In the sunrise, the flowers are more red than the fire, and in spring the river is as green as blue.
In the vast and varied poems and legends, Jiangnan seems to be a paradise on earth with four distinct seasons and beautiful scenery.
The fascinating Wuyue blessed land has given birth to Jiangnan folk songs of various forms and rich themes, infiltrating the social environment, customs and aesthetic tastes of Wuyue area.
Whether it’s the Han Dynasty Xianghe Song of “Jiangnan Can Harvest Lotus”, or the love song ditty expressing love and thoughts, or the labor chant of picking tea and fishing, Jiangnan folk songs still have a unique poetic temperament despite the changes in time and space and artistic changes. And cultural symbols, in a diverse and unified way, inherit the tradition of "Wu Song", integrate Jiangnan opera rap, folk songs, folk songs and dances, silk and bamboo orchestra and other musical styles, oral and heart, passed down from generation to generation, vivid records thousands of times The rich and colorful life style and emotional world of Jiangnan people over the years.
Modern and modern musicians are rooted in Jiangnan culture, absorb regional traditional arts, are inclusive, and learn from others' strengths. Purple bamboo tunes, etc., the continuous ancient rhythm, the blending and changing, show the vigorous vitality of Jiangnan folk songs, depict the endless farming and happy and colorful life of the people in Jiangnan, and express the praise and love for their hometown, as if reflecting a picture " The beautiful picture of "Four Seasons Jiangnan", which is born in spring, long in summer, harvested in autumn, and hidden in winter, conveys the eternal charm of Jiangnan music and art, sound characteristics and sincere emotions.
【Sound of Spring】
The origin of "Tea Picking Dance"
"The stream is clear and long, and the two sides of the stream are beautiful. My brother, I plant rice in the upper and lower farms; my sister, I am busy picking tea in the east and west mountains..." Jiangnan folk song "Tea Picking Dance" is pleasant to the ears and beautiful in sound and picture.
The mist-shrouded tea mountains, the clear and translucent streams, the tea-picking girls in red and green, what a charming early spring scenery and labor scene...
Beginning of Spring, the first of the twenty-four solar terms.
After the beginning of spring, everything recovers, all kinds of herbs return to buds, and Hangzhou Longjing spring tea sprouts green.
In the Tang Dynasty, tea farmers dressed up and went up the mountain, one drummed, and everyone shouted in unison: "Tea germinates... Tea germinates..." The sound of drums and cries echoed across the mountain, and the scene was spectacular.
According to legend, Emperor Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River six times and went to Longjing four times to pick tea leaves and leave behind many tea poems.
According to the "West Lake Chronicles" record: "Emperor Gao traveled southward, sipped his tea and was happy with it, and when he was asked by the sky, there were eighteen trees in Wang's Fangyuan, and he was awarded the seal." Also known as: "In front of Hugong Temple. , the land is less than one mu, and the annual tea production is less than one kilogram, which is above the tribute. Si is the first and second member of the Longjing family, and it is the supreme product." Longjing has also become a famous tourist attraction.
In the spring of 1957, Premier Zhou Enlai accompanied foreign guests to Meijiawu Village in Hangzhou for the first time to browse the scenery of the tea village, visit the tea production, and chat with tea farmers. The scenery is good, but it lacks a popular song to praise."
Composer Zhou Dafeng was deeply inspired by the Prime Minister's words and made up his mind to compose a tea song.
In the spring of 1958, Zhou Dafeng went to Wenzhou Taishun Dongxi Township with the No. 2 Yue Opera Troupe for a tour. When he went up to the mountain to pick tea with the villagers, he was inspired by the scenery. Can he use the traditional opera form?
Opera is an ancient traditional art form in my country. It is like a twin sister to folk songs. The performance skills and themes of the works have been integrated and developed to this day.
In particular, the introduction of opera elements into traditional national operas and narrative songs greatly enhances the dramatic effect and expressive power of songs.
For example, in the opera "Jiang Jie", the "tight hit and slow singing" plate style and the unison of triple tremolo are used to strongly contrast the scene of the north wind whistling and the image of the protagonist walking alone, achieving an immersive and gripping artistic appeal.
Yue Opera is known as the most widely circulated local opera, and it is also the most representative opera in Zhejiang Province.
That night, he lit the lights and fought at night, and wrote "Tea Picking Dance" in one breath.
