Shanxi is called "the ocean of folk songs". Almost every county in Shanxi 100 has its own folk songs. According to statistics, more than 20,000 folk songs have been collected, with strong local colors everywhere. Dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period, tang style and Harmony in The Book of Songs are mostly Shanxi folk songs, and the famous Storytelling and Getan are also Shanxi folk songs. For thousands of years, the depression, fullness of emotion, enthusiasm of love and sincerity of singing in Shanxi folk songs are beyond the reach of folk songs in any part of the country.
Folk songs originated from folk songs. As the name implies, folk songs refer to short songs that can be sung at any time in Shan Ye, fields, cliffs and yards. In Shanxi, the most famous folk song is Hequ folk song. The most popular Shanxi folk song "Walking West" was originally because of Hequ, so we chose Hequ as the first stop to visit the hometown of Shanxi folk songs.
The origin of Hequ folk songs
On April 28th, he set out from Taiyuan for Hequ.
I can't relax sitting in the car. As an interviewer of "Thick Shanxi", I deeply realized the weight of the word "thick" for the first time. At noon that day, we stopped in Xinzhou City. With the help of Shanxi Daily Xinzhou Branch, I found Mr. Wu, Secretary General of Xinzhou Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Mr. Wu has studied Hequ folk songs for many years and published many monographs related to folk songs and operas.
I said to Mr. Wu, you treat me as a student, please give me a lesson.
Hequ, located in the Yellow River Delta in the northwest of Shanxi, looks at Shaanxi in the west and connects with the Han nationality area in Inner Mongolia in the north. Before liberation, farmers living in this area rushed to Xikou (Hequ farmers called Hetao area in Inner Mongolia "Xikou") to sell cheap labor and maintain a minimum living because of the concentrated land and successive droughts. Their main means of livelihood is to "win over" and "beat up" the landlords outside the west entrance, followed by going down to the coal kiln or "running the river" (referring to the life of boatmen). It's usually spring and autumn, and some people have lived in other places for many years. Locals call this kind of life "westward" or "outward".
Due to a large number of farmers' "westward travel", the economic and cultural life of northwest Shanxi and western Inner Mongolia has been generally exchanged, and the folk songs of Mongolian and Han nationalities have also influenced each other. Han folk songs circulating in the west of Inner Mongolia are popular not only in Suiyuan, but also in northwest Shanxi, and even spread to Shaanxi and Gansu, becoming the same folk songs of the Han people in this vast area (such folk songs are similar in genre, but different in lyrics and tunes). In Hequ, people call it "folk songs".
Qu Shan is a folk song that everyone can sing in Hequ area. It is no exaggeration to say that "every family has a new score of string songs, and children and elders sing children's songs." It is said that the best singer can "sing for three days and three nights without being heavy", which shows his wealth. For many years, in order to eliminate fatigue and express their feelings, the working people have used their intelligence and wisdom in the process of working life to create this kind of improvisational singing form from singing to singing. Distributed in all towns and villages in the county. Men, women and children have been singing. They can sing whatever they want, and the lyrics come from their mouths.
The musical form of folk songs is that four bars constitute a phrase and eight bars constitute a piece of music; The last four sections are mostly repetitions or slight changes of the first four sections. The ending of the upper phrase usually falls on the tonic and the subordinate, and the ending of the lower phrase falls on the tonic.
The lyrics of folk songs are based on seven-character poems, but they are not strictly bound by seven-character poems, and can expand and contract freely with the changes of emotion and language. It can be a neat seven-sentence style of "peeling a fish from a puddle tree", a symmetrical eight-sentence style of "finding a good man to fly around the sky and a mud boy to travel to hell", or a more free eleven-sentence style of "peeling a layer of mud after a landscape". Or it can become a sentence pattern of "big elm tree, two forks, who will control our buttocks". With the change of language, the rhythm is constantly changing. A short folk song, because the singer's life experience is different, the change and speed of emotions are also different. You can sing different contents and reflect different life emotions with different objects.
