In our impression, most people of the older generation watch or listen to opera. Young people may have been exposed to a little opera from the elderly when they were children, or their (maternal) grandparents paused for a while during the opera program when the TV channel changed

In our impression, most people of the older generation watch or listen to opera. Young people may have been exposed to a little opera from the elderly when they were children, or their (maternal) grandparents paused for a while during the opera program when the TV changed channels. Or you accidentally heard the opera they played while doing homework or playing, or, if you lived in the countryside, you watched a social opera with them. As we grow up, the contact becomes less and less until... we get older.

What’s interesting is that an author friend told Book Reviewer that she recently opened the 1986 version of the childhood drama "Journey to the West" again, and this time the rewatch triggered new fun: "There are many elements of traditional opera and folk art in the play. It was in recent years that I had the experience of listening to operas, and when the two met, I was reborn with joy."

Stills from "Journey to the West" (1986). The three incarnations of Bodhisattva, Zhenzhen, Ai'ai, and Lian Lian, are played by Shen Huifen (film and television actress), Yang Fengyi, and He Qing respectively. The last two of them are both Kun Opera students.

Next, she shared with us:

For example, the divine song "The King Asked Me to Patrol the Mountain" which has been popular since 9 years ago has its shadow in the episode "Sun Houqiao Practices Medicine", where the little goblin "comes and comes" "Go" chanting these words, he appeared and met Wukong. Wukong said that he could sing a few "love songs" to appease the wife he had snatched. This is probably the first time in more than 30 years that I understand all of this sentence, because a few years ago I learned what "Taoqing" (a category of traditional folk art, sung by traveling Taoist priests or Taoqing artists in various places , mostly singing as the main part and speaking as a supplement). In 1987, the Immortal Spring Festival Gala "Qi Tian Le" produced by the Journey to the West crew had a more theatrical flavor. Many of the tunes in the opening chorus were taken from Huangmei Opera and Yue Opera. The tunes sung by the family of three in Gaolaozhuang originated from Huangmei Opera's "Couple Turn Out the Lights".

It is said that as soon as Chinese people reach their age, they will fall in love with farming, saving plastic bags and listening to operas. My bloodline has probably awakened. In the past few years, the "opera" I have listened to includes opera and folk arts. (Opera is composed of three different art forms: folk songs and dances, rap and burlesque. Quyi refers to various rap arts that tell stories in spoken language.) This small chat article will talk about my encounter with opera.

first agreed that we do not seek sublimation or preaching. When the New Year comes, persuasive words such as "You will know how good xx is when you get to xx" are the most annoying. What I’m talking about is the fear of staying alone in a remote hotel, the insomnia that plagues many people, or the popular culture such as Chinese comics, online novels, and online games that are incomparable with opera. In short, I started listening to operas not just for the sake of them, but because of practical needs that everyone has, or because of interesting chance encounters.

Short video of the opera chorus in the era

Not long ago, the ethnic minority outing on Harbin’s Central Street warmed up the atmosphere of the Spring Festival. This atmosphere of group harmony was particularly strong in the opera chorus of the Spring Festival Gala in previous years. In the past three or two years, the opera singing has not been limited to the new year, and the occasion has expanded from traditional evening parties to short video platforms.

The Beijing-accented folk song "Wujiapo 2021" and the Beijing song "Goddess Pi Guan" are representatives of the short video era that has ignited opera medleys.

Partial cover version of "Wujiapo 2021". Due to copyright protection, it cannot be displayed here. Interested friends can search on the audio and video platform.

