Author: Li Qinglang (author of Fushu) In August this year, as the game "Black Myth: Wukong" became popular all over the world, the 1986 version of "Journey to the West", a classic TV series that carries the beautiful memories of countless people, once again became a hotly discuss

Author: Li Qinglang (author of Fu Shu)

In August this year, as the game "Black Myth: Wukong" became popular all over the world, the 86 version of "Journey to the West", this classic TV series that carries the beautiful memories of countless people, once again became a hot topic. topic of discussion.

The reason is that the theme song of "Black Myth: Wukong" is very eye-catching. While many young netizens "worshiped" the composer, they were surprised to find that this theme song actually originated from the opening song of the 1986 version of "Journey to the West" " Yungong Xunyin ".

"Yun Gong Xun Yin" is one of the most familiar film and television soundtracks for generations of Chinese audiences. The moving melody, which was then surging and exciting, and sometimes melodious, has long been integrated into the Chinese people's hearts with "Journey to the West" that must be replayed every summer vacation. Deep in the soul.

In fact, the opening song of "Journey to the West" had no name at first, but out of love for this song, netizens named the opening song "Yungong Xunyin", and also got the name of the composer Xu Jingqing recognized.

Xu Jingqing is a national first-class composer. All the songs in "Journey to the West", including "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is", "Daughter's Love", "Tianzhu Girl", "Return from the Buddhist Scriptures" and other classics, are all composed by him, but he is very It remained anonymous for a long time.

Such an excellent composer, why has he not achieved the popularity that matches his works?

Today, let us walk into the story of Xu Jingqing.

In 1942, Xu Jingqing was born into a poor peasant family in Longkou, Shandong.

In order to survive, when he was still an infant, he was carried by his parents to "cross the Guandong" and settled in Boli County, Heilongjiang, more than 2,000 kilometers away.

Children of the poor have become parents early. Xu Jingqing started working at the age of 5. He often had to collect coal cores and branches to make firewood before dawn. He lived a hard and tiring life.

What he was happiest about was standing under the telephone pole, listening to the duo playing from the village radio loudspeaker, and the flame of his love for music was quietly igniting.

When I was in elementary school, there was a classmate in the class who knew how to play the erhu. Xu Jingqing often stood next to his classmate and listened, listening for hours. Seeing his son's passion for music, his father bought two big black fish and used the fish skin to make a "copycat" erhu.

With his extraordinary ability to imitate, Xu Jingqing was able to play dozens of pieces of music with his erhu, which occasionally became silent, leaving his father open-mouthed in surprise.

Despite his outstanding musical talent, Xu Jingqing’s academic performance was not good when he was a child. His father warned him: "If you are young and don’t work hard, you will be miserable." , Reading is not for dad, but for yourself! ”

Xu Jingqing kept this sentence in his heart, and it became an inexhaustible motivation for his lifelong struggle.

At the age of fourteen, his father passed away from the world due to fatigue. As the eldest son in the family, Xu Jingqing originally planned to give up his studies and go home to take care of his mother and sister, but his mother said, "Go ahead, I will have to hand you over even if I am pulling a car." His words gave Xu Jingqing strength and courage.

In the end, with his talent and hard work, he was admitted to Harbin Art Institute and embarked on the road of music.After graduation, Xu Jingqing was assigned to the China Agricultural Film and Television Center and started his career as a composer.

983html One day in 2 years, Xu Jingqing received a phone call. "Journey to the West" invested by CCTV is about to start filming, and music editor Wang Wenhua invited him to write a soundtrack for the first episode of the show, "The First Coming of the Monkey King."

Xu Jingqing did not dare to neglect. "Journey to the West" tells a mythical and legendary story and has special requirements for the soundtrack.

In the words of director Yang Jie: "Journey to the West, as a mythological drama, contains gods and demons in the sky, demons and monsters on the ground, emperors and ministers in the world, and ordinary people. People from all environments and levels are involved." The soundtrack It needs to be able to cater to the needs of any scene, any character, and any emotion. "

Previously, following the request of director Yang Jie, Wang Wenhua searched for experts and celebrities in the music industry and also tried to make some song demos, but Yang After Jie auditioned, she didn’t like any of them and didn’t choose any of them.