In the singing style of tunes, the tunes of folk songs are loud, rough and bold, with wide range and free rhythm. The tune of Hequ folk songs has three main characteristics: First, folk songs use a lot of methods of combining true and false sounds, which makes them form a unique singing method different from other genres of folk songs. For example, when farmers shake off the whip with hoes and sheep, they shout a voice, and when the high notes fail to rise, they use falsetto, which reflects the refreshing spirit of people's open mind. Second, folk songs use a lot of jumping melodies, from the lowest to the highest notes can span seven or eight degrees or even eleven or twelve degrees, forming a sense of rhythm with ups and downs, lively jumping and enthusiasm. Third, the tune adopts the method of long tone. The so-called long note means that it can be extended freely in the high-pitched area and the midrange area, and it can be sung as long as you want. When you are happy, you can extend it indefinitely according to your own strength and express the excitement of farmers when they sing.
Mr. Wu said that due to the evolution of the times, folk songs have also developed greatly. For example, the contrast between the upper and lower sentences is more appropriate and vivid than in the past, and the artistic conception of the words is more sweet and far-reaching, resulting in a large number of excellent folk songs reflecting different times. But the most intoxicating is Shan Ye's original songs. Adapted folk songs often add modern flavor, remove those vulgar languages, but lose the original charm of folk songs.
Through Mr. Wu's introduction, I learned that in the past 30 years, 300 or 400 well-known peasant singers have emerged in Hequ and other places, and a large number of professional singers renowned in the whole province and even the whole country have been sent abroad.
Baode's three brothers and sisters are famous for their singing.
Referring to the famous Xinzhou folk singer, Mr. Wu recommended three brothers and sisters, Yang Zhongqing, Yang Aizhen and Yang Zhongyi from Baode County. On the night of my stay in Xinzhou, I met Ms. Yang Aizhen who had just returned from Beijing. Yang Aizhen, 5 1 year-old, is currently studying at China Conservatory of Music at her own expense. She hopes to learn more nutrition from the theory and return to Shanxi to train new folk songs.
Yang Aizhen looks much younger than her age. Her voice is intoxicating when she speaks. As soon as I saw her, I couldn't help asking her to sing a folk song. She smiled, opened her mouth and sang:
Who is that man in Liang Geliang, Dubai?
That's my deadly second sister.
Ten kinds of grass grow on that mountain.
Ten things, I think my sister is good at nine things.
Brother, I'm on the dam beam
Sister, you are in that ditch.
Watch your brother.
Sister, just wave.
According to Yang Aizhen, all brothers and sisters in the family love singing, but they are deeply influenced by their parents, who are famous mountain singers in the village. Mother, in particular, has a clear and sweet voice like a mountain spring. Children grew up in an atmosphere full of songs. Life was hard at that time. Aizhen's grandfather and uncle have passed by, but the singing at home has never stopped. In the most difficult days, beautiful folk songs make children forget all their sufferings. When I grew up, my brother Zhongqing sang all his life in the ocean of folk songs. Ai Zhen went to folk music and decided to become a professional singer in folk singing. My younger brother, Zhong Yi, embarked on the road of opera, and now he is the head of the Bangzi Troupe on Xinzhou North Road.
Finally, Yang Aizhen said to me, "You should interview my eldest brother. He is obsessed with folk songs. It seems that he was born for folk songs. " Yang Aizhen's words touched me very much. The growth of Yang's three brothers and sisters is inseparable from the warm singing family, and this spirit is also a spiritual model for Hequ and farmers to strive for self-improvement. "Hequ Bao Dezhou, ten years and nine years, men go outside and women pick bitter vegetables." In those miserable years, it was these folk songs handed down from generation to generation that helped people to resolve their worries and move towards a better tomorrow.
The next morning, we set off from Xinzhou and went to Baode County.
Baode County is located in the southwest of Hequ County, facing Fugu County of Shaanxi Province across the Yellow River. Across the Yellow River Bridge, people on both sides of the strait are like a family, speaking the same dialect, singing the same folk songs and leaning against the same mother river.
It is in this cross-strait border area that Xintianyou in northern Shaanxi and Shanxi folk songs blend and promote each other, thus forming many folk songs with the same characteristics. In the past, singing a song together in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia must be all the rage. Until now, the folk songs growing in this adjacent place have become the spiritual wealth of the people in the three places.
