text/Li Weiwei
On the evening of February 11 (the second day of the Lunar New Year), the "2024 Hunan Opera Spring Festival Gala" hosted by the Propaganda Department of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and Hunan Radio, Film and Television Group (Hunan Radio and Television), was held at Broadcast on Hunan Satellite TV and Mango TV. The innovative integration of traditional culture and TV programs has successfully attracted the attention of the majority of netizens and made it a standout among many Spring Festival parties.
The Hunan Opera Spring Festival Gala has been held for 6 consecutive years and has always been a major event in the cultural and artistic circles. This year, the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism sent outstanding young creatives and performance teams to work with the director team of Hunan Satellite TV to expand the new expression vocabulary of stage art and provide the audience with a TV presentation of "one good show, two sides of wonderful" We presented a cultural "feast" that was both traditional and fashionable, warm and brisk, elegant and youthful, heavy and prosperous.
Cultural Core Youth leads
It is our new cultural mission in the new era to continue to promote cultural prosperity, build a cultural power, and build the modern civilization of the Chinese nation at a new starting point.
We were surprised to find that in recent years, with the explosion of data and the rapid iteration of information updates, the inheritance and innovation of traditional culture have gradually become the "password" of traffic. From CCTV to local stations to short video platforms, traditional cultural content such as poetry, classics, traditional Chinese medicine, architecture, music, dance, grottoes, murals, opera, and costumes are highly favored. Making cultural relics come alive, letting classics "speak", and getting closer to traditional culture has become a new fashion for young people.
In this party, the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism brought a stage art spanning a century - opera, to a powerful alliance with Mango Stage, which represents happy youth. The main creative team is all born in the 1980s and 1990s, and has gathered the backbone of Hunan Opera Troupe, Art Vocational College and Art Research Institute. From program creativity to execution, it reflects profound artistic attainments and professionalism.
With the sound of "Let's go!", representatives from all walks of opera appeared on stage, from " Liu Hai Chopping Woodcutter ", " Romance of the West Chamber ", "Selling Water", "Moon Worship", "Pinggui Farewell Kiln" and "War Horse" Characters familiar to the audience from classic operas such as "Super" and " Sanchakou " came out of the drama one after another and led the audience and friends into the party scene. The actors, wearing python suits and armor with flags tied on their backs, were full of energy and splendor. The "Four Gongs and Five Methods" performed by different professions suddenly filled the New Year atmosphere.
Song "Xiaoxiang Opera Rhythm"
Both festival culture and opera culture are part of traditional culture, and they are the collective memory, spiritual yearning and emotional sustenance of the Chinese people. In the blend of ancient opera art and modern stage, every face is filled with youthful self-confidence. A scene of civil and military performance and a sound of Xiang music evoke the nostalgia in our hearts. At this moment, it is no longer important who the characters in the play are and why they "sing, read, do, fight". What matters is the most lasting and eternal sense of cultural identity in the heart.
The profound accumulation of Huxiang opera culture and the unique skills created by the collective wisdom of the working people provide a strong cultural core for the innovation of television art, and provide more possibilities for the creativity of "everything can be used in opera". Pop music and "Silang Visits His Mother", dance and opera costumes, musical "The Phantom of the Opera" and Flower Drum Opera, light and shadow art and shadow puppets, opera, XR technology and Kunqu Opera, the cultural tourism team and the TV team are constantly colliding with each other. Unlock new surprises.
The emergence of drama in popular songs has enriched the expression of pop music, bringing soul-stirring and tear-jerking reverie and emotion. The Beijing-style folk song "Silang Visits His Mother 2024" was specially created by the original creative team of the song "Wujiapo 2021" for this opera Spring Festival Gala. With the beautiful falling snow in the sky, the deep love between mother and son and the feelings of home and country are deeply touching. Justice and family affection resonate with the audience in an art form that transcends time and space. Fashion is the reincarnation of aesthetics, and innovation is the password of fashion. Culture is always oriented to the future. In the inheritance and development of opera, only openness and tolerance can win the recognition of the audience.
The Q-version performance of the little cute baby in the children's Peking Opera "Little Rookies" has become a "special meal" for uncles, aunts, grandfathers and grandmothers in front of the TV. Every move, every frown and every smile of the children is like a dancing little seed, knocking on the fertile cultural soil of Hunan. In recent years, under the guidance of the Propaganda Department of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Hunan has promoted "opera into campuses" through more professional and rich forms such as opera recess exercises, opera short plays, and drama clubs. , the children's enthusiasm for opera culture is getting stronger and stronger. As art workers, we look forward to the lush and lush scenery.
A good show is wonderful on both sides
We are deeply moved by the respect that the TV station director team has for the art of opera and artists. They give full play to the advantages of television art and present both on-stage and off-stage wonderful innovative expressions. The artist's superb performance also showed the "heroes" behind the scenes to the audience. The work of all the choreography team, band teachers, makeup artists, action directors, stylists, and costume designers has become part of the evening performance.