The music is based on the Yue Opera "Chi Diao" singing style with distinctive Jiangnan tonal colors, and integrates the "tan spring" structure of quyi and the "stacked board" style with many words and few words, and uses the music of Jiangnan Sizhu to accompany the limbs.
When actors sing, they use Yue Opera's articulation method of articulation. The former nasal and flat tongue are mainly used to highlight the articulation characteristics of the prefix. The vocals are in the front, the singing is coherent, the timbre is sweet and crisp, and the lyrics are catchy. Make full use of it. It shows the technical characteristics of Yue Opera singing, and is very rich in traditional characteristics.
The second day after the creation, Zhou Dafeng went to Dongxi Primary School to ask students to learn to sing "Tea Picking Dance".
Unexpectedly, after a class, it was very popular among the children, and they danced while singing and imitating the action of picking tea.
After repeated revisions, reprocessing and recording, "Tea Picking Dance" quickly became popular across the country and became popular in urban and rural areas, becoming one of the most well-known and most popular Jiangnan folk songs. Selected as "Excellent Textbook in Asia-Pacific Style".
On the evening of September 4, 2016, the Hangzhou G20 Summit "Most Memories of Hangzhou" was a live performance of West Lake. Among the lakes and mountains, the beautiful melody of tea songs, 300 tea-picking women moved lightly and rhythmically on the lake, interpreting the blending dialogue between Chinese charm and world culture .
【Summer Rhyme】
Fragrant Jasmine
"A good jasmine flower, a good jasmine flower, the garden is full of flowers, and the fragrance is not as fragrant as it..." When I heard this Jiangsu folk song "Jasmine Flower", it seemed like a fragrant "Jiangnan Jasmine Picture" appeared: Tender branches, snow-white petals, golden buds.
A gust of summer wind came, like a young girl dancing in the wind, graceful and graceful, exuding a sweet fragrance, filling the entire courtyard.
Jasmine is a unique traditional oriental aromatic plant and one of the top ten fragrant flowers in my country.
As early as the Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, the ancients had records of introducing jasmine, which was widely used in tea, medicinal, beauty and ornamental purposes.
Jasmine is pure and elegant, and its fragrance is refined. Snow, come to promote An Yi Xia Liang", etc., expressing the ancients' love and praise for jasmine.
"Jasmine" is a typical work of Jiangnan minor.
As a unique piece of Chinese folk songs, Jiangnan minor is integrated into time tunes and slang songs. Its style is simple and natural, its meaning is subtle and agile, and its singing is popular and friendly, such as "Meng Jiangnu Tune", "Die Broken Bridge Tune", "Yangliuqing Tune" and "Embroidered Pouch Tune". Through the oral creation, circulation and processing of the working people, many tune versions with different styles have been evolved, reflecting the pure and sincere thoughts and feelings of the working people and their desire for a simple life.
In the winter of 1942, He Fang, a 14-year-old literary warrior, came to perform at the foot of Liujin Niushan Mountain in Nanjing with the Huainan Popular Theater Troupe of the New Fourth Army, and paid a visit to a local playing and singing artist.
Afterwards, the singing and playing artist performed the popular song "Flower Tune" from the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
He Fang was immediately fascinated by the melody of "Flower Tune", and asked an artist to teach the song on the spot, and wrote down the score line by line.
More than 10 years later, the front-line song and dance troupe selected by the General Political Department came to Beijing to perform. He Fang, who has become a military musician, remembered this memorable "Flower Tunes" and began to make a professional artistic adaptation.
On the one hand, He Fang rewrote the three kinds of flowers, jasmine, honeysuckle, and rose described in the three lyrics, into jasmine.
Changed "full garden with flowers and plants" to "full garden with flowers blooming", and "people who look at flowers will scold me" to "people who look at flowers are afraid of scolding me" to make the artistic image of the song more vivid.
In terms of music, the tune of "Jasmine Flower" is soft and beautiful, kind and tactful, with a strong Jiangnan minor charm.
The structure of the song is a typical pentatonic tone. The layout of "starting, inheriting, turning, and closing" is regular, and the melody lines are tactful. The syncopated rhythm and sixteenth notes are mostly used. The rhythm is light and compact, and the melody is smooth and full of changes.
The melody of the two short sentences in the opening sentence starts from "horn" and falls on "sign", with symmetrical collocation, overlapping lyrics, and abundant emotion.