Yang Zhongqing, who grew up here, is 62 years old this year, but no matter how you look at him, he is not over 50 years old. Folk songs made Yang Zhongqing live a young and pure life. As soon as he mentioned his family, Yang Zhongqing began to talk about it: My father is a one-on-one vendor, picking a pole, loading two baskets of local products from Baode, carrying them all the way to Hequ, and then picking up the local products from Hequ. In this way, on the way back and forth from Baode to Hequ, my father brought Hequ folk songs back to Baode. My father never goes dumb all the way, but sings a song at every step. Besides having a good voice, my mother is also very energetic. While working, she composes and sings. When I was a child, I always made trouble when my mother was spinning. My mother opened her mouth and sang:
Mom wants to turn.
You want to confuse people (dialect, meaning to make trouble)
Our lives can't end.
My Yang Zhongqing
Under the influence of parents, 6-year-old Yang Zhongqing can speak Allegro and sing folk songs at church meetings. When he grew up, he used his holidays to earn money to buy books on erhu, violin and music every year. In order to improve his accompaniment skills, he keeps his sister-in-law out of the gate every day and lets her sing and accompany him. If she doesn't sing, she is not allowed to eat in the hospital.
From 65438 to 0986, Yang Zhongqing was transferred to the county cultural center as the deputy director of the cultural center. He has participated in many cultural performances in the whole country, North China and various provinces and regions, and won 60 awards. He became a famous folk singer in the province and was praised as "the king of Yellow River folk songs" by folk circles.
Following Yang Zhongqing, we came to the Baode County Cultural Center where he worked. The two-story cultural center is very simple, and his office, which is less than 10 square meter, is even more gloomy and cramped. A small desk, a dim light and a worn-out small tape recorder are all folk dreams carried by Yang Zhongqing. He took out a dozen simple tapes he had recorded from the cupboard and put them in the tape recorder. A melodious song flew out, and Yang Zhongqing showed a gratified smile. On the wall opposite me, there is a big photo of JASON ZHANG Zhongqing going to Japan and performing in the Great Hall of the People. However, this lonely scene in front of me makes it difficult for me to connect with Yang Zhongqing, the famous folk king.
I lit the lamp as soon as grandma fell down.
Look at the lights. I'll check the lights.
Sleep with your arms bent and your face facing the wall.
A string of lovesick tears fell on the pillow.
In "Sad Songs", Yang Zhongqing said that modern people look down on folk songs, and people think that folk songs are out of date, but I think that although folk songs are very short, some of them are only two sentences, but the connotation is very deep, and a few words go straight to people's hearts. What worries me most is that folk songs can't be passed down in the future. Maybe a few years later, my name Yang Zhongqing is just a symbol printed on the information book. My greatest wish is to leave the folk songs I have sung all my life in the world. I don't want to take these songs with me.
Yang Zhongqing really loves folk songs as her sister said. When he went to bed, he kept singing and fell asleep. In his sleep, he woke up singing.
How many people like such folk songs in today's era?
Hequ people living in songs
The symbol of entering Hequ is the high tower with pen inserted at the edge of the city and the statue of Bai Pu, the master of Yuanqu, which shows the profound accumulation of Hequ history and culture to the world.
In the light rain, our car stopped at the famous Xikou Gudu in Hequ. Looking up, the white floodplain extends far away in the misty rain and fog, and the mountains at the end are looming. This is the west entrance of The Three Ravens, where the weeping Yellow River water, my sister's sad tears and my brother's heartbreaking blood flow out of the shocking Walking West Exit.
Suddenly, a clear song sounded in my ear, seeking fame. In a small pavilion not far away, three Hequ women sang happily against the rain. Stepping on the song, we came to them. Faced with the "gaze" of several strangers, they not only didn't feel uneasy, but sang louder. Sing some songs. One of them asked us: You are not Hequ people, are you? Where are you from? Are you traveling here?
It is said that we are journalists from Taiyuan, specializing in covering Hequ folk songs. They are very happy, telling us bits and pieces of Hequ folk songs, such as how many kinds of tracks, how many singers and how many people still love folk songs.
When they finished in a hurry, they threw us a difficult problem: after we told you everything, you must return something. Sing us a song.
