The two-year epidemic has not stopped the pace of the "Zifeng Chinese Women's Orchestra", a professional female Chinese orchestra that is about to enter its eighteenth year, and has almost traveled to large and small theaters and concert halls in China. In 2021, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the orchestra staged nearly 20 performances across the country, almost full. The "Red Song" part was deliberately added to the repertoire, such as "Red Detachment of Women" and "My Motherland and Me", which was welcomed by local audiences.
As the orchestra's pipa principal performer, Jing Yinfang is quite touched. Recently, she said in an interview, "Judging from this year's performance scene, the audience seems to be more enthusiastic than ever, and from the perspective of the enthusiasm of the audience, everyone is indeed inseparable from music." ”
Speaking of the "Zifeng Chinese Women's Orchestra", it goes back to 2005, when Luo Guiyong, a chinese national music performer and famous music planner, was preparing to prepare for the establishment of the New Era Chinese Music Orchestra "Jiufeng Mingle Chinese Women's Orchestra". In the sea selection, Jing Yinfang, who is about to graduate from the China Conservatory of Music, stood out and opened her professional music road. In August 2006, the orchestra performed successfully for the first time at the Poly Theater in Beijing. After performing at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 24, 2007, it was announced that it was officially renamed as "Zifeng Chinese Women's Orchestra".
This group of girls with flourishing style, high skill, and many years of background in science and class has brought a fresh and flexible, fashionable and people-friendly national art style to the noisy and flashy music scene, so that the national music that was originally "sitting on the edge of danger" has a "new era" interpretation and footnote. At this time, at the turn of the new and old centuries, the international music scene blew up a new wind of fashion culture, in people eager to see the "fresh" culture of the desire, this "new folk music" wind soon swept the country, even overseas has also produced a great sensational effect, frequently appeared in overseas major music festivals, won many international music awards.
Unlike other "New Folk Music" groups of the same period, the biggest feature of "Zi Feng" is that they never use any Western musical instruments, and from the bones they insist on spreading Chinese art from the East. No matter how the musical expression changes and how the stage is integrated, they have not changed their original intentions, and this persistence has been seventeen years.
Between 2007 and 2008, "Zi Feng" was invited to tour Southeast Asia, which is the way they have become accustomed to performing. Although after several successful rounds of large-scale performances, Jing Yinfang is still a little worried about their upcoming tour to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama and other cities in Japan, Japan is a country that pays attention to tradition, and does not know whether to accept "Purple Phoenix" and their new folk music. After the first performance in Tokyo, Japan, they performed their first performance with all the local Chinese instruments, which won warm applause and praise from the local audience. Unexpectedly, after the concert, the famous Japanese composer and Masao Ha deliberately ran to the backstage to express his strong interest in the Chinese pipa through translation, while Jing Yinfang, who had just experienced more than two hours of non-stop performance, did not have time to remove makeup and rest, and with the cooperation of the translator, he had an in-depth exchange with Masao Ka, and gave him an instrument demonstration on the spot, helping Masao Ha solve the problems that had plagued him for many years about pipa performance. Afterwards, Jing Yinfang did not take this small matter to heart, on the way to the next tour, Jing Yinfang received a good news, and Kawa Masao specially tailored three Japanese folk music for "Purple Phoenix", full of his love for the instrument of the pipa.
From the beginning of her childhood to the present, Jing Yinfang has long been integrated with the pipa in her hand. In the decades of disseminating national art, she has won many awards, but she has not put herself in an unattainable position, she knows that she is an ordinary folk music artist, and there is still a lot of room for exploration in pipa art. She said, "In my eyes, folk music does not matter between new and old. Folk music art can be liked by the people, so that more people like national music through our performance, which is the thing that makes us most pleased. ”
In addition to playing in the orchestra, Jing Yinfang has also cooperated and exchanged with some foreign artists, and spread pipa art in public welfare activities, using the pipa as a window to promote Chinese classical art and traditional culture, and introducing it to more friends who love Chinese culture. She said, "As a member of 'Zi Feng', as time goes by, I feel more and more the weight of the mission on my shoulders. Every time I stand on the stage, I think the most is not whether my image today is good enough, the stage is not dazzling enough, I am tired or not, but I hope to get more feedback and resonance from the audience. ”
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Tian Wanting
Editor/Bow Lifang