The second sentence adopts the traditional creation method of "fish bites its tail", which naturally inherits the first sentence, and leads to new music thoughts, which run through the steps and jumps around the so sound.
The third phrase smoothly succeeds the second phrase, gradually showing the meaning of "turn". From the perspective of melody, it can be divided into six bars, and falls on the "sign" in the repeated melody.
The melody of the closing sentence is supplemented by nine-degree jumping into a high octave singing, and the melodious and melodious dragging tone gives people a feeling of unfinished and lingering voices, showing the subtle and delicate emotions of Jiangnan women who love flowers and cherish flowers, and the simple and pure beautiful heart. .
"Jasmine" blooms, and the fragrance spreads all over the world.
The beautiful melody of "Jasmine" played successively in major events such as the handover ceremony of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, the closing ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games, the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games and other major events and foreign affairs etiquette. It is known as "China's second national anthem" and has become a musical symbol of Chinese culture.
【Autumn Harvest】
People in the water village pick red rhizomes
"The two of us are rowing a boat, picking red lings, picking red lings. The lake is clear, and the two shadows are like two-cornered lings..." Whenever the folk song "Pickling Red Lings" plays, it is like wandering in the shadows of waves and water. Life in the Jiangnan Water Village: egrets playing on the lake, small fish jumping out of the water chestnut leaves, squeezing the water chestnut leaves covering the lake, and sister Ling who rescued her husband in front of her, not admiring Ronghua, returning to the water town, rafting and picking water chestnuts legend, coveted...
In autumn, it is the harvest season of crisp, tender and sweet water chestnuts, and picking water chestnuts has become a daily and unforgettable memory for farmers in Jiangnan water towns.
Water chestnut is the traditional food of the people in the south of the Yangtze River. It is also known as the "Eight Immortals of Water" in the south of the Yangtze River with "lotus root, water chestnuts, water chestnuts, water chestnuts, cress, chicken head rice, and wild rice".
According to the "Compendium of Materia Medica", water chestnut can "invigorate the spleen and stomach, strengthen the thigh and knee, relieve internal heat, strengthen strength and replenish qi", and has many medicinal and nutritional functions.
In farm life, the water chestnut is not as relaxing and romantic as the songs sing. The water chestnut is not a boat, but a wooden barrel or a wooden basin, put a small bench in the basin, sit cross-legged at the front, and then slowly Paddle into the river pond covered by the leaves of red ling, paddling with your hands, left or right, or drifting forward.
After rowing for a long time, it will cause back pain and even "capsule" if you are not careful.
However, there are also frightened shrimps and fishes, jumping from the water chestnut leaves into the basin, attracting surprises and laughter from everyone.
This well-known song "Picking Hongling" first originated in Gaochun, Jiangsu.
Gaochun has a long history and culture and rich folk cultural resources. Since ancient times, there has been the custom of "going out for folk songs and entering the door", and it is known as the rich mining area of national folk culture.
According to the record in "Book of Jin·Lezhi": "Wu Song Miscellaneous, and it came out of the south of the Yangtze River. Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it has been slightly expanded."
Gaochun folk songs belong to the "Wu Song" system, which integrates the characteristics of Wu's Han folk songs and folk songs, and infiltrates the rice farming and boat culture of Jiangnan water villages, forming a unique, diverse and diverse Gaochun folk song.
There are nine varieties including field songs, pastoral songs, labor chants, ritual songs, political songs, love songs, spring songs, children’s songs, and historical legend songs; A variety of genres, such as love songs, car and water chants, ramming chants, pulling boat chants, and dragon boat chants, present colorful folk culture and express the love and longing for life.
The rhythm of the song is smooth, lively and cheerful, with a pentatonic melody as the main melody, with mi, la, and do as the backbone tones, sometimes euphemistically undulating, sometimes high-pitched and soothing, flowing smoothly and beautifully.
In the 1950s, Liu Yun and Xia Dan sang the duet version of "Cai Hong Ling" in the Hong Kong music scene.
In 1966, Shanghai-based song writer Yao Min and Jiangsu-based lyricist Chen Dieyi re-arranged "Cai Hong Ling" as a more popular duet version for couples. The 14-year-old Teresa Teng sang this song "Cai Hong Ling" and won the competition and became famous since then. Rise and set foot on the professional music scene.
