In 1977, when I was rehearsing cross-talk with Master Hou Baolin at his home, Master Hou Baolin often chatted with me as a junior. He said to me, "Have you heard my crosstalk that is connected to the content of life in the South?" I began to learn the Shanghainese dialect in his cross-talk, calling washing his hair "nodding his head", and he laughed. He said: "This is the dialect of learning in crosstalk. If you want to learn cross-talk, you must learn the characteristics and true meaning of southern art. For example, learning Yue opera, I learn to sing yue opera "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" in the singing section 'Xiao Bei reunited with Liang Shanbo', this is the singing section of the famous Yue opera artist Qi Yaxian, I have to learn to sing very similarly, the taste is strong, but also to maintain the characteristics of cross-talk art, the 'Liang Shanbo' playfully uses gestures to compare 'two, three, eight' (dialect harmonics), causing the audience to laugh, this is considered to be home. ”
I talked to master, and he said that there were several burlesque actors in Shanghai that he respected a lot, one of whom was called Zhou Baichun and the other was Yao Mushuang, who were one-legged actors who were loved by the audience in Shanghai. There is also a famous actor named Yuan Yiling. Master Told me that Yuan Yiling sang the tongue twister singing section "Jinling Pagoda, Pagoda Jinling, Jinling Pagoda ThirteenTh Floor", layer by layer, you can't hear where he is breathing, and the performance skills are very superb. If you have time to go to Shanghai, you must visit and learn their performances, and learn the southern style of music.
Stills of "Baby under the Street Lamp", in the middle of Zhou Baichun
This sentence is deeply imprinted in my mind. However, it was not easy for Beijingers to go to Shanghai in those days. Who pays for train tickets, where to live, how to eat, is not a business trip, there are no conditions at all.
In 1978, I performed with teacher Li Wenhua and gained a little fame in the cross-talk industry.
In the summer of 1980, the opportunity to go to Shanghai came. That year, at the invitation of Shanghai Television, we went to Shanghai to record the National Day Gala and rehearsed a program with Shanghai Shanghai opera performance artist Ding Shi'e. In this program, the director designed me and Teacher Li Wenhua to take the train to Shanghai, Teacher Ding Shi'e specially went to the station to pick us up, and we learned from Teacher Ding Shi'e. In this way, we have a chance to enter the "big world" of Shanghai.
During the week in Shanghai, we visited Yang Huasheng, the old predecessor of Shanghai burlesque, Yao Mushuang and Zhou Baichun, the top figures of Shanghai one-legged opera, and Yuan Yiling, the top figure of Shanghai rap. We also got to know yao Zhou's two disciples, wu shuangyi, Tong Shuangchun, Wang Shuangqing, Weng Shuangjie and many other colleagues. During this period, we also went to the theater to observe "Life Crossing", a Shanghai burlesque play that was very popular at that time. At that time, Wang Rugang was still a fledgling actor, like us, not very famous, he introduced us to the history of many burlesque plays and one-legged plays.
Jiang Kun and Weng Shuangjie, courtesy of the author
I can't remember who led me, so I took a bus with Teacher Li Wenhua and walked into the "Sanyuanli" of a lane on Xinzha Road in Shanghai, knocking on the door of The Shanghai Burlesque Master Zhou Baichun, whom we have admired for a long time but have never met. Teacher Zhou Baichun's home is a small Western-style building, which is very fresh for us in Beijing. Especially me and Teacher Li Wenhua, we are all from civilian families, and going to the small Western-style building is a bit like the feeling of a countryman entering the city.
The old aunt of Teacher Zhou's house opened the door for us, and we sat down in a small hall in front of a spiral staircase. The old aunt told us that Teacher Zhou was taking a nap and had trouble waiting a little longer. We thought that Teacher Zhou Baichun was close to the age of Hua Jia, and that was the way it should be. Squeezing the bus and running again, the two of us were sweating profusely, wiping our sweat while looking at this Western-style bungalow. The small foyer has a beautiful chandelier that looks foreign. The spiral staircase is also like what we see in the movie, very chic and pompous.