In desperation, Wang Wenhua had no choice but to turn his attention to some unknown composers, including Xu Jingqing.

Faced with this arduous task, Xu Jingqing was not anxious at all. He let himself go and lay on a narrow and long wooden table at home, while imagining the cheerful appearance of the monkeys in Huaguo Mountain. Write and draw on paper and hum softly.

A few days later, the demo of the song was released and sent to Yang Jie’s desk. Although it was only more than a minute, Yang Jie's eyes lit up after listening to it from beginning to end: "Isn't this the feeling I want for Monkey King ? Who composed this music?"

Wang Wenhua answered unconfidently : " This person is not very famous. "

Yang Jie decisively decided: "It doesn't matter if you are famous or not, the most important thing is to write good music!"

Director Xu Jingqing and Yang Jie

Next, Yang Jie gives this song The song was named "Happy Mountain of Flowers and Fruits", and Xu Jingqing was invited to compose the soundtrack for "Journey to the West".

From this day on, Xu Jingqing officially began the four-year soundtrack work for "Journey to the West". He has just turned 42 this year, which is the golden period of creation for a mature composer.

In order to do a good job in the soundtrack work, Xu Jingqing devoted all his body and mind to the creation. A very rare thing is that despite the heavy creative tasks, he never solidifies his thinking in a mold and always tries his best to break through the constraints.

When composing the opening song "Yun Gong Xun Yin", Xu Jingqing received the request that the duration should be controlled within minutes and 40 seconds . Through this song, the cultural connotation and spiritual characteristics of "Journey to the West" can be demonstrated. What specifically should be used? Various musical forms are presented without any restrictions.

seems to have a lot of freedom, but can a song that is only more than two minutes carry such a great meaning? Xu Jingqing felt unsure.

In the next few days, he shut himself in his room, thinking hard and thinking hard from morning to night.

But inspiration is something that is not always available. Xu Jingqing, who put in time and effort, could not get the feeling he wanted no matter how he wrote.

Just when he was at a loss, at noon, he suddenly heard the sound of migrant workers knocking on their lunch boxes while walking around after get off work, "dang, clang, clang..." Although the rhythm of the knocking was not what Xu Jingqing wanted, but Xu Jingqing was instantly inspired.

He thought to himself: Isn’t this feeling of singing according to your heart exactly the same as Sun Wukong’s bohemian character? He quickly got into creative mode and wrote this unique and impressive prelude main melody.

After the main melody was released, after a day of meditation, a melody like a sound from outside the world appeared in Xu Jingqing's mind. He used the word "ah" as the lyrics and placed this distant and ethereal female voice in the middle to create a fairy world. sense of atmosphere.

In the last part, Xu Jingqing used a sonorous and powerful melody to praise the indomitable spiritual qualities of Buddhists.

After the opening song came out, everyone who listened to it was amazed by it.

The song not only has the style and core of the song that are closely consistent with the story and characteristics of "Journey to the West", but also uses Chinese and Western instruments such as guzheng, violin, drums, electric guitar, electronic drums and synthesizers. This innovative music mash-up method allows Xu Jingqing became the first person to break through the convention in the field of domestic film and television drama composition.

However, because the composition style of the song is too advanced, some people have raised objections. They believe that "Journey to the West", as one of the four major Chinese classical masterpieces, should be soundtracked with national instruments. Using Western music such as electroacoustic music is not consistent with the music. The temperament of a masterpiece.

The controversy of public opinion spread to the producer CCTV, and Xu Jingqing faced the crisis of being replaced.

At the critical moment, it was Yang Jie who stood up to support Xu Jingqing again. She wrote to the leaders of the station to explain her understanding of Xu Jingqing’s music, and said: "Since I am the director of "Journey to the West", I will understand the whole play." Art is responsible. Since the stage has enabled me, don’t interfere. About artistic creation."

