Text/Yangcheng Evening News all-media reporter Ai Xiuyutu/Li Lewei (on-site photo)
On the evening of November 5th, at the Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall, accompanied by the hot music played by the band, Li Quan, dressed up in a relaxed outfit, came on the stage. White shirt, black slacks, white sneakers... "uncle taste" is few, but he is quite a bit of youthfulness, so that the audience suddenly burst into a burst of cheers.
Here is the 2021 Guangzhou Jazz Festival, "Jueshi: Li Quan and His Friends" concert debuted as the opening performance, which is also their "first encounter" with Xinghai Concert Hall. After the performance, Li Quan accepted an exclusive interview with the Yangcheng Evening News reporter in the background.
"Inclusive Guangzhou, very good match with jazz"
As soon as he took the stage, Li Quan appeared extremely relaxed, and a Cantonese "Hello everyone" triggered a burst of laughter and applause from the audience.
During the performance, he sang and played, chatted and talked, and the classic works of various musical periods such as Mack the Knife, Have You Meet Miss Jones, and Unforgettable were interpreted in turn, of course, Li Quan's masterpiece "Tightrope Walker" and "Eye Color". Standing on the stage, Li Quan regretted and sighed and revealed that "Eye Color" was originally made for Mei Yanfang, but unfortunately, "before waiting for the finished product, she died of illness."
He also brought his new song "Middle Age", which he composed in 2020, and Amway his recent favorite musician Jamie Cullum, while not forgetting to humorously joke that "when I get older, the musicians I like are younger than myself".
The 90-minute performance was originally scheduled to be performed without an intermission, but Li Quan's chattiness and the enthusiasm of the audience lasted for 100 minutes. Finally, amid the applause and cheers from the audience, he took off his shirt and wore only a white short-sleeved T-shirt, and returned to the stage to sing a song "I Want Us Together" created for Fan Xiaoxuan many years ago.
After the performance, Li Quan accepted an exclusive interview with the Yangcheng Evening News reporter in the background. He was very satisfied with the performance experience: "It is a great honor to be able to perform at the Xinghai Concert Hall, which is known to be one of the most famous classical music temples in China. I had a great time acting, and I think the audience should be very happy, and everyone's interaction is very good. ”
Born in Shanghai and raised in Shanghai, Li Quan has a strong "Haipai" atmosphere, but in his eyes, the pragmatic Guangzhou, like Shanghai, has a soil that is very suitable for jazz. "Guangzhou and Shanghai are both cities that opened their ports very early, so citizens generally have a very strong tolerance when they accept multiculturalism and foreign cultures." He said.
"I'm still pursuing a great work"
When Li Quan is mentioned, people always think of the word "talent". Coming from a piano major, he has created representative works for several generations of singers such as Zhou Bingqian, Huang Gexuan, Du Dewei, Fan Xiaoxuan, Lin Youjia, etc., and has repeatedly won awards... Li Quan seems to have never disappointed fans in terms of creativity and high sense of music.
But for the title of "musical talent", Li Quan has always maintained caution and humility, and even believes that his talent is "not worth mentioning": "Since I was a child, I have had the privilege of meeting many very talented musicians, who have allowed me to know myself soberly - my talent is completely worthless. So, I've always had a lot of respect for really talented people and respect for really good works. My dream has always been that I can write a truly great work in my lifetime. ”
Li Quan confessed that he would encounter problems that everyone would experience, "anxiety, insomnia, unable to write, self-doubt... The pressures of life are the same for everyone."