Singing? We looked at each other. Watching us push each other off, they were surprised: what's so hard about it? Why are you Taiyuan people so coy? If you don't sing, we won't let you go.
We had to sing a song together. They hummed with us and clapped their hands to accompany them. Sing a song, and when we wave goodbye, we feel reluctant to part.
This is the simplicity and enthusiasm of Hequ people, and their character is full of true feelings as sung in the song. Among these three cheerful, enthusiastic and charming Hequ women, the youngest is 55 years old. Amazingly, in the wonderful folk songs, Hequ people not only live young, but also are full of passion. I found the most beautiful scenery here in Hequ Woman.
In the land of Hequ, dolls as young as a few years old, old people as old as a dragon bell, men and women are singing all the time. It is said that there are several well-known family troupes in Hequ, and several generations from one family form a concert to tour between villages and towns, which not only greatly enriches the leisure life of farmers, but also greatly enhances the circulation function of Hequ folk songs.
Why do Hequ people have such a good voice? Speaking of this topic, the locals all laughed: the Yellow River raises people. Some people say: eat sour rice.
Sour rice, also known as sour porridge, is the most authentic characteristic rice of Hequ. There is little rain in Hequ area, and the soil can't be cultivated before May, so only one kind of grain called Mimi can be planted. This kind of grain has strong drought resistance and short growth period, but it becomes bitter and astringent after being put into the mouth, and it can only be delicious if it is stirred with acid. Specifically, after the millet is cooked, put it into a vat, pour in sauerkraut water, cover it, and take it out after soaking the rice grains in sauerkraut water for fermentation. Hequ people used to get up every morning, eat a bowl of sour porridge and drink a bowl of sour soup, so they didn't have to drink water when they worked in the fields that day. Sour porridge has played a role in clearing away lung heat and nourishing good voice for Hequ people. Until now, when foreigners come to Hequ, they have to taste a bowl of sour rice before they feel that they have really been to Hequ. Serve a bowl of sour rice and dig a mouthful of sour rice in your mouth. It's sour enough to suck your nose. After swallowing it, you feel a sweet smell overflowing your teeth, and then a cold and slippery feeling lingers in your throat for a long time. It's really delicious.
As soon as I entered Hequ County, I heard authentic Hequ folk songs and ate a bowl of sour rice. Suddenly I felt that I had completely integrated into Hequ, a sea full of profound folk culture.
"Westward" is not a tragedy.
Hequ people have sung for generations, but the most regrettable thing is that there are not many records left. In the process of my interview, I can ask very little information about Hequ folk songs. The most authoritative information is the book Hequ Folk Songs published by China Institute of Music of the Central Conservatory of Music. Xiao Xing, the author of this book and former editor-in-chief of Ci Kan, went to Hequ to collect folk songs in 1953, and carefully compiled this classic monograph on Hequ folk songs. This book records in detail the most primitive Hequ folk songs collected and recorded by Comrade Xiaoxing from farmers during his three-month life in Hequ. In the hands of Hequ people, this monograph was printed again and again. After half a century of wind and rain, it is still the most basic material for studying Hequ folk songs.
Folk songs first existed in the fields of Shan Ye. Word of mouth is the only record of Hequ folk songs. It is an arduous and arduous task to comprehensively summarize and collect folk songs. In Hequ, I heard that there is a retired museum cadre named Han Yunde. He spent nearly 40 years collecting Hequ folk songs. He traveled to every village in Hequ, visited the oldest folk artists and recorded and collected the most primitive folk songs in detail with his pen. People say that no one in Hequ can collect more songs than Han Yunde. Han Yunde devoted his whole life to writing a complete set of Hequ folk songs.
With the help of the Propaganda Department of Hequ County Committee, I found Zhang Xianliang, a retired cadre of the County Cultural Center. Zhang Lao is 72 years old this year. Fifty years ago, he accompanied Comrade Xiaoxing to collect the wind in Hequ. Since then, he has done a lot of work to protect and publicize Hequ folk songs.
In the conversation with Mr. Zhang, I learned that the "Westward Crossing" was painful, but the real "Westward Crossing" in history once brought prosperous commercial trade to Hequ, and actually played a positive role in promoting its economic development.