Xu Jingqing and Yang Jie

In this way, Xu Jingqing was able to stay on the crew of "Journey to the West" and complete the next music creation.

When composing the ending song " Dare to ask where is the way ", Xu Jingqing got on the No. 323 bus as usual, and while riding the bus, he was thinking about the song "Dare to Ask" that the lyricist Teacher Yan Su had sent a few days ago. Lyrics to "Where's the Road?"

While the vehicle was driving, Xu Jingqing looked at the bustling crowds in the vegetable market, listened to the sounds of vendors hawking along the street, and saw the snowflakes falling from the sky. A question began to swirl in his mind: Why is it that people have been so hard in this life? for what?

At this moment, the melody of "spring, autumn, winter and summer, sweetness and bitterness" appeared in his mind.

The next minute, as the bus arrived, he quickly stepped off the bus and began to look for paper everywhere to write down the music score, but the only thing he could write on was a cigarette case.

In desperation, he borrowed a pencil from a passing primary school student, then leaned on a telephone pole and completed this classic masterpiece.

“If you dare to ask where the road is, the road is at your feet. If you dare to ask where the road is, the road is at your feet."This song, paired with an exciting and direct melody, not only expresses the fighting spirit of the four masters and apprentices in never giving up in the face of difficulties and obstacles along the way, but also demonstrates the overcoming difficulties of the entire cast and crew of "Journey to the West" Difficulties, strong will to complete this masterpiece htm. l3

In addition to these two influential theme songs, Xu Jingqing also composed "Daughter's Love", "Tianzhu Girl", "Zhu Bajie Carrying His Wife", etc. for "Journey to the West" 13 The first interlude, hundreds of music and more than a dozen Facebook songs.

These songs have also entered thousands of households and become eternal classics along with the popularity of the 1986 version of "Journey to the West". ml3

It can be said that the success of the 1986 version of "Journey to the West" was indispensable to Xu Jingqing.

But unfortunately, Xu Jingqing did not become a household name as a composer with these works. Instead, he was unable to realize his long-awaited music dream due to lack of money.

In 1987, the "Qi Tian Le" Spring Festival Gala directed by Yang Jie entered a state of intense preparation, and Xu Jingqing took on all the soundtrack work for the party. It is also unprecedented.

The party has achieved unprecedented success. Until now, many netizens are still praising this party, saying that the party "traveled through more than 20 years and surpassed all Spring Festival Galas" ’”.

Xu Jingqing also had a dream because of this show: He wanted to hold a “Journey to the West Concert” to experience the music with more people. The charm of music.

As the chief composer of "Journey to the West", it should be a natural thing to hold a concert. Who would have thought that this "dream" that sounds easy to implement would come true. It turned out to be out of reach.

It turns out that in that era when intellectual copyright awareness was lacking, Xu Jingqing did not gain corresponding popularity and reasonable copyright benefits from "Journey to the West".

In 1988, "Dare to Ask Where is the Road" won the first China Top Ten Film and Television Golden Melody Awards. The singer Jiang Dawei and the lyricist Yan Su were both invited to the stage to receive the award. The composer Xu Jingqing did not win any trophy.

Xu Jingqing was very puzzled. He called the TV station to inquire about the situation. The staff said that the trophy and certificate would be sent to his unit. A few days later, Xu Jingqing received the trophy that was supposed to be received in front of everyone's attention from the receptionist of the unit.

In the Internet age, although Xu Jingqing's songs were played on more than 40 websites, the copyright fee never exceeded 10,000 yuan.

Even the song "Zhu Bajie Carrying His Wife on His Back", which brought a lot of happiness to people and later became very popular in the field of ring tones and made dealers make a lot of money, he only received 100,000 yuan from the song. He paid 8,000 yuan in copyright fees, and one of the websites, , even only gave him 2.7 yuan in "reward" .

Xu Jingqing was very puzzled: "Two yuan and seven is the price I pay for smoking a pack of cigarettes. How do they know that I smoke cigarettes at this price? ?”

