【Approaching Literary Artists】

　　He has been singing from his 20s to his 90s. His singing "Toast Song", "Beijing Song" and "Premier Zhou, Where Are You" have become the memories of countless people. He said that only by maintaining a high degree of concentration and dedication to his career can he continue to create miracles.

　　A red checkered shirt, tied in khaki trousers, wearing black frame glasses on the bridge of his nose, riding a stylish gray electric car, looked like a young man from afar, without the old bell of the old man.

　　Li Guangxi, "the evergreen tree of singing," completely subverted my imagination of Ninety. Throughout the afternoon, we sat in the hexagonal pavilion in the garden of his home. The mellow ups and downs life story of the former "Opera Prince" and his magnetic voice with metal texture drifted over my ears, exuding a quiet and gentle yet Magnificent infectious power.

　　66 years ago, Li Guangxi became popular with the first Western opera "La Traviata" in New China. Today, most of the actors in "La Traviata" have died, but he broke the curse of time with a long-lasting "Toast Song", and he still "has surpassed the Yangtze River" on the stage. Half a year ago, the Beijing Concert Hall held a concert with only one piano accompaniment on site, and no microphone was allowed. Li Guangxi sang many tracks in the original sound of the post-90s, and the audience responded enthusiastically. "I was very excited that day, as if I had returned to 66 years ago." When talking about the stage, Li Guangxi's eyes were shining and his spirits were flying.

　　Born in Tianjin in 1929, Li Guangxi loved music since childhood. When he was a child, he often watched foreign movies such as La Traviata, Gone with the Wind, and Gone with the Wind. The seeds of art were buried in his heart. At the age of 17 when his father died, he took over to work as a clerk at the Bureau of Mines, and he early took on the burden of supporting the family. However, the seed of art in his heart has been carefully guarded, waiting for the moment to break out of the ground. In those years, he used his free time to study music and sing while working, and often participated in performances. He sang almost all the theaters in Tianjin and gradually became a small amateur singer.

　　Once, the Central Opera House performed in Tianjin. Li Guangxi was amazed by the stunning opera art. He immediately applied for the Central Opera House and was admitted. Shortly after entering the Central Opera House, Li Guangxi quickly stood out and became the actor in the Western classical opera "La Traviata" and "The Good Man and the Miss". He once set a record of 30 consecutive performances without substitutions, and won the reputation of "The Prince of Opera".

　　Li Guangxi became a pillar at a young age, but he has been doing the work of No. 1 male in the theater, leading the salary of running the dragon. Some professional actors who have "drinked foreign ink" in the theater think that he is only talented and has no basic skills. After singing for two years, his artistic career will not last long. Li Guangxi was dissatisfied, and practiced his basic skills in private, strengthened theoretical study, and wanted to see how many years he could sing. He didn't expect that this song was more than 70 years old, and he continued to sing.

　　Li Guangxi's singing career is inseparable from Premier Zhou Enlai. In 1955, Li Guangxi sang "Ode to Yan'an" at the Beijing Hotel and met Premier Zhou for the first time. During the next 19 years, Li Guangxi was often transferred to major performances, many of which were "hand-picked" by Premier Zhou. "In 1964, I sang "Songhua River" in the epic "Dongfanghong" of music and dance. Premier Zhou came to the scene and helped to modify the lyrics. He suggested that the last sentence of "Father and mother, when will you get together" The word "mother" was changed to "comrade" to expand the face of the call. During the "Cultural Revolution", I was transferred to farm labor, and it was a paper order by Premier Zhou that brought me back to the stage and revived my singing career "" Li Guangxi recalled affectionately.

　　At the 1979 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, 50-year-old Li Guangxi sang "Toast Song", and then CCTV received more than 160,000 letters of praise from the audience. In 1980, less than a week after Li Guangxi launched the "Toast Song" album, he sold more than 1 million copies and won the first "Golden Record Award". This song exudes excitement and enthusiasm, singing the horn of the era of reform and opening up, known as the "first popular golden song" in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In addition to "Toasting Song", Li Guangxi has sung "Here and Meet Again", "The Sun Comes Out", "Beijing Song", "Shepherd Song", "Yan'an Song", "Red Sunshine on the Grassland", "Premier Zhou, where are you "Waves of Gulangyu Island" and "Voyage" have almost become the golden songs of the times.

　　Chinese singers will sing together, why are some people short-lived, and some have evergreen art? How far can an artist go on stage? In this regard, Li Guangxi said frankly: "The ups and downs of the literary and art circles are cruel. There are many singing talents around me, some of which have won world-class awards, but due to various reasons, some of them have been abandoned halfway, and finally they can continue to sing. It seems that the talent of the artist is important, but the acquired efforts are more important. After a person becomes famous, it is often not easy to control his thoughts and resist all kinds of desires. Only by maintaining a high degree of concentration and dedication to the cause can we continue to create miracles.

　　Today, 91-year-old Li Guangxi is still singing on the stage. In 2019 and 2020, he boarded the CCTV Spring Festival Gala for two consecutive years and sang "Me and My Motherland" and "Dear China" respectively. In addition, he has received more than 300 invitations for various selections, performances, and lectures every year, truly singing from youth to white head.

　　In order to maintain the flexibility and strength of his throat, he always appeared in front of the audience in the best condition at all times. Li Guangxi insisted on swimming, lifting dumbbells and taking a long way for several decades. He does not smoke or drink, and sings a dozen songs at home every day on time, which is equivalent to a solo concert, and the audience is only his lover Wang Ziwei.

　　In Li Guangxi's heart, singing is his life, and the stage is his paradise. Although he became a monk halfway, as long as he stood next to the spotlight on the stage, he immediately had a hundred times spirit, a magnificent heroic hair, and a transparent voice. The writer Bing Xin once wrote an inscription for Li Guangxi: go his own way and sing his own song. For decades, Li Guangxi has walked along this way and won the praise of "Evergreen Tree of Songs". Talking about the secret of becoming an "evergreen tree in the singing scene", he summed up poetically: "As soon as we reach the stage, we will sing joy and sing to the hearts of the people. Thousands of things will be turned into a great cause, and we will protect our skills.

(Author: Zhao Fenglan, of the China Culture Daily senior reporter)