holding fast to the faith, he is devoted to creating new techniques and training his pupil, in order to pass on the art of Triple-Dagger Drumming to the next generations. 

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