(Essential questions) Chen Xiaofang: Why does "Chinese country music" show its charm overseas?

　　China News Service, Hefei, September 21st, title: Why does "Chinese country music" show its charm overseas?

　　——Interview with Chen Xiaofang, a performing artist of Huangmei Opera in the United States

　　China News Agency reporter Wu Lan Zhao Qiang

　　Huangmei Opera is one of the five major Chinese opera types. In the 1950s, it was gradually recognized by the public from folk tunes for its graceful, simple and sweet performances.

With the popularity of "The Son-in-law" and "The Match of the Immortal", Huangmei Opera has risen from the rural grass stage to the elegant hall and has become a treasure in the treasure house of Chinese drama. It is praised by foreign friends as "China" because of its "good-sounding", "easy to understand" and "easy to learn". Country music" has become a bridge for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.

　　Chen Xiaofang, a performing artist of Huangmei opera in the United States and director of the North American Xiaofang Huangmei Art Troupe, recently said in an exclusive interview with China News Service that "Chinese country music" or Western country music is the externalization of emotions. Can give people strength.

This is exactly the commonality of Eastern and Western music.

Photo courtesy of Chen Xiaofang

The summary of the interview record is as follows:

China News Service: Huangmei Opera is hailed as "Chinese country music" by foreign audiences. How did you inherit and develop Huangmei Opera overseas?

Chen Xiaofang:

As one of China's five major opera types, Huangmei Opera has been inherited and promoted by Yan Fengying, Wang Shaofang's masters and generations of Huangmei people.

　　In 2015, the North American Xiaofang Huangmei Opera Troupe was formally registered and established in the New Jersey State Government of the United States.

This is the only overseas representative non-profit Huangmei Opera art performance group that "takes Chinese culture as the cornerstone and Huangmei Opera as the key to open the door to the artistic exchanges of all ethnic groups."

　　In the six years since its establishment, the art troupe has organized various theatrical performances and cultural exchange activities, opened art training classes, trained more than 200 students, took root in the local community, and actively spread the art of Huangmei Opera and promote the excellent traditional Chinese culture.

China News Agency reporter: Today, Huangmei Opera has "taken root" in many places overseas, and overseas Huangmei Opera Troupe has emerged as the times require.

Would you please share some of your performance experience in North America, and introduce why "Chinese country music" is showing its charm overseas?

Chen

Xiaofang

: The

North American Xiaofang Huangmei Art Troupe has been committed to cross-cultural and artistic exchanges between China and the United States for many years. It actively spreads the extensive and profound traditional Chinese culture among the people of all ethnic groups in the United States. It is loved by the local people and has a certain degree of social recognition.

　　In June 2019, the North American Xiaofang Huangmei Art Troupe was invited by the Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center of New Jersey to participate in the "East Asian Art Festival" held by the center, to show the local multi-ethnic people the Huangmei Opera and some unique customs of Chinese national culture. .

　　Through interactive performances, we learned that many overseas Chinese opera fans and Chinese culture lovers are very interested in the culture of the far east, hoping to learn about China with a history of 5,000 years of civilization in various ways including music.

　　As an art group that spreads Chinese culture active in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the North American Xiaofang Huangmei Art Troupe hosted and hosted eight large-scale special theatrical performances with the theme of "Yellow Plum Blossoms, National Charm and Fragrant". Invite more than 100 public welfare cultural activities for local government cultural institutions, century-old universities, museums, and libraries to introduce Chinese culture and art to local audiences.

In December 2020, the "Yellow Plum Blossoms, Fragrant Puffs in the Clouds" cross-border cloud welcoming New Year cultural evening performance organized by the Art Troupe was recognized by the Chinese Consulate General in New York, the Anhui Overseas Chinese Federation, and audiences at home and abroad.

Data map: Huangmei Opera's classic play "The Son-in-law" was performed in Toronto, Canada.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Yu Ruidong

China News Agency reporter: Nowadays, more and more overseas Chinese and foreigners love Huangmei Opera.

How do you think promoting Huangmei Opera to go overseas can better attract overseas audiences?

Chen Xiaofang:

On-site teaching is an essential part of attracting audiences.

In order to expand the overseas influence of Huangmei Opera, we have been teaching classes in New Jersey, North America for many years. During the new crown pneumonia epidemic, we used online teaching to train Huangmei Opera friends from all over the world.