"Wujia Slope" is a part of the traditional Peking Opera play "Red Mane Horse". As a modern woman, I don't sympathize with the old-school plot of Wang Baochuan giving his all and finally forgiving the heartbroken man. A Beijing-accented ballad "Wujiapo 2021" triggered various opera covers, but it made me obsessed. (Author's note: The premise of discussing "Bukka Slope 2021" is to respect the copyright of Hatsune Miku's original song, that is, as its self-introduction when it was first released in 2019: "When you open "Wuke Slope" with Hatsune Miku's melody trend. ") This song became popular on Douyin in 2021 and has been frequently covered since. One kind of cover method is based on Peking Opera singing and can be seen at parties, such as the New Year's Eve version of Black Panther lead singer Zhang Qi and actor Zeng Li, and singer Tu Honggang's version in Henan Satellite TV's "Mid-Autumn Wonderful Tour" in 2022. Another type of cover is based on the drama of Huai opera, Cantonese opera, Yue opera and other opera types, and is released as a short video of 3-4 minutes on Douyin and Bilibili.Listening to the Yue Opera version, I can imagine what Wang Baochuan looked like as a girl before he came out of the cabinet. However, the Huai Opera version of Xue Pinggui is too sharp-looking and makes people turn against him: Xue Pinggui is a scumbag. I'm afraid he has hard reasons, or forgive him. The opera cover turns the copyright-controversial "Wujiapo 2021" into a ship that allows people to get a glimpse of the charm of traditional opera, carrying a more positive direction of communication.

Music "Goddess Pi Guan·Arousing Love" (2022).

The 2022 party will gain momentum. The popular game "Genshin Impact" launched a promotional song for the new character "Yun Jin" in January. The "Peking Song" "Goddess Pi Guan" which incorporates elements of Peking Opera was sung by Peking Opera actor Yang Yang. Soon, goddesses from all walks of life appeared one after another, and versions of Peking Opera, Yue Opera, Huangmei Opera, Ping Opera, Kun Opera, Yunnan Opera, Cantonese Opera, Suzhou Pingtan, Nan Opera, Ou Opera, Qin Opera, Wu Opera, Sichuan Opera, etc. emerged. They are either performed by famous artists, released on the troupe's account, or linked to local satellite TV, such as Shandong Satellite TV and Shandong Liuzi Opera, Henan Satellite TV and Henan Opera. Different dramas have their own merits, but they are all stunning together. The Henan Opera version of the Goddess is played by Henan Opera actor Han Pengfei (male), who has a unique sense of fortitude and perseverance.

Riding on the trend of short videos through hot spots, people who browse Douyin and play games got to know opera for the first time in an interesting way. This is of course a good thing, but it has also caused controversy such as "abuse of drama". On the whole, the goddesses from all walks of life, escorted by famous artists and officials, "played" and completed the exploration of opera dissemination and popular science in a lively atmosphere, and also established a benchmark level in the boom of mixed covers.

The joy of traveling among the goddesses from all over the world is like going to the mountains to pick mushrooms after the rain and seeing the magical and fresh mountains. Rather than saying that I am old and listening to opera, I might as well say that opera is getting younger and the way of dissemination and popularization has become more familiar. After three years of the epidemic, theaters, theater troupes, and opera actors have set up accounts on social media. Mobile cloud theaters and live broadcasts of celebrity performances are nothing new. From Peking Opera Wang Peiyu, Cantonese Opera Zeng Xiaomin to Yue Opera "Jun Xiao Group", the way famous actors come out of the circle is based on being new and surprising. At the same time, a new batch of people came to listen to the opera, coming from short videos and mobile phones, following hot spots, and chasing the stars. Anyway, the important thing is that new people are here.

A still from Shi Hui's work "The Match" (1956).

Wonderful Enlightenment

80, those born in the 1990s may have a childhood filter for the anime "Saint Seiya". Have you heard of the storytelling version of Saint Seiya? When I first listened to it, I recognized the flavor of Guangxi people's chili mixed with fruit: it looked explosive at first glance, but it tasted really fragrant. The surprises brought by the wonderful linkage made me open to new attempts in opera and folk arts. My curiosity about Cantonese opera and Peking opera came from online games, online articles, and Chinese comics.

Even though I lived in Guangzhou, Cantonese opera has never entered my life. Until the martial arts online game "Jian Wang 3" made the bridge. In 2015, "The Battle of Tiance Mansion", which initiated the cross-border combination of Cantonese opera and online games, premiered. It wasn’t until last year that I happened to see its online version. Cantonese opera "breaks" into the scene with its first impression of youth and cutting-edge. I looked for the documentary "Cantonese Opera Ranger" produced by Foshan TV Station at that time, and learned that from the beginning of creation to the end of the premiere, there were endless voices of negative voices and doubts. The first audience to support the premiere also appeared, and they were gamers from all over the country. Some people have become fans of Cantonese opera. Nine years later, I still see them sharing their journey of falling in love with Cantonese opera to people who came late to the video page.