Li Quan believes that in addition to the internal factors of the creators, great works are also inseparable from the stimulation of external factors: "Have you found that songs like "We Are the World" are rare now, and people express very much of their own emotions. ”
At a time when physical records are abandoned, more and more young people do not even have the patience to listen to a song in three or four minutes, and the fragmented short video platform has become a fast food table for young people to enjoy music. Li Quan naturally observed this phenomenon, and he said with happiness: "I left the market before things developed to this extent. Before being a singer, I still cared about the reaction of the market, and after 2007, I stopped signing with a record label as a singer and only made my favorite music. I was also quite lucky to enter the record company in my teens and twenties, wanted to be famous, and wanted to express myself; I got rid of this mentality in my thirties and pursued the career I really wanted to do; when I was forty or fifty, I naturally relied on my accumulated works and experience to live more flexibly, thus avoiding a lot of pressure. ”
Today's Li Quan, who can be a wayward old boy in the world of music, told the Yangcheng Evening News reporter: "From childhood to adulthood, I like many musical forms, so I now have three different bands at the same time: jazz, completely electronic, and more popular rock." I now naturally play with friends who make different music. ”
"Be confident, good music is always there"
Although he has seen many changes in recent years, Li Quan also expressed full confidence in the music industry: "The record industry I was engaged in when I was young has now changed a lot, and the record and record companies are gradually disappearing. Jumping out, the record industry is actually a short-lived new thing, and for hundreds of thousands of years, it has never been the music itself. So, I never worry about the future without good music – every generation has the urge to express it, to write and listen to it. ”
Li Quan once firmly said: "In the next ten or twenty years, there will definitely be singers with world influence in China." He admits that the musicians of his generation who debuted in the 1980s and 1990s generally have a warm blood and persistent heart: "I want to take Chinese music out, and I want foreigners to recognize our music." But these, he feels that the current young musicians don't seem to care much, "everyone is hiding behind a game, don't think too far away."
Standing on the mentality of people who have come over, Li Quan is also full of understanding for young people: "We who make music will experience the ups and downs of mentality - dreams, disappointments, dreams again... In another ten or twenty years, young people will get bored with the state of the moment, and they may reflect on themselves and enter another state of mind and state. This cultural resurgence exists all over the world. ”
"Routine stuff, I don't know much yet"
Li Quan, who was born in 1969, has passed the fifty-year-old mark. In the middle-aged age, can still maintain a little freshness that fans recognize, is "greasy" something that Li Quan is deliberately vigilant about?
In this regard, Li Quan believes that the state of people's lives is similar to the state of singing, and they need to maintain a sincere heart and less routines. "Just like when we criticize singers, we often say, 'You sing well.'" he said. I think this musical 'oil' is similar to what everyone calls 'greasy' – when one thinks one knows society very well, treats the world in formulaic language and dress, and treats the world routinely, it will form a so-called 'greasy'. ”
Li Quan said confidently: "I think although I am a full uncle, I may not be the kind of 'greasy man' that everyone calls me." Why? Over the years, I may have learned other things, but I don't know much about the things that are routine. ”
In 2021, Li Quan's life also ushered in a major event: in the early morning of July 26, Li Quan took the initiative to share a photo of a baby on his personal social networking site, with the text "Former Servant And Successor", announcing that he had won Lin'er. Li Quan suddenly announced "being a father", which shocked friends in the music circle, including Ding Wei, and everyone sighed while sending blessings: "The confidentiality work is done well!" "It's a real surprise!"
At the age of 52, becoming a father, how does Li Quan feel? Li Quan generously shared with the Yangcheng Evening News reporter: "I am a person who is hindsighted and quite late to do this (as a father). However, I feel that the current age is just right for me, and I really didn't have much preparation before. I don't want to go with the flow at the age of thirty or forty, when everyone thinks they should be a father. At that time, I didn't approve of this matter, I felt that it might affect my life, affect my feelings about the work, affect my impulses, affect my enthusiasm... You're going to think a lot about this kind of stuff. ”
Now, the arrival of new life has made Li Quan feel real joy: "When he comes, you will feel really good." A new life will bring a lot of new things at my age. I can't predict what changes his arrival will bring to my future creations, but what is certain is that there will be changes. It's a very natural and very good thing. ”
Editor: Li Li