Cover news reporter Xu Yuyang
In classical Chinese culture, poetry and song have always been inseparable. Classical poems that have been handed down to this day can be sung or recited with music at that time. Unfortunately, most of their scores have not been recorded and preserved. In order to make up for this regret, many contemporary scholars and artists have tried to restore and pass on the ancient culture. Gong Linna is one of them.
On the evening of December 19th, "Flowing Time" - Gong Linna's 24 Festivals of Ancient Poetry Concert was held at the Chengdu City Concert Hall. This concert is also one of the highlights of the 27th "Autumn of Rongcheng" Chengdu International Music Festival.
In 2010, a song "Nervous" made Gong Linna popular all over the country, and now her interpretation of ancient poetry songs and new art songs of "The Myth of Mountains and Seas" is considered by listeners to be both traditional and modern.
Teach Gong's singing voice on the spot
Immersive interaction wins the hall
Enjoy the flowers in spring, listen to the rain on summer nights, admire the moon at the autumn equinox, and watch the snow in winter. The four seasons of rhyme, the ancients have a more delicate and sensitive perception than us, and the twenty-four solar terms are the essence of the wisdom of the ancients, stringing together the time vein of traditional culture and lifestyle.
"Gong Linna Sings 24 Festivals Song" was created in 2017, and 24 ancient poems were selected from the vast classical literature, composed by the German composer Lao Gong, who penetrated the East and the West, and sung by Gong Linna. These 24 ancient poems, in terms of content and festivals, are also well-known masterpieces that everyone is familiar with; in terms of song melody, the style is rich and changeable, and each capital is its own style, which complements each other.
In this concert, Gong Linna presented 13 of the musical works of solar terms on the stage, with spring, summer, autumn and winter as four musical chapters. The presentation of ancient poetry and music on the stage will be very humanistic, Meng Haoran's "Spring Dawn", Su Shi's "Dingfeng Wave", Zhang Jiuling's "Looking at the Moon and Huaiyuan", Liu Yong's "Youth Tour" and other poems that have been passed down through the ages flow through the city concert hall one by one, with ancient rhymes around the beams, supplemented by modern singing voices, beautiful and graceful.
What is surprising is that while performing, Gong Linna did not forget to interact with the audience and teach. As soon as the performance began, Gong Linna let the audience stand up collectively and practice qi with her. The rhythmic air cavity emitted by the drum beat was shocking.
Solar Terms and Integrity:
The 24 solar terms are connected to the rhyme of ancient poetry
Before the performance began, Gong Linna accepted a group interview with reporters. "Man lives one breath, and without this breath, man has no life." Mentioning why she wanted to do a concert on ancient poetry, Gong Linna thought of this sentence that her mentor Zou Wenqin had told her. This breath does not only refer to the breath of talking and singing, but also the more important meaning it contains, which is the integrity of being a person and doing things.
"The so-called integrity is to understand what must be done and what cannot be done." For Gong Linna, all the music and sounds that have circulated in the land of China are treasures that draw strength and enrich life. In this treasure, ancient poetry is a fascinating existence.
Gong Linna recalls reciting ancient poems when she was a child, difficult and jerky, which was the lesson she was most afraid of. Now, she believes that the poetry contains a lot of ancient sage wisdom, which is where the integrity of the Chinese nation lies.
"Whenever I encounter many difficulties, internal and external entanglements, and do not know how to break through, there are always poems in my mind, I can't help but sing them out, and I immediately have the spirit, understand how to face the present, how to build character, how to have integrity - after singing ancient poems, I know how to live better." 」 Gong Linna said.
And how to make ancient poetry and songs better connected with modern life? Gong Linna believes that this bond is the solar terms. Each solar term is time, climate, and the changing law of people's labor and life.
As a traditional festival that has guided Chinese for thousands of years, the 24 solar terms embody ancient civilization and wisdom. "It was in this natural rhythm that our ancestors experienced cold and summer, sorrow and joy, birth, old age, illness and death, and endless life, which will be the theme philosophy presented in this concert." Gong Linna said that the "change" in this makes us sad, because in the face of the passage of time, everyone is powerless; and the "unchanged" in it makes us feel excited, because the flowers will bloom again, the rain will eventually stop, the leaves will fall and the next year will send out new shoots, and the harsh winter will not stop the footsteps of spring.
At the same time, she also hopes that the concert can bring stability in a rapidly changing era, "when you can't go far away, you can only entrust your dreams to poetry, you don't have to meditate, just hum a few words, you can stop in poetry." 」 ”
It is true that Gong Linna also mentioned that singing ancient poems is very different from ordinary songs, and behind each word there is its artistic conception, character, interest and ambition, which can only be expressed through the rhyme of the line.
Finally, Gong Linna also revealed that there are two new songs related to the Year of the Tiger to meet the audience this year. In addition, she is also about to appear on the CCTV stage and cooperate with "Zeng Houyi Chimes (Replica)" to sing Qu Yuan's "Ode to Orange".