It wasn’t until 2014, when Han Han used the episode “Daughter’s Love” when he was filming the movie “The End of Time” that Xu Jingqing received a copyright fee of 30,000 yuan, excluding management fees. Han Han even posted on Weibo to express his grievance for Xu Jingqing.

Due to lack of popularity and recognition, Xu Jingqing’s financial situation has not been very good.

Their family of three squeezed into a small two-bedroom apartment in the unit. The house was old and shabby, there was no elevator, and the sound insulation was poor. But Xu Jingqing, who was used to being low-key, didn't care about these extraneous things and just wanted to complete his "Journey to the West Concert" .

In order to fulfill his wish, in 2010, Xu Jingqing, who rarely appeared in public, accepted an interview with Hubei Satellite TV for the first time.

Facing the camera, he said firmly: "If I can't hold this concert in my lifetime, I will die in peace!" After hearing this, the audience covered their faces and wept. However, after the show was broadcast, the preparations for the concert still could not move forward.

On April 7, 2012, at the suggestion of a friend, Xu Jingqing posted on Weibo: "I dare to ask where the road is, the road is at my feet. I want to hold a solo concert, but I don’t know what to do..."

Weibo After it was posted, netizens were deeply moved and forwarded it one after another. However, most of these forwards were in support, and very few could really help. Xu Jingqing could only continue to think of other ways.

Once, Xu Jingqing finally asked a friend to find an investor. The investor said firmly: "Isn't it easy to hold a concert? Leave it to me, money is not a problem!"

But when Xu Jingqing followed the investor's request, After spending nearly 200,000 yuan to record a demo tape, the investors never mentioned the investment.

In melancholy, Xu Jingqing saw a message from a netizen on Weibo: "You can use crowdfunding to hold a concert."

Crowdfunding, although it worked, Xu Jingqing was very resistant in his heart, always feeling that he would give Everyone is causing trouble, like begging.

After this hesitation, the time came to 2016, and Xu Jingqing was 74 years old. Do you really want to leave this world with regrets? He finally made up his mind to engage in online crowdfunding.

Unexpectedly, this move caused an uproar. Some netizens who did not know the truth cursed him online, saying that he was crazy for wanting money.

Xu Jingqing himself is also worried. He told reporters: "I have thought that if the crowdfunding fails, it will be a shame. I will return the crowdfunding money to everyone one by one. I guess that will Sometimes I want to die. "

However, more netizens' love for the music of "Journey to the West" is still beyond Xu Jingqing's expectations.

Less than a day after the crowdfunding was launched, Xu Jingqing raised more than 1 million yuan. At its peak, the servers were even overwhelmed.

In the end, with the support of more than 29,000 enthusiastic netizens, Xu Jingqing raised 4.615 million yuan.

On December 4th and 5th, 2016, Xu Jingqing’s “2016 Journey to the West Theme Concert” was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

In order to thank the netizens who participated in the crowdfunding, he wrote the names of all 29,016 people who participated in the crowdfunding on the acknowledgment list.

This concert is shocking. It opens with a child's voice: "Hey, why did I fall asleep? Oh, "Journey to the West" is about to start." This sentence is very similar to what we said when we were children, moving a small stool and sitting in front of the TV. words.

Familiar music sounded, and Sun Wukong, Tang Monk, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Seng appeared one after another. Childhood memories swept over them, and many viewers couldn't help but feel their noses sore and sob quietly.

But at this time, Xu Jingqing did not dare to sit down and watch. Instead, he hid in the empty dressing room.

He was worried, worried that the scene would be deserted and miserable, and that he would be sorry for the audience's support; he was afraid, afraid that he would burst into tears when he heard the music that had already been integrated into his blood.

When it came to the last few minutes of the concert, Xu Jingqing was invited by the host to take the curtain call. The host asked: "What do you most want to say to the audience at this moment?"

Xu Jingqing said with tears in his eyes: "I just want to cry, I can't bear it." While crying, he bowed to the audience and thanked him. In the end, he didn't remember. I bowed several times in total.