Speaking of Peking Opera, many people are familiar with it, but they are not interested in it either. It was only when I was in my thirties that I gained some basic cultural knowledge through online articles and Chinese comics containing elements of Peking Opera. For example, one of the protagonists of the online article "The Sideburns Are Not Begonia Red" is a famous Peking Opera actress from Peking in the 1930s, and one of the protagonists of the Chinese comic "East and West Wing" is a Liyuan Takesheng during the warlords' melee. The plots of these works are set in the Republic of China era, when traditional opera was the mainstream culture at that time. The plot presentation brings out the ups and downs of the era of Peking Opera and the twists and turns of human destiny. The two works have been adapted in various ways since they became IPs. I came into contact with them in the form of radio dramas. The performance of Peking Opera in the radio drama relies entirely on voice, with more complete arias and time for popular science. I really like the voice actor cv Tiankong in the science popularization part of "East and West Wing", and I have "discussed" the science popularization many times.

Admittedly, these are all outsiders' exposure to opera, but for the public, they make people feel happy, relaxed, and surprised. Nowadays, the more traditional opera participates in new cultural forms, the more likely it is to meet more people. This involves the controversy of whether to distort and alienate opera to impress the public. Zhao Lirong's classic sketch "Packaging Like This" many years ago satirized the distorted adaptation of Ping Opera. From the perspective of a pop culture audience, what I look forward to is never distortion and alienation, but an appropriate blend of classic elements and pop culture.

For example, I can hear the pure singing and popular science of Zhou Zheng from the radio drama "The Sideburns Are Not Begonia Red" because Yin Jun, a Peking Opera actor, served as a consultant and participated in the production of this cultural product. As a northerner, I listen to Cantonese opera because it welcomes it sincerely. After "Battle of Tiance Mansion", I followed the Cantonese opera movie "The Legend of White Snake: Love". In addition to being shocked by the special effects that recreated the scene of flooded mountains and rivers, I also liked the opera text. Northerners have to read subtitles, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the opera text has been polished to perfection every word. At the end of the year, I found it again and played it as background sound on a cloudy night with snow. When the movie reached the end of the Jinshan Mountains, it happened to be snowing outside the window. Perhaps my feelings about snowy days in the next many years will be related to Cantonese opera.

Stills from "The Legend of White Snake" (2019).

Tips for stabilizing insomnia and anxiety

The first time I quickly became closer to opera happened ten years ago. I went into the village with the archaeological team and stayed in a remote hotel. It was a place where the sky was always gloomy and dusty. When I opened the door at night, I saw nothing but coldness and strangeness. The girl traveling with me was very calm and turned on the TV as soon as she entered the house - the Spring Festival Gala was on! The Yue Opera "Sister Lin Falls from the Sky" played. As soon as she fell, I was no longer afraid.

Whether it is a childhood memory or a cultural gene, opera brings inexplicable psychological comfort and is a reassurance in an uneasy situation. I still use this trick to this day. When I live alone in a room at the end of the corridor or in an old state-owned hotel from the 1980s where few people visit, I just need to turn on the opera chorus on my phone and feel, ah, peace. High-pitched and exciting operas such as Qin Opera, Peking Opera, and Henan Opera, as well as ancient evening shows with microphones and cords (such as the 1983 CCTV Opera Spring Festival Gala, in which 55-year-old Zhao Lirong performed Pingju Opera "Flowers as Matchmakers") are all suitable.

The first time I listened to Suzhou Pingtan’s traditional Tanci long piece was because... I drank too much milk tea and couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night. I tried many methods, and finally opened the opera in the listening software, and actually fell asleep listening to the lyrics. Northerners can’t understand a single word of Suzhou Pingtan and Wenzhou Drum Ci. However, in the mist of “listening to your words is like listening to a speech”, there is a tacit understanding that I can understand without saying anything. After all, I have known the old story since I was a child. An outline. Then unconsciously, I feel comfortable and peacefully fall asleep.

album "Water Color" (2004) cover.