Hequ is located at the junction of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Mongolia provinces, and is connected to Hetao Plain in the north. Hequ area has been dry for years, but the Hetao Plain is fertile and beautiful, so since the Tang Dynasty, Hequ people have gone out of the west to make a living in the Hetao Plain. During the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, in order to stabilize the border defense and prevent the combination of Han and Mongolia, the imperial court issued a decree to set up a black border area with a width of 15 and a length of more than 2,000 miles along the Yellow River from the Great Wall to Pianguan, and it was absolutely forbidden for people between Han and Mongolia to communicate.
Until the reign of Kangxi, the leader of Ordos tribe wrote a letter to Kangxi, clearly indicating that it was justified and excusable, and asked the court to let the people of the two places communicate with each other. Therefore, in the thirty-sixth year of Kangxi, the court ordered the approval of Xikou Gudu in Hequ as the main channel for public communication between Han and Mongolian people. For Hequ, "westward advance" is not the beginning of tragedy, but a good beginning for Mongolian and Chinese people to exchange needed goods.
"Westward Advance" flourished in the early years of the Republic of China, and the economic, cultural and transportation development of Hequ reached its peak. According to Hequ County Records, in the 16th year of Guangxu, there were 10 firms in Hequ, and a large number of foreign businessmen poured in. According to the statistics of local chamber of commerce in the Republic of China 10, there were 147 sugar, noodle, tofu and soy sauce shops in Hequ county at that time, and there were only 195 oil mills, goods shops and hotels. The hotels in the city are full, the streets are crowded, and the noise of buying and selling is endless. The "Top Ten Rich Names" of the local rich also emerged at this time, with personal assets exceeding 654.38 million silver coins. "Old Records of Hequ" contains the poem "A year is like a stray warbler, a department store is like a thin horse camel", which shows the bustling scene of merchants gathering at that time.
In this case, cultural exchanges have also begun to flourish. Because Chinese and Mongolian are different, songs have become a tool for communication between the two peoples. During this period, the mountaineering tune in Inner Mongolia spread to Hequ, and many folk artists made a living by singing. Their singing activities have made great contributions to the spread of folk songs.
After the Republic of China 16 (1937), due to the Japanese aggression, warlords scuffled and bandits were rampant, and the westward journey became very dangerous and difficult, and many people died tragically on the way. After 1940, Inner Mongolia became a Kuomintang-ruled area, and the two sides even cut off contact. At that time, many families suffered the tragedy that their loved ones were separated and could not meet each other. In the prosperous period of Hequ Opera, the play "Walking to the West" is a small comedy, playing tricks and singing happily, while the modern version of "Walking to the West" presents a sad and graceful scene.
Jia Deyi, King of Hequ Folk Songs
When interviewing Hequ folk song artists, I can't help but mention one person. His name is Jia Deyi, and he used to be the director of the county cultural bureau and the director of the cultural center. This cultural hero, known as "the king of Hequ folk songs", devoted all his life energy and painstaking efforts to the folk songs.
Jia Deyi, who comes from a peasant family, not only sings well, but also keeps playing related instruments. 1963, Jia Deyi was admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music by himself, but the county leaders forced him to stay and let him engage in mass cultural work. Since then, Lao Jia has never left Hequ and engaged in mass cultural work for more than 40 years.
Do you regret staying in Hequ after asking Lao Jia? He silently shook his head: "I don't regret nothing." I like folk songs in my hometown very much. I also wanted to carry forward the folk songs of Hequ. " Lao Jia was not discouraged after losing the opportunity to enter colleges and universities. While working, I went down to the grassroots and started a hard creative career. It is his ultimate ideal to make bumps shine like gold. He traveled all over the Yellow River with the troupe, covering northern Shaanxi, northern Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia. He not only mastered a large number of folk songs, but also made a detailed investigation on the origin and evolution of folk songs, the belief in heaven and the climbing tune, which mastered the first-hand information for the study of folk songs in northwest Shanxi.