As we were looking around, the old aunt held a plate in her hand and brought us two pieces of ice watermelon that had been cut. "Mr. Zhou instructed the guests to prepare watermelons to cool off." It was very hot at the time, and she probably saw the two of us walking sweatily, so she didn't wait for the host to get up, so she quickly took out the fruits prepared at home to entertain us. This is not a normal treatment, and young people now do not know what kind of value watermelon was at that time. It is not something that money can buy, at that time to buy watermelons with a ticket, a family can have several tickets a month to decide how many watermelons you can buy. If there is a patient, you must have a doctor's certificate to prove that you have a high fever before you can buy watermelon. Now one might think it's a fantasy. Teacher Li Wenhua and I came from Beijing, and the Shanghainese took out their most precious watermelons, and they were chilled in the refrigerator, which made us feel very warm, a rare iced watermelon. Although we have not yet met, we have already felt the friendship of the masters of Shanghai for our northern cross-talk actors.
Zhou Baichun is with the two-character generation, and Jin Dinggen is photographed
Just after eating watermelon, Teacher Zhou Baichun came down from the upper floor: "Oh, these days filming and acting are busy, slow down!" Welcome to you, welcome to welcome! He said several "welcomes" in a series of such enthusiastic words. "I'm sorry, I was a little tired yesterday, I took a break at noon..." Teacher Zhou Baichun was too polite, and we quickly stood up: "Hello Teacher Zhou Baichun, we came to visit you today, to learn from you, to see that your body is so good, I am so happy!" "Come here, sit here." Teacher Zhou Baichun let us go to a small room next to us, although it was the first time to meet, but the two sides chatted like an extremely familiar old friend. After we expressed our respect to Teacher Zhou Baichun, we told him: "Master Hou Baolin asked us to come and visit you, and Teacher Ma Ji, the leader of our rap group, also asked the two of us to come and visit you, visit you, and say hello to you." ”
While speaking, Teacher Yao Mushuang also heard the news and rushed to the scene. This time, we learned that although the two of them have different surnames, they are brothers. Teacher Yao Mushuang lives on Taicang Road and came to meet us.
The two masters said happily: "We have great respect for the masters of Peking Opera and Quyi in Beijing. We Shanghainese love Beijing-style art. Like Master Hou Baolin and Master Luo Yusheng, they all have a lot of fan audiences in Shanghai, and if they come to our place to perform, it will be difficult for us to buy tickets here. Teacher Yao Mushuang said: "We southern actors actually have a little benefit, I can understand your words, but we may not understand us." We all laughed when we said that.
Stills from "Excellent Answer" (1978), second from the right is Yao Mushuang
Teacher Zhou Baichun also said humorously: "I tell you a 'secret', Shanghai cultured people, people with levels like the northern cross-talk, take me as an example, I am the representative!" He said, and laughed.
Teacher Zhou Baichun is relatively emaciated, and Teacher Yao Mushuang is stronger. They were about sixty years old that year, but it was clear from their faces, bodies, expressions, and movements that, despite the many tribulations they had suffered, fortunately, they were now in the spring of literature and art, and they were so spirited. Li Wenhua said: "The two masters, the actors in the north have learned your passages, for example, Hao Aimin and I have acted in "Ningbo Dialect", and the northerners like it very much. The two masters said, "We have also performed 'Drama and Dialect'! "We talked for a long time that day, and we really appreciated the unique style of Shanghai one-legged opera masters.
Bidding farewell to the two masters of Yao Zhou, Teacher Li Wenhua and I rushed to the home of Yang Huasheng's predecessors without stopping. His home is an authentic southern style and decoration, and the books piled on the shelves make people feel that their predecessors are quite knowledgeable, not ordinary dramatists. I happily told me about the movie I watched, "Sanmao Student Intentions", and Teacher Yang told me: "That's Fan Haha's masterpiece, very good." Have you seen Seventy-Two Tenants? Li Wenhua learned a few words of the pseudo-police officer's "three six nine" Shandong dialect: "I can see at a glance that you are not a good person." Master Yang was very excited, he said: "Dialect skills are our housekeeping skills, basic skills, must be authentic!" ”
Yang Huasheng (standing) attends the Peking Opera fan oratorio, photographed by Jin Dinggen
After a burst of laughter, we continued our journey to the home of Master Yuan Yiling near the Shanghai People's Art Theatre. After I told him about his master Hou Baolin's praise for him, he said very modestly: "Hou Baolin is the master, I am a small person, you see that I am playing a small person, Xiao Shandong, Wang Xiaomao, a thief, a peddler..." I hurriedly said: "You are small in the middle of the big, small in the big, not small!" "Master Le de Yuan took a fan and knocked my head melon, and the whole meeting was happy and harmonious."
40 years have passed, and many of the situations at that time are not clearly remembered, but the passage of my visit to the master in Shanghai is still vivid. The strong friendship between the artists of the North and the South, the style and tradition of learning from each other, let me always remember it in my heart.