Dehong's male voice became popular on the Internet, "Light Rain in March" tugs at the heartstrings of netizens
We just want to be singers, not Internet
celebrities A gentle old song from many years ago is sung a cappella by men from several borderlands. 30 million
"The light rain in March is pattering and pattering non-stop. The creek in the valley is rushing, rushing, rushing..." The chorus video of the classic old song "Light Rain in March" was screened, and the beautiful harmony in the work fell into my heart like spring rain.
Many people were shocked by the magnetic bass that seemed to fall from the sky at the beginning, which aroused numerous comments and widespread attention from netizens.
Behind the music, their common love, their friendship and way of life are also desired by many young people.
Not long ago, a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily learned from an interview that this popular video song has more than 30 million views on the video account. The singers Yang Zhao, Yang Wu, He Mingjun, and Liu Yongjiang are music lovers in Yunnan Dehong. Obsessed with music for many years, he formed the Mengba Naxi Choir to share music.
During the interview, the five choir members told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter their stories of loving music and life.
Take a look at the mobile phone to the end, the explosive video without processing
Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture is located in the west of Yunnan Province. This beautiful borderland is the birthplace of Dai culture. Singing and dancing are the most popular entertainment methods for the local people. The Mengba Naxi Orchestra from the folk was born in this magical land. , loved by people.
At first, out of love for music, five like-minded friends, Yang Wu, Liu Yongjiang, Yang Zhao, He Mingjun, and Zhang Zhiqiang, put together money to set up a studio by themselves. They are old friends. They have known each other for more than 20 years. It's been seven or eight years.
They practice vocals together almost every day. After get off work, they go to the studio to play guitar, drums, singing, and piano together.
After the rehearsal, I would eat some snacks, drink tea, chat, and be very happy.
"Some of our songs were recorded directly in the studio. It was very relaxing while drinking tea. We have been doing music like this for many years," said Liu Yongjiang.
Liu Yongjiang has a cheerful personality and is regarded as the "talker" of the orchestra.
Recently, many people have asked him the same question: How was "Light Rain in March" filmed?
He said frankly: "The recording process of this song was very smooth. The weather was nice that day, so I caught a 'strong man' and went to the beautiful Peacock Lake to take a look at the end with a mobile phone. After shooting, I uploaded it to the video account without any post-processing. I The clothes I wore that day were very casual, and Brother Yang Wu thought that I was too badly dressed, so he took off his coat. So when the video came out, many people wondered that my clothes were the same as his pants..." Liu Yongjiang laughed Hearty, but he also thinks that it may be this very natural shooting state that is more attractive, "Everyone may think 'you can shoot like this, I can also shoot like this', it is very down-to-earth. The song is very resonant, so just like it."
Friends who are familiar with them have asked Liu Yongjiang, how do you feel that you are on fire "suddenly"?
In his opinion, it is not accidental at all, "At least in terms of music training, we have been playing music, singing together, and recording videos together for more than two years, and several members were originally very good local solo performers. Almost all of them have won provincial gold awards. For example, Yang Wu, He Mingjun, and Zhang Zhiqiang are vocal performers of the National Cultural Work Troupe, and Yang Zhao is a music teacher at Mangshi No. 1 Middle School."
They have been rehearsing for the song "Light Rain in March" for a long time, and they wanted to record it all the time, because everyone has their own work, and they have been neglected.
Some time ago, due to the epidemic, many performances were stopped, and everyone thought, "It's better to sing this song and shoot it."
So we concentrated on rehearsing for more than a week, and after an appointment for a weekend, we went to the Peacock Lake to shoot.
Together, collide with the inner things
Liu Yongjiang told the Beiqing Daily reporter that several of their friends have always been active on the stage, and their life and work are always "mixed" together.
In his memory, when there was no epidemic, the entire Dehong performance activities, cultural and entertainment were very rich. They had to keep rehearsing and performing non-stop. "Every year, the performances of national festivals are busy enough." He is full of nostalgia. He said: "For example, from the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Jingpo people's Munao Zongge Festival, the Achang people's Aluwoluo Festival in March, and the Dai people's water-splashing festival in April. It is connected with the Flower Watering Festival of the De'ang people, and the broad season of the Lisu people. Every year, there are at least 80 performances in the countryside. It can be said that the performances are performed all year round. If there is no epidemic, I should be in Husa now, mixing rice noodles, selling millet wine, dancing Woluo dance, and blowing the wind. son……"
After the epidemic performance was suspended, they decided to sing the classic songs they had rehearsed before.
Music director Yang Zhao first wrote the harmony according to everyone's voice. After writing the voice, everyone rehearsed together. If he felt uncomfortable, he could change it.
"A song has to go through countless scrutiny and revision, and it is not recorded until everyone is satisfied. For example, in the song "Light Rain in March", in addition to the subwoofer, several others have treble, alto, treble, alto They are all very bright. The first version sounds like it will pull people to a high place, and it feels like they can't fall when they float up. Later, we arranged the bass part to come out separately in the first part. Other groups generally don't do this. It broke a routine. Many people think that our voice is very warm, in fact, this is the feeling we want to bring to the majority of friends. When we are together, we feel that our hearts have collided." Liu Yongjiang said.