Hequ native folk songs have attracted countless Chinese and foreign film and television crews. As early as the 1970s, Lao Jia cooperated with the famous director Xie Jin. Since then, it has become a common practice for all film and television crews coming to Hequ to look for Lao Jia. In order to assist the troupe in filming, Lao Jia served as outreach, actor, audience, field service, deputy director and on-site dispatcher. He proudly said, "I have worked with many famous directors and fought with many famous actors."
After years of practical experience and painstaking research, Lao Jia has published six or seven monographs on folk songs, most of which were published at his own expense. When funds are insufficient, he borrows money and borrows money. I asked him: You are so famous, how can you have no money?
He said: How can folk singers be like those singers and movie stars? We don't have much money. I have organized many performances, never for making money, but because of my love. I posted thousands of dollars for a performance, and the effect was not bad. I'm already very happy.
Because of the shortage of local funds, Lao Jia's performance team uses the cheapest actors, which is also the main reason for the low quality and low grade of the program. Lao Jia said: He is from Yu Tao, Ansai, northern Shaanxi. That song is really boring, but people sing a song for 3,000 yuan. How can I afford it?
40 years of service and the title of associate professor did not bring any benefits to Lao Jia. A 18 square meter hut during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty was his home. He carries water to cook by himself. It is both a kitchen and a bedroom. No study, no copywriting. The wall is covered with manuscripts and materials accumulated by him for most of his life. For the sake of artistic career, he has not only been down and out, but also lost the warmth of his family. Twenty years ago, his wife said to him, "I want a family and a husband, but you just bury yourself in research." It costs nothing to write a few boxes of paper. If you don't think about how to make money, don't live any more. "
Facing his wife's ultimatum, Lao Jia still couldn't give up his love for folk songs. Finally, he had to leave his wife three boxes of manuscripts, two boxes of books and several musical instruments.
After decades of hard work and struggle, Lao Jia is still satisfied with spiritual enjoyment. He has no time to care about the simplicity and backwardness of life. At present, what he hopes and longs most is to have more energy and more abundant funds to build a first-class performance team for Hequ, and at the same time publish his own monographs on Hequ folk songs.
The day of interviewing Jia Deyi happened to be the most tense period for him to organize the rehearsal of "Walking West". I heard that the provincial radio station will record programs for them. At the performance site, I met a little-known singer Xin. The 67-year-old Xin is an out-and-out farmer. His natural good voice won him seven awards in the national folk song competition. Lao Jia and Lao Xin have cooperated for 40 years, and their love for folk songs has established deep feelings between them. Every performance organized by Lao Jia is called by Lao Xin and never pays. In the performance, Lao Xin, who is nearly seventy years old, will always be the first hero. I asked the new Li Sheng: Are there any successors in this generation? He shook his head and saidno. Then I asked, How many years can you sing? He said with a smile, it's no problem to sing for another three years.
Sing for three more years! What about three years later? Who can sing Hequ folk songs after Jia Deyi, New Li Sheng and Yang Zhongqing?
I found that there are no effective disciples or descendants behind these folk song kings. The reason, they told me, is that modern children no longer like folk songs, and children with good voice conditions enter formal music institutions for further study; Secondly, the spread of folk songs still stays in the most traditional and primitive word of mouth, and is not included in the standardized and systematic publicity and education; In addition, without strong financial support, the future survival of folk songs will be in jeopardy.
I want to kiss my soft wrist,
Pick up chopsticks, but don't move the bowl.
I want to kiss my heart,
Boil jiaozi and put a pot of medicinal eggs "target = _ blankgt yam eggs.
I miss you, I miss you, I really miss you.
My brother hasn't eaten a grain of rice for three days.
Fennel roll is on the 18th floor.
Sister, do you love this suffering person?
I lived in Hequ for three days and it rained for three days. Hequ county in the fog has a nostalgic and simple atmosphere, and there are crisp folk songs from street shops, which makes people feel like a lifetime ago. When the car full of songs left Hequ, our mood became heavier and heavier. We don't want these touching songs to eventually become notes on the recording tape; We don't want to find any crazy old artists who love folk songs in Hequ City. We don't want the world's love for Hequ folk songs to become the responsibility of "saving" folk songs when the figure of Hequ folk songs becomes more and more blurred on the cultural stage.