Later Dong Qing interviewed Xu Jingqing on the show: "Is this concert too late?"

Xu Jingqing shook his head: " It’s not too late, as long as I live. ”

From 1986 to 2016, 30 years of cold treatment, 30 years of waiting, all have answers at this moment.

The success of this concert brought Xu Jingqing back to the public eye.

On September 3, 2018, Xu Jingqing’s Journey to the West music situation concert was held in Tianjin. On May 16, 2019, he held the "Xu Jingqing's Journey to the West Theme Concert" in Xi'an.

, this treasured songwriter who has been forgotten by the market for many years, finally received the long-overdue recognition.

In his later years, Xu Jingqing still worked hard on the front line of creation and created masterpieces such as "The Living Buddha Jigong", "A Woman Is Not the Moon", "The Continuation of Journey to the West", "The Monkey King Fights Three Bone Demons" and "Six Kinds of Love".

In order to create, he often immerses himself in the world of music from morning to night, and is always thinking deeply in the middle of the night. He once said: "0 years, I have never seen how the sun rises in the morning in Beijing."

His living conditions have not changed. The old residential building carries the life of him and his wife. all. The two of them are like a pair of ordinary retired old people, relying on a small amount of pension and living a life no different from ordinary people.

In 2014, Xu Jingqing composed the song "Looking at Hometown", "Having been away from home for half a lifetime, I feel melancholy at the end of the world, and the dream of homesickness is longer than the road..." The melodious and deep style of music can always bring lasting touches to the world. .

On June 17, 2024, Xu Jingqing participated in the 2024 Film and Television Music Festival and won the honors of "Special Contribution to the Golden Songs of TV Dramas of the Times" and "Unforgettable Golden Songs of TV Dramas of the Times".

Recently, with the popularity of "Black Myth: Wukong", "Yungong Xunyin" has been transformed into a symphony version and has gone global.

For this belated praise, Xu Jingqing said happily:

"I think it is a good thing that my music can be recognized by everyone and can be used in the game. It means that I have made a certain contribution to the game. I hope that I can do something like this in the future. I also like it. , although I don’t know how to play games and I’m pretty stupid when it comes to playing games, I’m still quite willing to get involved in the music of the game.”

From entering the composing industry to becoming a national treasure-level composer, Xu Jingqing has been on the front line of composing for many years. In his life, he has witnessed brilliance and experienced troughs. , what remains unchanged is his conscientious attitude towards the music career.

Xu Jingqing once commented on his creative experience: "Each of us fleets in human history and is like dust in the universe.

If we don’t work hard, our trip to this world will be in vain. If we can really leave something to mankind, maybe a poem or two, a note or two, which will be praised by future generations for ten years, a hundred years or even a thousand years, this is Remarkable things cannot be exchanged for money. ”

Indeed, a person’s life is too short and too small. If you can use your own wisdom and efforts to leave some beautiful memories for the world, such a life is worth cherishing.

Finish reading Xu Jingqing's story reminds me of Tang Seng. Among Buddhists, Tang Seng is always a representative of self-motivation and self-discipline. Along the way, Tang Seng has experienced countless hardships and endured all kinds of doubts and criticisms from the world. Will not let go of my inner passion and desire . This desire is the cornerstone for him to overcome the obstacles and achieve great success, and it is the strength for him to overcome difficulties and continue to set off.

Xu Jingqing and Tang Seng are people with the same personality. We forget all the unequal treatment he suffered.

But no matter whether we can understand him or sympathize with him, he will continue to create and persevere bravely and persistently. This is the most valuable thing about his life.

It is Mr. Xu Jingqing’s unyielding spirit and unswerving faith. Like.

About the author: Li Qinglang, author of Fu Shu, if a person wants to succeed, you need an ability to support you to be yourself, not to be blocked, not to be tempted, this is the shielding power, the fourth book has been Publishing, your life, need shielding force , with 5 million people Upgrade life cognition, this article: Franklin Book Club, the copyright of this article belongs to Rich Books, no reproduction is allowed without authorization, any infringement will be investigated
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