Last year, videos of people scrambling for makeup backstage at opera performances frequently appeared on short video platforms. Through these videos, netizens saw the hard work and dedication of actors, as well as the professionalism of opera people. This year's Opera Spring Festival Gala, host Wang Han will transform into a troupe leader. Starting from the backstage of the party, he will bring you a troupe opening that you have never seen before from a first-hand perspective. It is flexible, lively and full of fun. The band teachers also appeared on the screen, proudly introduced the role of the civil and military field to the audience, and interacted with the host.
Backstage of the party
The richness, breadth and depth of opera art are not just the beauty and style we see on the stage, but the wisdom and aesthetic emotions behind it are the foundation. The power and story behind it are presented at a glance in this opera Spring Festival Gala, and the high attention it brings is worthy of our artistic workers' thinking and continuous development.
In the program "Plum Blossoms Heralding Spring", "Plum Blossom Award" winners Zhang Xuan and Xiao Xiaobo respectively performed the four beauties of ancient my country. During the performance, each person had to complete the task of changing clothes and makeup within three minutes. Follow With cameras, the audience can enjoy the stage performance while feeling the tense atmosphere of makeup rush backstage and the professional ability of the styling team.
At the evening party of the program "Plum Blossoms Heralding Spring"
, the skit performed by the Hunan Provincial Xiang Theater was not only humorous but also led to a photo wall. Hanging on the wall were couples who became friends in the Hunan opera industry. Many families and even couples Generations of people have adhered to this cause and dedicated their youth and love to Hunan stage art. This love and sweetness also warmed the hearts of the audience through the Spring Festival Gala screen.
The most touching thing about the entire evening party was the gathering of Hunan Province Flower Drum Opera performing artists Zhong Yichun, Gong Guyin, Li Xiaojia and Liu Zhaoqian with an average age of 85. Old girlfriends carefully planned a warm art retrospective exhibition for Teacher Zhong Yichun, the first-generation "Aunt Liu" in the classic Flower Drum Opera "Mending the Pot" celebrating the 75th anniversary of her career. The stills and memories are a review of the artistic life. , is also the development process of Hunan Huagu Opera art, which is all touching.
Special Project "Flowers Along the Road"
Technology Empowerment Cross-Border Live
Poetry and distance are poetic expressions of the integration of culture and tourism. This time the program "Peony Pavilion Garden Tour" from the Kunqu Opera Troupe of Hunan Province perfectly interprets this proposition. Kun Opera, as one of the first "Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" projects in the world by UNESCO, is a living fossil of Chinese opera. The Hunan Kun Opera Troupe has been committed to inheriting and protecting this traditional culture.
Kun Opera has a long and well-preserved history, with strict text, musical form and metrical requirements. Every subtle movement and every tactful lyric contains profound cultural connotations, from "singing, reciting, doing and playing" to Costumes, props, music, and dance all demonstrate the breadth and depth of opera art.
Therefore, from the perspective of the drama itself, innovation is not easy.On the stage of the Chinese Opera Spring Festival Gala, the dignified, beautiful and charming Du Liniang used XR video technology to lead the audience on a tour of the beautiful scenery of Hunan and Hunan. The film and television presentation empowered by technology not only retains the beautiful and pure charm of the opera, but also realizes the communication power of "1+1>2". The magnificent scenery of mountains and rivers that have gone through vicissitudes of life and the sounds of nature that span time and space have brought us to the door of time and space through television. This one glance travels through thousands of years, this one glimpses into the present, and this one spans the future.
Kunqu Opera The leap from dimensional to multi-dimensional space. The unique skills of opera give opera a new rhythm through cross-border gameplay. This is undoubtedly a popular expression method for modern stages and young audiences. The creative team and performing artists have almost strict aesthetic requirements and strong execution capabilities for this show, achieving a seamless connection of various drama types, industries, lighting, and sound, and breaking through the limitations of different art forms. The cross-border singing that combines musical theater and opera is lively and humorous, and has also won the love of audiences of all ages.
"There is no drama in Xiaoxiang that is not exciting, and nineteen chords are spread all over the world." With the return of Hunan artists such as Zhang Ye and Wu Bixia and the joint efforts of artists from our province, the Spring Festival Gala of Opera is not only an artistic feast, but also a brand-new The expression of inheritance and innovation. Here, we have witnessed the brilliant sparks blooming in the passionate collision of youth fashion and traditional culture. Through these attempts, we also understand better that creative transformation and innovative development are the fundamental ways to achieve the preservation and innovation of traditional culture. I hope that Hunan opera art can gain more audiences and produce more masterpieces.
(Author’s unit: Hunan Academy of Arts)
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