After waking up, I looked for information on Tanci and found many surprises. It turns out that I was captured by it a long time ago, Fan Zongpei’s cross-border music album "Water Color". Among them, "Song of the Ferryman" opens with a Pingtan section, which is from the traditional long-form piece "Pearl Tower". The performer is Gao Bowen, an actor from the Shanghai Pingtan Troupe. He is the singer of the episode "Green Plum Dies" in the 2020 animated film "Mr. Miao". This Chinese comic episode also struck a chord with me. I simply found his series of Pingtan science popularizations and listened to them gently.

Many people listen to cross talk to help them sleep. I would listen to the lyrics of Taiping. As I listened, I would have images in my mind of the elderly taking a nap and basking in the sun while listening to the hilarious drama on the radio. From Taiping Lyrics to Jingyun Dagu and other northern folk arts, at first I heard it all because Zhang Yunlei, the "traffic" of cross talk, was singing. There is nothing wrong with building a bridge of stars and wading into the river of folk arts. Just like some variety show viewers fell in love with singer Zhang Qi because of "Brother Overcoming Troubles", and became interested in Peking Opera because Zhang Qi loves Peking Opera. In my opinion, it’s not bad even if you only get a superficial sense of it. It’s better if you have the energy to go deeper. There are more than 360 kinds of traditional operas and more than 400 kinds of folk arts. You can find treasures wherever you go. I later followed the lyrics of Taiping and found the works of old artists recorded by old record companies, such as Lotus Girl's "Pastry Formation" in 1942.Everyone has been brainwashed by the cries of Bobo Chicken these days, right? The cake formation is also fun! (Part of the lyrics summarized by netizens: The Shaomai expedition lost the rest of his life. When the meat pie returned to the camp, he hooked up the reinforcements. The pot helmet hung the marshal's order, and the fire burned the dough as the vanguard in the front. The hanging He will have enough for one hundred thousand sesame cakes in the oven, and those buckwheat cakes will be used as food supplies for the rear camp...)

I am also troubled. People who are just beginning to listen to operas will first look for video materials on the Internet. It is normal to see criticism, discussion, and popular science. But sometimes when I encounter a fight with a particularly angry fan, or a scolding by an unlovable old man, I feel like: Hey, why did I get scolded when I first came here? Sorry to bother you, it's best to leave. So in the past two years, I have become more interested in Huai opera and Cantonese opera. One of the reasons is that under B-station accounts such as Chinese Huai Opera and Guangdong Cantonese Opera, the group is harmonious and the interaction is easy, just like being handed a cup of hot tea to a newcomer as soon as he enters the door. Nowadays, official opera accounts have to be "open for business". Business is not about flattery, but about sincere and friendly communication.

Travel & Citywalk’s New Interests

Stills from the Yue Opera version of "A Dream of Red Mansions" (1962).

When I was in Kunming, I came across a small Yunnan opera group amusing themselves by the Panlong River. It was not a stage, just a riverside promenade. There was no audience except passers-by, but they still wore costumes and makeup. There are bun shops and cooked meat shops on the roadside, and behind them are four- and five-story residential communities. It’s the kind of old community where good flower pots and rotten flower pots are piled together, and aloe vera flowers bloom on their own. Some windows still have hanging With bacon. In an instant, the breath of local life in Spring City hit my face. This was my first impression of Yunnan drama.

On the New Year's Eve of 2024, the Kunming Theater will have a Huimin performance by the Yunnan Dian Opera Troupe, priced at 30 yuan per performance. For travelers, it is not a bad idea to go and listen to a performance, but considering that it lasts about an hour and a half, the dialect is not understood, and theater etiquette must be followed and you can only sit and listen, etc., it is not easy for tourists and young people. In comparison, it would be easier to go to a Suzhou bookstore to listen to Pingtan, or to a Chengdu teahouse to listen to Sanda Pingtan, and eat snacks and drink tea. So I have another wishful expectation about Yunnan opera: Is it possible to see the magical linkage between Yunnan opera arias (such as Daoma Dan) and the dreamy Jacaranda at the Jacaranda Cultural Festival in Kunming in April and May?

