When I was in junior high school, I suddenly became obsessed with Shen Hu and practiced carefully for two years.
The elder brother of the classmate is a polio patient. He relies on crutches to support his lame legs and is very inconvenient to walk. He has no choice but to become a watchmaker. He embeds the magnifying glass in his eyes every day and repairs the watch. However, he still loves literature and art frenzy and is proficient in playing and singing. When he put his lame legs up, his eyes narrowed and he slowly pulled Shenhu, as if all his spirituality had flew to another world. He also has a younger brother who is good at playing yangqin , so he attracted many colleagues. Whenever he had time, he brought musical instruments to gather in his living room to play the violin and sing opera. My piano is very worn, the strings are easy to break, and the python skin is loose, but I still try to keep up with the rhythm and enjoy it.
Later, I and a few classmates went to the countryside to settle down. Once, the brigade asked me to go to "Baizi Primary School" (Editor's Note: refers to the addition of junior high school classes in primary schools) to be a private teacher, teaching mathematics, English and music. I'm not good at singing, but I can only go to the battlefield with my teeth. The village school did not pedal organ , so I played huqin accompaniment, which was actually acceptable to the children.
Shenhu is a huqin specially accompanied by Shenqu . Unlike Jinghu , Banhu , Pendant Hu , it seems to be less high-pitched and rough, and exciting like northern musical instruments, but rather bright and graceful in softness. But once the pace is accelerated, the power that bursts out is enough to infect people. No matter where he was, as long as Shen Hu sounded, the listener's heart was suddenly hung up. Shenqu is actually the predecessor of Shanghai Opera . The "Thunderstorm", " Abida Goes Back to My Mother's Home ", "Bi Lost in the Yellow Spring" and "Meeting in the Temple" that are often performed on the Shanghai Opera stage are all well-known Shenqu civilization dramas. As soon as the piano sounded on the stage, the audience knew whether they were singing Fu Ziban or Zizhu Tune , and then hummed. Walking on the ridges of the countryside, a few words may appear in any corner, "The grass is green in spring, and the flowers are blooming, and the birds are singing together. ... The radish flowers bloom as white as silver, and the broad beans bloom in black conscience." This is a real song.
I remember when I was eleven years old, I lived with my grandmother in Shenxiang, Qingpu where my uncle worked for half a year, and I borrowed my studies. I can’t remember the process of reading at all, and the only thing that leaves an impression is watching TV. I had the opportunity to see the Shanghai opera played on TV in the public social conference room. The screen is black and white, and snowflakes flash from time to time. You must adjust the bamboo pole of the dragonfly-type antenna to stabilize it. However, as one of the earliest viewers of Chinese TV, I finally saw Shanghai opera in this township where rivers and waters rise and fall with the tides, Xiao Zhenzhu, who worked as a contract worker in a Japanese yarn mill, and her mother Yang Guiying, and the vicious "Namowen". I was very young and was deeply moved by Yang Guiying's long poem full of complaints with blood and tears, and I couldn't help but wipe my tears. I don’t know how long a person’s memory can be preserved in his mind and what kind of influence it can have, but since then, it is self-evident that he has been captured by the charm of Shanghai opera. Later, I became fascinated by Shen Hu and practiced foolishly, which was also due to my involuntary love.
Naturally, I have no talent at all, cannot become a piano master, and I am a career in Shenhu, but this does not hinder my fate with Shanghai Opera. Later, he joined the cultural department and was in charge of performances for a while. He often dealt with theater troupes, made friends with actors, and had the opportunity to watch Shanghai opera performances from time to time. Last year, I participated in the review of the "Intangible Cultural Heritage" project. Dianshan Lake Town , located on the bank of Dianshan Lake, also included Shanghai Opera in the application list. They not only created and arranged repertoire, but also formed a troupe and invited famous Shanghai artists to provide guidance, and performed more than 100 large and large Shanghai operas. In all four towns and eight villages, young and old like Shanghai opera, and generation after generation have become fans of Shanghai opera. Of course I voted in favor without hesitation. Compared with
, Kunqu Opera, which has only a hundred years of history, is a rising star. Kunqu scripts are nothing more than portrayal of life in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Shanghai opera also has some traditional operas from the late Qing and Republic of China, but more are newly written modern operas. The lyrics are easy to understand, the tunes are familiar, and the stage is simple and friendly.The selected subject can even be the sinicization of foreign dramas, such as "The Iron Man" adapted from Shakespeare " Romeo and Juliet ", " Madam Butterfly " adapted from Puccini's original work, and "The Soul Broken Blue Bridge" adapted from American movies. The multicultural culture of an international metropolis is revealed. Those actors wearing long gowns, double-breasted flower jackets, or fashionable suits and ties, dresses sang very enthusiastically under the accompaniment of silk and bamboo led by Shen Hu. Their Shanghai language dialogues and singing styles reveal a little Pudong accent, and a few local proverbs that appear from time to time, which makes people feel particularly intimate. The stories they interpret, joys and sorrows, human feelings, and even the sarcasm, ridicule, funny, and ridicule between each other, have always happened to the fans of the drama, and are not unfamiliar with them.
Rural performances in the 1960s
In the past, there were few theaters in the water towns. On the days of acting, the organizer often uses masts, flat substrates, springboards and tables to build stages in the square in front of the temple. Young people are particularly excited and often take action before dawn. The white sail is the curtain on the side of the platform. Later, a mobile stage gradually appeared, with the pedestals, watch columns, screen walls, and wooden steps that could be disassembled. The opera troupe carries these components and transports them to various places by large ships, and then cleverly builds them according to the conditions of the temple and ancestral hall. Although the venue was simple, watching opera was a grand event at that time. People would support the elderly and young, row boats and oars, come from all directions, and surround the stage. The next morning, I cleaned the venue and picked up a single shoe... In this case, today, perhaps it is just those veteran drama fans who keep browsing Douyin and listening to Ding Shi's singing videos of E , Yang Feifei , and Shao Binsun . Only then can they have a real experience.
There is a riverside corridor outside the wall of our community. Every evening, many people always walk and jog in a hurry. There is an old man who looks over 70 years old last year, always carrying an old-fashioned tape recorder and listening while walking. When I passed by him, I often heard the familiar Shenhu accompaniment, like a gust of wind blowing on my face. The satisfaction that overflowed between his eyebrows and eyes was as if a glutton got what he wanted, and I also felt like I was shared with delicious food...
Author: Chen Yi
Editor: Qian Yutong
