Source: Overseas Network
On the evening of December 4, the overseas division finals were held in the cloud.
Hu Schuman participated in the "Meng Jiang Girl" in the "Cry City" singing section.
Ye Jing participated in the "Biography of Chunxiang" singing segment. (All pictures courtesy of Chen Xiaofang)
How to promote Huangmei opera to the world and spread The excellent traditional Chinese culture to all corners of the world? This is a question that many Huangmei opera masters and lovers have been thinking about. Recently, the first International Huangmei Opera Selection Event brought them together in the clouds. While commenting on one elaborate work after another, everyone could not help but have a heated discussion about how to make the flower of Huangmei opera an artistic flower bloom all over the world. The active participation of Huangmei opera lovers at home and abroad, the interpretation of Chinese children and mixed race children in English, the cooperative performance of foreign son-in-law and mother-in-law... All this makes everyone full of hope for the future.
One try: cloud promotion
Against the backdrop of the snow-capped Great Wall, the handsome -- "Meng Jiang Girl" cried softly; in the midst of the mountain flowers, a feminine lady performed the fragment of "Chunxiang Biography"; an American Chinese child performed the singing segment of "Female Pack Horse" in English; a 3-year-old mixed-race child from North Carolina, usa, and her white father sang the Huangmei opera "Playing Pig Grass" in Chinese and English in front of the fireplace... These are the video clips of huangmei opera lovers at home and abroad participating in the "Anhui Overseas Chinese Merchants Cup First International Huangmei Opera Selection Activity".
The "Anhui Overseas Chinese Merchants Cup First International Huangmei Opera Selection Activity" was initiated by Chen Xiaofang, a performance artist of Huangmei Opera in the United States and the founder of the North American Xiaofang Huangmei Art Troupe, with Zhao Baole, a national first-class screenwriter, as the chief planner, and a group of experts and famous artists active in the Huangmei Opera stage as the event judges. From the launch of the event in mid-September this year to the registration deadline on November 20, a total of more than 600 domestic Huangmei opera lovers participated in the competition and released singing videos on Kuaishou and Douyin; after the selection of overseas competitions, 34 players from the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries finally entered the final on the evening of December 4.
"Huangmei opera is one of the five major drama genres in China. However, overseas, compared with other national essences such as Peking Opera, the promotion of Huangmei Opera is worse. I myself am a professional from Huangmei Opera, and I especially hope to make a contribution to the international promotion of Huangmei Opera. At present, in the context of the epidemic, I would like to try cloud promotion. Chen Xiaofang said, "After having this idea, I discussed it with a few friends, and everyone was very supportive, which made me more confident." In March this year, we began to prepare for this event, which was officially launched in September and is now nearing completion. In China, contestants upload video works to Kuaishou and Douyin platforms; overseas, contestants submit their works to the organizing committee. ”
"As a lover of opera, a host, and a fan of Huangmei opera, I felt a very beautiful artistic feast." At the live broadcast of the overseas finals on the evening of December 4, Zhao Baole, as the host, expressed his joy. The judges carefully watched and listened to the performances of each contestant in the cloud arena for more than 3 hours, commented one by one, demonstrated guidance, enthusiastically encouraged overseas Huangmei opera lovers who "do not forget their traditions abroad", and sincerely "happy, relieved and grateful" for the participants' earnest study and wonderful performance.
According to Chen Xiaofang, the domestic and overseas competitions will select the "top ten", "ten excellent" and "top ten popular" players, and specially set up the "Huangmei New Miao" award. The overseas division awards party will be held on December 19 in Princeton, New Jersey, USA, and the domestic division awards party will be held in Beijing early next year.
A group of fans: show enthusiasm
"Huangmei opera comes from the folk, developed from the Huangmei minor key, and with the joint efforts of a group of artists, it has developed into one of the five major types of Chinese opera. I think that both inside and outside the world, fans and lovers of Huangmei opera can become promoters of Huangmei opera. Chen Xiaofang said, "This activity made me feel everyone's enthusiasm and was really happy." We signed up for this event in China through the Internet and local opera fan organizations, and as soon as the information was announced, a WeChat group of 500 people was full in less than two hours. ”
In this event, the oldest of the overseas contestants was 74 years old, and the youngest was only 3 years old; the participants came from all walks of life, including IT engineers, bank executives, government employees, accountants, retired university professors, doctors, etc.; there were senior voters who grew up in the Yellow Plum Tune, and there were also many novices who began to learn to sing from participating in this selection. The performance of many people surprised the judges.
