"There are many wonderful and excellent folk arts in Shangzhou, and we have been digging them repeatedly, but we have never been able to dig them all. Over the years, we have traveled to all corners of Shangzhou and excavated more than 400 songs. In my lifetime, I must continue to do this thing! Wang Zhiru, chairman of the Shangzhou Qu Artists Association, said in an interview with a reporter from China Business Daily.
Since childhood, I have learned flower drums with my cousin
Use your spare time to practice your skills
On December 24, when this reporter met Wang Zhiru, he was lying on his bed to sort out the materials he and his team had collected and sorted over the years, written by himself. Seeing the reporter visit, Wang Zhiru was very enthusiastic, although he was over seventy years old this year, but from the perspective of the whole person's spiritual qi, he looked very young.
Wang Zhi Confucian lives near Lianhu Park in Shangluo City, and in addition to studying those materials at home every day, he organizes some people to go to the depths of the mountains to "explore treasures", and in his view, Shangzhou folk traditional music is his inexhaustible treasure.
When Wang Zhiru was eight or nine years old, he began to learn shadow puppetry with his cousin, sing small pieces, play bamboo flute, pull erhu and bass board hu. Since the age of 12, he has used the winter and summer vacations to go out with the drama team to perform, at that time, just to earn some money for the next semester, 15-year-old Wang Zhiru, through the worship of the teacher, became a formal (Hewen) drama.
Because of his love for music art, Wang Zhiru often studied music with erhu and other instruments in his spare time. Now he has trained a skill, such as flower tongue, shadow puppetry, etc., he told reporters that among the people he knows, there is almost no one who can play with flower tongue.
After retirement, he founded the Qu Artists Association
Frequent trips to the depths of the mountains to "treasure hunt"
After retiring in 2005, Wang Zhiru founded the Shangzhou Qu Artists Association, and with the support of the Shangzhou District Literary Association, he began to enter the depths of the Qinling Mountains to explore the folk music culture. Wang Zhiru said: "Shangluo is located at the intersection of the north and the south, and is deeply influenced by the Qin feng and Chu yun culture, so the wonderful and excellent folk music art is very, very much excavated. In our exploration, we found that these folk cultures are basically located deep in the mountains, and the deeper the mountains, the shallower the mountains, the less they are, and there are almost no Hirakawa rivers. ”
According to Wang Zhiru, the more remote the terrain, the more closed the information, the more lack of people's spirits, and the heavy physical labor provides people with the need to enthusiastically sing. And because of the three major migrations in history, the music culture in the depths of the mountains is very rich, it can be said that the songs, love songs, Taoist feelings, flower drums, mountain songs, nursery rhymes, folk songs, etc. are all complete, these songs are euphemistic and beautiful, crisp and lingering, making people feel endless after listening to them.
"The moon is shining, and the cow is barked to the beam..." As he spoke, Wang Zhiru began to sing, and these songs were heard by reporters who grew up in Shangzhou, but they never formally calmed down to listen to them. Wang Zhiru said: "Shangzhou folk songs are very grounded, it tells some bits and pieces of our lives, some of the tones sound very simple, but very delicate and intriguing. ”
For more than a decade, Wang Zhiru and his team have traveled to almost all corners of Shangzhou, excavating more than 400 songs. According to Wang Zhiru, like Guangdong Ping, Xiniu Trough, Yanchihe and other places, they went no less than ten times, and each time they had a new harvest. "Those who know are not as good as those who are good, and those who are good are not as good as those who are happy", because of his love for traditional music, Wang Zhiru said, although it is tiring to go out and collect songs, but he can get happiness from them, and he feels that all this is worth it.
Guo Zhikang, former director of the Shangluo Youth Culture Station, said: "I accompanied Comrade Wang Zhiru for 16 years, traveled all over the southeast, southwest, and northwest mountains of Shangzhou, and every time he went, he would be conscientious and responsible, and when he returned home, he played erhu and yangqin and personally sang to perfect the results he collected. ”
The death of many old entertainers worried him
Determined to increase efforts to excavate
"The elderly who can sing these songs are the main ones, there are very few young people, and their singing methods are mostly oral and mental records, and there are very few written records," Wang Zhiru said, "We are collecting those old artists while leaving us, which shows that these excellent things, we must seize the time and make efforts to dig it well, it can almost be said that it is imminent." ”
In the course of the interview, the reporter found that Wang Zhiru's hand holding the microphone had been shaking, but his enthusiasm in the process of collecting music art was so high that he could almost forget his real age. Sun Jianqi, director of the Office of the Shangzhou District Federation of Literature and Art in Shangluo City, said: "Wang Zhiru, chairman of the Shangzhou Qu Artists Association, is 76 years old this year, but his enthusiasm and enthusiasm for work are no less than the middle-aged and young people in the literary and artistic circles in Shangzhou. ”
"In the process of collecting, I found that these folk artists have many, many valuable things in their minds, which need to be excavated urgently. But with the passage of time, many folk music and music have disappeared forever with the death of old artists. I love the cause of quyi and do not want these excellent cultures to disappear like this, so I want to continue to do a good job in collecting and sorting out quyi in my lifetime, and continue to insist on this job. Wang Zhiru said.
Huashang Daily reporter Chen Yonghui Editor Liu Peng