In the 1960s and 1970s, model plays were popularized throughout the country. Whether it is in the fields, streets and alleys, stations and docks, the sound of singing model plays can be heard everywhere.
At that time, there was no electricity in the countryside, and every night, it was dark. Watching TV is a matter for the people in the city, and it has nothing to do with our countryside. Watching the drama is the greatest spiritual enjoyment and fun of our villagers.
Small plays such as oratorios and origami plays, villages of hundreds of people can still form a team, and it is not so simple to perform a big drama. In general, the village is either unable to put together actors, or the economic strength is insufficient and there is nothing they can do.
Our village is the hometown of Lu Zhonglian during the Warring States period, located at the head of the Three Realms, and is one of the old revolutionary base areas during the War of Resistance Against Japan; there are more than 3,000 people, the economic foundation is good, and all kinds of talents are born.
The village not only has a decent stage, but also has its own amateur "art troupe". Most of the cast members are various literary and artistic backbones selected from the middle school students and outstanding young people in the village.
At that time, the labor remuneration of actors and service personnel was in the form of work points for production teams. Ordinary actors and service personnel are credited with 10 points per day, and the main cast and crew are credited with 15 points. Such treatment, at the time, was enough to make the rest of the village envious.
The village art troupe is not only active in the village, but also often invites to tour other brother villages during the New Year's Festival. That formation, exactly like the current star walking on the field, busy all day long.
Entering the Layue Gate, the village art troupe began to form a team and was busy with rehearsals. The official performance on the stage will not wait until after the twenty-third year of the Waxing Moon.
Watching a village drama is like catching a big set. In order to grab a good position, the children quarreled with each other. When the opening is held, the gong and drum sound, and the whole front of the stage, for a moment, is silent. Looking around, there were people everywhere, the water was not clear, and the black crows and crows were crowded with theater watchers from the eight neighboring villages.
At that time, although there were only a few plays such as "Red Lantern", "Sha Jiabang", "Wise Tiger Mountain", "Surprise Attack on the White Tiger Regiment" and so on, the scene was full of people.
The village art troupe has two "tai pillars", one is Yang Wenxiang, an Ah Bing-style folk artist, and the other is his student Xiao Qin.
Yang Wenxiang has suffered from eye diseases since childhood, but he is talented and has an innate talent for music, no matter what kind of repertoire he "smells and understands"; he can master all kinds of folk instruments and rap art; he is also a well-known folk harp player inside and outside the province. In the 1960s and 1970s, it once dominated the province's literary and artistic performance activities. Many of the plays performed in the village were choreographed and directed by him. In the dozen or so players, he was the first player in Jinghu. His most "unique skill" is the use of the falling piano, vividly imitating the Peking Opera "Sha Jiabang - A Wisdom Fight" in a song in which Three Different Characters of Ah Qing's Sister-in-law, Diao Deyi and Hu Chuankui sang.
The most eye-catching is Xiaoqin, the actor of Li Tiemei in "Red Lantern", and many fans are rushing to her. She married from Lizhuang in the south of the city to the village of Li, and was once the protagonist of the county qu art troupe, singing Henan pendants. One meter sixty-five tall, with two large black and thick braids, embedded with a pair of watery eyes, a white and red duck egg face, a smile blooming two shallow dimples; the round and beautiful singing voice is even more fascinating. In particular, the red lantern record "Painfully Talking about the History of Revolutionaries" a play, every performance, is full of emotion, wonderful to the extreme, and still can not be forgotten.
Every year, the thirtieth and the first day of the first year are the climax of the singing drama. The lights on the stage are bright, and the people under the stage are crowded and lively. Villagers from the four outer and eight townships were even more prepared. Therefore, there are also additional performances every day. Although the actors are hard, they are full of spirit and enjoy it.
The Peking opera "Wise Tiger Mountain" is the most popular play of the masses, and every year it is fixed as a major play, and it is performed in the Chinese New Year's Eve and the first day of the first year. Yang Zirong, played by Lu Shizhong, and Zhang Zhaotai's whitewashed mountain sculpture, in the eyes of the public, the cooperation between the two of them can be described as seamless and amazing.
Once, when "Wise Tiger Mountain" was performed to the sixth scene to break into the bandit cave, the bandits approached Yang Zirong's disguised bandit Hu Biao with knives, only to see the mountain eagle with a gun and shake his hand to extinguish a lamp hanging in the "Weihu Hall". When the audience was eagerly waiting for Yang Zirong to extinguish another light, they forgot to pull the gate in the background and did not hit it several times. Seeing that they were about to smash the field, the audience all pinched a cold sweat for Yang Zirong on the stage. In a hurry, in order to save the platform, the mountain eagle sitting on a high place hurriedly said: "Old Hu, I see that you don't have those two shots, right?" Even a light bulb can't be extinguished, it seems that your marksmanship is still really not good!" A few lines that are not in the book, amusing the audience laughing. Years later, this story still becomes a joke in the village.
With the progress of the times, especially after the reform and opening up, rural literature and art have also developed in a more prosperous direction. Village opera, song, dance, ethnic instrumental music, and other folk culture and art with local colors have mushroomed rapidly. In the 2004 Cultural Tourism Festival, the Villagers' Inter-Village Art Troupe represented the county in Liaocheng City and won two awards.
Today, there are very few older generations of rural cultural artists active on the stage. However, due to the attention of the superior leaders, a large number of rookies stand out. Zhang Rongchuan's Shandong Kuaishu and Zhang Rongyin's Erhu solo are quite influential in the local area.
Especially in the event of major festivals, the village art troupe is more active than ever, and the performance repertoire is more colorful.
In recent years, newly staged Lü operas such as "Little Sister Xian", "Wang Hanxi Borrowing the Year", "The Record of the Wall", "Sisters Are Easy to Marry", and self-written and self-performed small dramas "Four Models of Sisters-in-Law" and "Cracking Down on Organized Crime and Eliminating Evil" are all popular among the villagers. Although the repertoire is small, it is natural and simple, and it is not tired of watching.
(Author: Lu Lianli)