Hu Schuman of New Jersey, USA, sang "Cry City", which made Wu Qiong, a judge who pushed this singing section in "Meng Jiang Girl" to the north and south of the river, "feel happy". "At the live broadcast of the final on the evening of the 4th, all of us got face-to-face comments from huangmei opera masters, which really benefited a lot. My "Crying City" was affirmed by Jiang Jianguo, president of Anhui Huangmei Drama Theater, and Wu Qiong. Dean Jiang's suggestion to me was to strengthen the emotional saturation a little more, and Teacher Wu Qiong personally demonstrated how to grasp the strength of the bite. Hu Schuman, who has been studying Huangmei opera for more than 3 years as an amateur, said, "This activity has made me have a deeper understanding and understanding of Huangmei opera, and I love to sing more." ”
"I am a native of Jiangsu, and before I went abroad in 2000, I liked various dramas such as Yue opera and Huangmei opera, but I never thought I could sing. In 2016, by chance, I began to participate in the activities of the North American Xiaofang Huangmei Art Troupe. Ye Jing, a contestant from New Jersey, said, "I just started learning qipao catwalks and dance, and when I saw Teacher Xiaofang leading others to learn Huangmei opera, I was attracted to the past." Since then, I have participated in every Huangmei opera training class of Teacher Xiaofang. In the past few years, I feel that I have made great progress. In order to shoot the video participating in the event, Ye Jing, a computer engineer, deliberately turned over a camera that had not been used for a long time, purchased lighting equipment, and tried to shoot it on a green background, and then computer editing.
In addition, according to Chen Xiaofang, the Canadian contestants brought the classic singing section of "Female Pony" "The Name of the Folk Girl Is Feng Suzhen", which made the judge Xu Zhiyuan feel "surprised" and thought that it had reached a quasi-professional level; another Canadian contestant sang "In the End There is Much Joy in the World", sweet singing voice and video production, which was fully affirmed and encouraged by the judge Zhang Hui...
One wish: to spread the essence of the country
"The profound Chinese culture is the common soul of the sons and daughters of China at home and abroad, and the art of opera has a long history and is a beautiful treasure in the treasure house of Chinese culture." As one of the five major types of opera, Huangmei Opera tells Chinese stories in its unique art form, disseminates Chinese voices, builds an artistic bridge between Chinese and foreign people-to-people exchanges and people-to-people communication, and plays an active role in promoting exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations. The congratulatory letter sent by the Chinese Consulate General in New York for the event reads.
Yang Bing, member of the party group, full-time vice chairman and secretary general of the Anhui Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, told this newspaper: "The 'International Huangmei Opera Promotion Activity', supported by the Anhui Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese and titled by the Anhui Federation of Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs, has been actively participated in by international Huangmei opera lovers and is about to come to a successful end. Anhui has a profound cultural heritage, among them, Huangmei opera as China's excellent traditional drama, its performance form is euphemistic and fresh, melodious and cheerful, popular population, opera stories reflect the feelings of home and country, nostalgia folklore, love stories, etc., is the image reproduction of the life of the working people and the true feelings of the revealed, strong appeal, has a wide influence at home and abroad, the classic singing section is well-known. The selection of international Huangmei opera has built a platform for display and exchange for Huangmei opera lovers at home and abroad, and is an international cultural exchange full of warmth under the epidemic. The Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese of Anhui Province actively supports the North American Xiaofang Huangmei Art Troupe to organize this activity, and hopes to take this activity as an opportunity to further broaden the publicity channels, strengthen international exchanges, enhance brand influence, and actively contribute to promoting Excellent Chinese Culture, Promoting Cultural Exchanges between China and Foreign Countries, and Enhancing the International Influence of Huangmei Opera. ”
Inheriting and promoting Huangmei opera overseas is Chen Xiaofang's wish and the direction she has been working towards. She set up an art troupe and led its members to provide volunteer performances for the community in their spare time, and was committed to letting more overseas people understand Chinese Huangmei art. Hu Schuman said: "Teacher Xiaofang has always told us that the purpose of this activity is to let more people know, love and sing Huangmei opera. ”
Chen Xiaofang said: "Everything is difficult at the beginning, I hope that this activity can continue to cultivate more overseas Huangmei opera confidants, and I also hope that artists at home and abroad can strengthen their support and contribute more to The Huangmei opera to the world." ”
Chen Xiaofang was very touched by the message of one of the contestants: "Words are not enough to express my gratitude, thank you teacher, you have worked hard, you are grateful for our efforts!" Special thanks to all the behind-the-scenes staff of this event, and congratulations to every alumni! You guys are all amazing! Let us continue to walk hand in hand and become the messengers of national culture. (Reporter Zhang Hong)
People's Daily Overseas Edition ( December 13, 2021, Edition 06)