After the art test, I went home and saw that there was not a single tree in that mountain.
Music can heal heartbreak, bring hope, and bring confidence.
This sentence is vividly reflected in the five members of the Mengbanasi Orchestra.
Liu Yongjiang was born in a cottage and grew up under the influence of traditional national culture.
When he was a child, at the most traditional and grand Munao Zongge Festival every year, the music tunes that combined national characteristics and sacrificial lyrics were still fresh in his memory no matter how long it was: "There are also songs that I can hear every morning when I wake up. Women sang rice tunes while pounding rice. Although the living conditions were very difficult at that time, every family liked to sing and dance, and it was very happy and lively to get together.”
Because he likes music, Liu Yongjiang, who originally taught at the school, went to Yunnan Academy of Arts to major in vocal music. In 2005, he also went to the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing to study. After that, he followed the song and dance troupe to perform in various places.
In 2006, Liu Yongjiang was admitted to Dehong Media Group and became a national language announcer.
Yang Wu, who has a brilliant bass, is the soul of the Mengbanasi Orchestra.
He and Liu Yongjiang have known each other for more than 20 years, and he is a fellow from a county.
Yang Wu's voice is full of magnetism. His parents supported the frontier in the 1950s and stayed in Yunnan. His father likes musical instruments and his mother likes to watch movies. "When she was a child, she often sang songs from the movies "Liu Sanjie" and "Five Golden Flowers". Coax us to sleep." Yang Wu was especially grateful, and his parents gave him a unique voice.
He was an introvert during his teenage years and didn't like to talk much.
Once, a good friend of his Jingpo ethnic group invited him to take the singing and dancing troupe test with him. He was supposed to accompany his friend to take the test. When he got there, a teacher listened to his speech very thick and naive, "like a cow barking", and asked him to sing song.
At that time, Yang Wu could only sing a song "Little Grass", so he sang it honestly.
As a result, the teacher of the song and dance troupe was very surprised, so he went to the house to do his parents' work and encouraged Yang Wu to enroll in the Yunnan Provincial Art School at that time.
16-year-old Yang Wu spent a week with his teacher learning a song "Kangding Love Song". It was the first time he traveled to Kunming to take the exam, but he passed the exam unexpectedly.
He had never seen the piano, cello and violin before, but he opened his eyes in college. After three years of professional training in vocal music, he laid a solid foundation and also learned the piano.
"I am especially grateful to my professional teacher, Mr. Ding. Now he is in his 80s and is in good spirits. As long as I go to Kunming, I will go to see him." Soon after graduation, Yang Wu was transferred to the Yunnan Song and Dance Troupe. become a professional actor.
For He Mingjun, music not only changed his life path, but also a good medicine for him to reconcile with himself.
He Mingjun was born in a very remote small mountain village. There is only one road leading to the outside of the village. He has been herding cattle and sheep since he was a child, "living a life of slash-and-burn farming".
Because of the missing index finger, he said that he was very unconfident since he was a child: "All the photos of my childhood, my hands are hidden."
In He Mingjun's childhood memories, the only joy is listening to his father sing: "He especially likes to sing. Many of the tunes he sings are now forgotten, but I think it's very nice and precious."
He Mingjun said that when he went to the county to repeat his studies after failing the first high school entrance examination, in a music class, the music teacher asked them to enjoy and try out the song "Shandandan Blossoms Red and Bright".
After that class, the music teacher who had heard him sing specially came to him and told him that there was a high school specializing in music students, and he felt that his voice was good, so he might as well try it.
He Mingjun still misses the young music teacher who just graduated. "After he taught me for more than a month, I accidentally got into high school with the first place in my major." He still remembers that on the day of the exam, he saw a lot of The classmates were all holding various musical instruments to take the test, and the teacher advised him not to be impatient.
"I think it's funny when I think about it now. I'm a lyrical tenor on the high side. When I was taking the major test, I sang "Shandan Danhuahongyanyan". Because our school only has electronic pianos, I don't know what a piano is. The teacher auditioned. Just rap and sing High C (high C) when I was singing, and after singing he asked me if I could raise two more keys, and I didn’t understand it, so I said it was almost the same, and I sang it down.”
He Mingjun is the only one in his hometown who takes the road of music.
He is most grateful to his father: "At that time, all the relatives in the family opposed my participation in the art examination, because I had to pay more than 10,000 yuan for tuition, and it was useless to study. Only my father supported me to go. My father said, he I especially liked Wang Hongwei and Yan Weiwen. He said, 'Go, you have to learn from them.'" He Mingjun later found out that his father had sold all the trees on the mountain in his family, and he could not raise enough tuition fees, so he borrowed some money to raise money. Qi said, "I accompanied my parents to chop wood since I was a child, and I have a lot of affection for every tree on that mountain. But when I came home after the exam, there was not a single tree in that mountain, and my tears flowed at that time. Out."