In recent years, modern drama festivals and immersive dramas combined with urban cultural tourism have emerged. However, the crossover of traditional opera is not so diverse, and it is really not easy. It is precisely because of this that the Yue opera "New Dragon Gate Inn" that made "new husband" Chen Lijun popular becomes even more attractive. I have been away from Hangzhou for more than ten years, and the last time I wanted to go back was because of this "Environmental Yue Opera" staged in Hangzhou. Due to work opportunities, I also visited the Huai Opera town in Jiulongkou, Jiangsu Province. This is a modern cultural tourism town rebuilt on the site of a 600-year-old Shazhuang. After I sorted out the fusion of immersive Huai Opera, acrobatics, intangible cultural heritage, crown costume museum and other elements with a rational cultural and tourism idea, I accidentally saw a Huai Opera actor who had just finished the show put down his helmet with long feathers in the small town convenience store. , was about to eat a bucket of instant noodles. I suddenly had the most vivid and youthful picture of Huai opera. Oops, I met a "living" one! Of course, I would like to encounter more "living" new scenes of opera.

Screen from the documentary "Six Hundred Years of Kun Opera" (2007).

Finally, let me talk about my anxiety: Can I approach and like opera in such a strange way?

I have never told anyone that I can listen to operas. Traditional opera and folk art have their own historical heritage, and I am worried that certain perceptions and remarks will offend them (such as wishful thinking about wearing VR or AR glasses to listen to and watch operas in the future). Some opera fans have circles and rules, which objectively create a distance from others, especially a psychological distance. For example, I am not a theater fan. I am at most a fan and a new audience with interest. I don’t seem to be in a position to talk about theater.

It took me a while to relax. Once I met a group of grandparents singing opera in the park. I sat next to them and took a nap.Watching them play and sing, imagining them going to the theater to listen to a play. what about me? I think I am a new audience cultivated by the new communication methods of opera and folk art in this era. When theaters, theater troupes, and actors begin to interact with audiences on social platforms and conduct live broadcasts; when some theater troupes begin to write "youth", "innovation" and "fusion" into their promotional slogans; when some young actors try to cross the border amidst controversy or even criticism. World exploration, IP linkage... new audiences like me have emerged. Today’s operas have more diverse ways of living. Opera movies and cloud theaters cannot replace stage operas, but they can coexist and complement each other. The audience for opera is also diverse. Even though there are differences in cognitive depth and aesthetic level, this should not prevent the old and new audiences from being happy in the difference between Leshan and Leshui.

Screen from the cartoon "Peking Opera Cat: Riding the Wind and Waves" (2018).

More importantly, we are willing to spend money on the innovative development of opera and folk arts. We live in the era of consumption, have purchasing power and willingness to consume, and are willing to pay for new things. We won’t go to theaters frequently to listen to big plays, but we will go to theaters to support new opera movies, experience creative projects that integrate culture and tourism when traveling, and make adjustments to singing styles, outfits, music orchestration, deletion of arias, and opera performances in the industry. When necessary and professional controversies arise on many topics such as filmmaking, we should be a new audience that encourages innovation.

Traditional opera and folk art are not the preferences of most people nowadays. Appreciation of opera routines and performance styles still requires a threshold, and background knowledge of opera is not universal. But after experiencing various encounters, I feel that the encounter between people and opera is a simple matter: you come up to me and I walk over. When opera begins to take my worries into consideration and make attempts that are in line with the aesthetics of the times, I am also willing to support the new generation of opera performers in their various explorations with their worries. From beginning to end, I didn’t start listening to operas for inheritance or value. Even if I listened to a tragedy, I wanted relief and relief. Listening to opera can make people happy, which is important to me. It is also important to the survival of traditional opera and folk art in modern society.

author/Hibernating Bear

editor/Luo Dong

proofreader/Chen Diyan