　　In addition, we actively explore and innovate, perfectly blending Chinese costumes and Huang Mei's singing voice, forming a unique cross-art form, breaking language barriers, and introducing familiar traditional Chinese stories to the English-speaking community with music and dance.

　　In 2019, Xiaofang Huangmei Art Troupe was invited to the Haverford College, a university with a century-old cultural heritage in Philadelphia, to hold art lectures and special performances of Huangmei Opera, which was the first time in history.

Some of the non-Chinese students there speak Chinese very well and are also very interested in Chinese culture. Some even went to Beijing to study.

After listening to the lecture, some students put on costumes and put on makeup to learn the singing and body of Huangmei Opera together, and appreciate the charm of Huangmei Opera culture on the spot.

　　In this new year, at the invitation of the organizer, the New Jersey State Council of Culture and History, Xiaofang Huangmei Art Troupe interacted with local American audiences online to open a cloud-based cross-cultural exchange.

The new field and virtual scene are extremely challenging for us.

Data map: Huang Mei's drama photos.

Photo by Zhang Qiang

China News Agency reporter: What are the "sameness" and "differents" between "Chinese country music" Huangmei Opera and Western country music?

Chen Xiaofang:

Country music is a kind of popular music with American national characteristics. It has simple tunes, steady rhythm, narrative, strong rustic flavor, cordial and enthusiasm without losing popular elements.

　　Huangmei Opera has formed a unique aesthetic characteristic in the historical development.

It pays attention to artistic conception and charm, emphasizes "the harmony between man and nature", and pursues the harmonious unity of music and nature, which is in line with the aesthetic pursuit of Chinese painting and calligraphy.

The traditional music of Huangmei Opera is simple and unpretentious, fresh and beautiful, with a strong earthy fragrance.

　　Music is a common language of mankind, and its magic is that it can cross national boundaries, races, time and space, and enter everyone's heart.

The music of different countries contains different regional and cultural characteristics, but they can convey human emotions, improve will, cultivate temperament, and inspire spirit.

Whether it is Huangmei Opera or Western country music, it is the externalization of emotions.

Excellent music works give people power in a unique way, which is the commonality of Eastern and Western music.

China News Service: Which Huangmei Opera promotion activities will you hold next?

Chen Xiaofang:

In December last year, taking into account the

COVID-

19 pandemic at that time, we held the "Yellow Plum Blossoms, Fragrance Drifting in the Clouds" Cross-Border Cloud New Year Cultural Evening, which was a success.

At the moment, the international epidemic situation is worrying, and some online cultural communication activities are booming, which encourages us to hold large-scale online promotion activities of Chinese traditional culture.

　　This year's Mid-Autumn Festival, the Art Troupe was invited to select and send works to participate in the Cloud Celebration Mid-Autumn Festival held by the Chinese Consulate General in New York.

　　In addition, recently, we launched the first international Huangmei Opera selection in 2021.

The event was sponsored by the North American Xiaofang Huangmei Art Troupe, and was supported by the Anhui Federation of Overseas Chinese, the Anhui Overseas Chinese Merchants Association, Anhui Huangmei Theatre, Anhui Zaifen Huangmei Culture and Art Co., Ltd., Hubei Huangmei Theatre, and many Huangmei Opera artists. Help.

China News Agency reporter: Huangmei blooms, and fragrance floats "in the clouds."

How does Internet communication affect the overseas promotion of Huangmei Opera?

Chen Xiaofang:

Internet communication is a good way.

Holding the first international Huangmei Opera selection event is my dream of inheriting and promoting the art of Huangmei Opera overseas for many years.

Now that the Internet provides such an opportunity, we will strive to expand the way of expression and dissemination of Chinese opera, and strive to explore the space for the development of Chinese traditional culture.

My original intention was to allow more people overseas to understand traditional Chinese culture in different ways and to understand the immortal artistic charm of Huangmei Opera.

(over)

About the interviewee:

　　Chen Xiaofang, a performing artist of Huangmei Opera in the United States, head of the North American Xiaofang Huangmei Art Troupe.

He has starred in "The Match of Heavenly Immortals", "The Son-in-law", etc., and has the reputation of "Little Yan Fengying" and the second generation of "Seven Fairies".

He was awarded the title of "Top Ten Best Actors" in the first Huangmei Opera Actors Broadcasting Competition in China and the National Huangmei Opera TV Grand Prix.

In 2015, he founded XiaofangHuangmei Arts Academy (XiaofangHuangmei Arts Academy) in North America.