After entering the university after the art test, He Mingjun studied hard, working as a tutor while studying to share the pressure of his family.
He was particularly fortunate to meet a very responsible teacher who not only taught him his major carefully, but also made him progress rapidly. After graduation, he also took him to perform and play in competitions, "I participated in five competitions in Yunnan Province, from the Excellence Award, The third prize, the second prize, and the first prize have all been won in ten years, and playing the game makes people grow very fast.”
Zhang Zhiqiang was the only member of the orchestra who was not able to participate in the video recording of "Little Rain in March". He was supposed to appear in the second part, but because he had to participate in the anti-epidemic work, he missed the filming that day.
Seeing that his little friend was on fire, he was also very happy: "In the end, we should all work together."
Zhang Zhiqiang is a native of Tengchong. In his childhood memories, he went up the mountain to herd cattle, carry pig grass, and chop wood since he was a child. He never had a real music teacher in elementary school, and he never saw what a piano looked like before he went to high school.
Because he was good at drawing in middle school, he was admitted to Southwest Forestry University to study environmental art design.
In college, the good voice and good sense of music inherited from his mother began to appear. He began to participate in the school singing competition, but he always advanced to the first place in the preliminary round, and then lost in the final because "he can neither dress up, nor No stage experience."
So he tried his best to ask teachers, seniors, and sisters for advice. In his junior year, he finally won the championship of the school's top ten singers, and then he won the third prize in the inter-provincial competition for popular singing.
In order to exercise himself, he was greatly encouraged to go out to perform and be a bar singer to accumulate practical experience.
Initially, the mic was entry-level, but it was a lot of fun
In 1996, Yang Wu resolutely returned from the Provincial Song and Dance Troupe to the Dehong Prefecture Song and Dance Troupe, which surprised many friends because he was preparing to go to Beijing for further studies.
Yang Wuze explained that it was because he saw the changes in his hometown: "It's good to contribute to the cultural cause of my hometown. In addition, I have four older sisters in my family, and my parents are getting older, so it is convenient for me to take care of them."
Soon after Yang Wu returned to Dehong, he discovered the talents of He Mingjun and Zhang Zhiqiang and became their Bole.
At that time, He Mingjun had already been admitted to a school in Kunming to become a teacher, but he chose to return to his hometown to work for the elderly at home.
After returning, because his enlightenment teacher and Yang Wu were good friends, and he caught up with the Dehong State Song and Dance Troupe who was recruiting actors, he was successfully admitted to the troupe.
At that time, Zhang Zhiqiang, who saw the recruitment information when he was performing outside, returned to Dehong with the idea of giving it a try in order to realize his dream of singing.
During the interview, he met Yang Wu, and after a song, Yang Wu and the teachers present appreciated it, and he was finally recruited into the group.
What impresses him most is the help of Yang Wu and other teachers in the group: "Whether it is basic music theory or vocal music methods, they have been tirelessly teaching me." The first prize and the Golden Bell Award of the Yunnan Song Competition.
Just like the "Friends" in reality, the five members of the Mengbanasi Orchestra make music and live together, "Our appreciation level and resonance point are all on the same line, so we will tolerate each other, and everyone can give opinions. , and then change it, sing it, and practice it again.” Yang Zhao, the music director who is mainly responsible for writing harmony, arranging, and recording, has the deepest understanding of this.
He came from a musical background. He once played a band in college. After graduation, he also taught and played a band.
When the studio was first formed, Yang Zhao spent every day arranging and making music there.
At that time, although the equipment was very rudimentary, "the microphone is entry-level for a few hundred dollars", but it did not prevent them from investing and enjoying themselves.
At first, they recorded a lot of ethnic songs, but they didn't spread much. Yang Zhao reflected more than once: "In the past, we would wear ethnic costumes and sing frontier songs seriously. Because everyone thinks that singing frontier songs can better represent Dehong, It can also reflect the characteristics of ethnic minorities. But I gradually feel that if friends outside do not understand this ethnic group, they will not resonate much. Maybe they should sing those classic songs that are more acceptable to the public and resonate more, and wait for everyone If you know the person who sings, you will also know Dehong, and then you will appreciate Dehong again."
Now, since their cover songs such as "Light Rain in March", "Story of Time" and "Legend" have become popular, the scenery of Peacock Lake and Shwedagon Pagoda in their hometown of Dehong has also attracted more attention, which makes them happy also proud.
Recently, many companies took the initiative to provide operations and packaging for the Mengba Naxi Orchestra, but five friends declined in unison. In their opinion, when they formed the orchestra, they positioned themselves as a singer, not a singer. Internet celebrity.
"We are all professional singers, and our original intention is to spread the classic old songs and spread the truth, goodness and beauty of music." As for the future, Yang Zhao said frankly: "We still want to insist on rewriting the singing method, such as using the feeling of bel canto, and adding The last popular feeling, I think this is the most grounded, and if you follow this path, you may go further and longer."
Text/Photo courtesy of our reporter Li Zhe/A Jiang