Contemporary songwriters' creation and adaptation of Chinese folk songs such as "Cai Hongling" have boosted the development of Chinese popular music. A series of popular songs with folk elements have spread all over the country, resounded in the Chinese music circle, and deeply influenced generations of Chinese people.
【Winter Joy】
Haina Baichuan Silk Bamboo Tone
"A piece of purple bamboo is straight to the seedling, and I will give it to my brother to make a pipe flute. The flute is facing the mouth, the mouth is facing the flute, and the flute blows flowers. Ask your brother, if this pipe is good, ask your brother, this pipe Xiao Er is good..." In the traditional customs of the Spring Festival in the south of the Yangtze River, there is always the elegant melody of silk and bamboo, rendering the jubilation of the festival, diluting the cold of winter, and raising the strong Jiangnan characteristics.
Jiangnan Sizhu, elegant and soft, fresh in style, soft and melodious in tune, has a unique charm and cultural charm, and is a treasure of Chinese national music culture.
The "soft, beautiful, waxy" sound of silk and bamboo exudes the elegant charm of the water town, which is deeply loved by the people of Jiangnan.
The origin of silk and bamboo music has a long history and a long history.
From the "Music of Yuse" in the pre-Qin Dynasty, the harmony song of "Silk and Bamboo is more harmonious" in the two Han Dynasties, and the "Danqu" of "Qing Shang Le" in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Si-Bamboo Music has gradually become an important form of performance in the folk and the court.
In the Song Dynasty, Sizhu Music had special performance venues such as market wells and tile houses, equipped with bands of "fine music" and "small musical instruments", and the musical style also changed to the characteristics of "clear, small, fine and elegant".
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Sizhu Music maintained the fresh and elegant style of the Song Dynasty, absorbed the "fine music", "silk bamboo" and "clear music" in folk customs, and integrated percussion instruments to become the form of accompaniment music.
In the 1910s, silk and bamboo music gradually took Shanghai as the center, and many performance groups emerged, such as "Civilization and Elegant Collection", "Qingping Club" and "Juntian Club".
"Silk and Bamboo Music" was subsequently called "National Music", and the class club that played "National Music" was called the National Music Club.
After that, it was gradually collectively referred to as "Jiangnan Sizhu", and the performance organization was called "Silk Bamboo Class".
Such as Shanghai Jiangnan Sizhu "Qing Guest" and "Silk Bamboo Class".
Today, there are still many music clubs active in urban and rural areas in the south of the Yangtze River. They have regular musicians, meet and rehearse regularly, inherit the ancient art of silk and bamboo, and enrich the cultural life of the city.
In 2006, Taicang City, Jiangsu Province and Shanghai Municipality jointly applied for Jiangnan Sizhu, which was successfully included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
Jiangnan Sizhu has a rich repertoire. The traditional eight pieces are "Happy Song", "Yunqing", "Lao Sanliu", "Slow Sanliu", "Zhonghua Liuban", "Slow Liuban", "Sihe Ruyi" and "Walking Street".
In addition, there are also pieces such as "Partridge Flying", "Liu Qingniang", "High Mountains and Flowing Water", "Neon Clothes Song" and "Upside Down Paddle".
Musician Nie Er once changed "Falling Eight Boards" to "Dancing of the Golden Snake", which quickly swept the country.
"Variation of the New Water Order", adapted and created by Liu Tianhua, has long since become a famous song in the music circle.
In traditional techniques, there are techniques such as "you are complicated and I am simple, you are high and you are low, adding flowers and variations, blocking and giving way, and improvising", which contain profound social and cultural connotations such as mutual humility and coordination and innovation between people, which transmits it. The people of Jiangnan have the humanistic and cultural heritage of "inclusiveness and inclusiveness".
One side of soil and water nourishes one side's culture.
For thousands of years, the industrious and intelligent labor of Jiangnan people, rich cultural accumulation, and unique folk customs are the source of folk music and the source of music creation.
The rhythm and mood of each song are like beautiful flowers, blooming dazzlingly in the world vocal art, exuding a long-lasting and intoxicating fragrance, telling the colorful and beautiful Jiangnan.
Time goes by, classics are eternal, let us remember the melody that gave us incomparably warm and beautiful memories, pay tribute to the time, and bless our homeland.
(The author is Dong Wei, associate professor of Hangzhou Normal University)