On January 19th, ke Jun, a famous Kunqu performance artist, was invited by the "Meet in Beijing" Olympic Cultural Festival and the 22nd "Meet in Beijing" International Arts Festival to perform the original Kunqu opera "Gu Yanwu" with all his efforts at the Tianqiao Theater. On January 21, his new book "NianBai: Ke Jun Kunqu Diary" was officially published by Jiangsu Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House. In the book, 210 diaries record the bits and pieces of his artistic life in front of and behind the stage from five aspects: inheritance, behind-the-scenes, exchanges, monologues, and daily life.
He used a lot of ink and ink to recall the stories of his relationship with his mentors and relatives and friends, and also recorded the unforgettable experience of learning and passing on art from art to art over the years, and sincerely revealed the mood in daily life. Ke Jun said: "Through this book, we can see the real, bitter, determined, crazy, hard, cute, and annoying self, and can find a self that can be praised, and discover a different life of an artist." ”
"NianBai: Ke Jun's Kunqu Diary" is also the last part of Ke Jun's "Kunqu Book Trilogy". From the "most traditional" of "Talking Opera", to the "most avant-garde" of "Su Kun", and then back to the "most innermost" of "Nian Bai", Ke Jun not only used the exquisite performance on the stage, but also used the frank words on the paper to communicate with sincere emotions, expressing his endless love for Kunqu art. As he himself often said: "Crush yourself and achieve Kunqu opera." ”
I wanted to be a soldier but unexpectedly became a Kunju martial artist
Ke Jun's real name is not actually Ke Jun. Because his father had participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea in those years, he had admired the People's Liberation Army since he was a child, and when he entered elementary school, he took it upon himself to change his name to "Ke Jun." I thought that this name could make me a soldier in the future, but I didn't expect to go to the road of Kunqu opera art in ignorance. Coincidentally, the Hanyu Pinyin abbreviations of "Ke Jun" and "Kun Opera" are both "KJ", perhaps with their own fate and providence.
Ke Jun learns art, not only has providence, but also talent. His physical coordination from childhood is good, he is the radio operator of the whole school; coupled with the inner military complex, he is willing to endure hardships, very strong, no matter how difficult and tedious the action, the teacher let him do it as many times as possible. Ke Jun recalled that when practicing in those years, the rattan whip in the teacher's hand was drawn on his body, "The middle of the whip mark is white, the two on the sides are red, and the red edge is white." After the fight, it was as if it had been burned by fire, and it hurt fiercely. ”
In his new book, Nian Bai, the word "pain" appears about 180 times before and after. Ke Jun recalled one of the injured experiences: in 1994, when he performed "Vazidu", he stepped on the gap in the carpet and broke his right foot, and then took off and fell to the ground, hurting so much that he could not get up. But after he insisted on standing up, he did a 540-degree turn to take off zombies, horses, etc. After the first half of the performance, his feet seemed to be swollen into a bun, but he still stepped on the stage again with thick-soled boots, completing the "string table tiger", the chair "upside-down fork tiger", the hair throwing kneeling, the three tables "down high", and the 900-degree turn to take off the zombie. Not only was his foot injured again, but his ribs were also broken, but he still endured the pain of the whole scene and ushered in the endless applause from the audience.
Ke Jun often blurted out, "I'm a martial artist!" In his mind, Wusheng is a hero, a carrier of spiritual integrity, and a belief that supports him to overcome various difficulties. He who still insists on "practicing three nines in winter and practicing three volts in summer" believes: "Actors should care for each other, but they should not be pampered, they should eat the hardships they should eat, the losses they should eat should be eaten, and the sins they should suffer should be suffered." Since I was a child, my mother has said that I am a self-inflicted person! Along the way, I have suffered a lot of suffering, suffered a lot of losses, and suffered a lot of grievances, and I will resolve myself. ”
Seal engraving and calligraphy accompanied him through the most difficult days
In addition to the pain of flesh and skin when studying art, the pain of broken humerus ribs when performing on stage, as well as the pain of continuous gout and the pain of vigorous "snake entanglement"; what makes Ke Jun even more painful, there is also the grief of his mother's death but not around; the heartache of teacher Zhang Jinlong becoming a vegetative person and being able to lie in bed for more than ten years; and Kunqu opera once suffered from snubs, and he suffered from life torment and inner pain.
When Ke Jun walked out of the school, it was the most depressed and bleak day of Kunqu opera, and he could not perform several plays a year. So he went to learn seal carving, and earned money by carving words in the lobby of a five-star hotel. "For a long time, people asked me what I was doing. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm a Kun opera performer. When is there a time when our generation of Kunqu people is lower and darker than the time of the 1980s and 1990s? ”
Fortunately, Ke Jun is a person who can withstand loneliness, and the calligraphy and seal carving hobbies cultivated during the lonely period have nourished him. Even after his busy work, he still maintained his love of calligraphy and seal engraving, and used it as inspiration for his creation. In 2004, Ke Jun's first innovative experimental Kunqu opera "Afterglow" was inspired by the art of seal engraving. Another experimental Kunqu opera, "Zang Ben", also combines calligraphy and seal engraving with Kunqu opera.
"With my limbs flying on the stage and my pen and ink swimming on rice paper, I often feel the dark passage between Kunqu opera and calligraphy." Ke Jun said so. Calligraphy and seal engraving not only nourished his soul, but also nourished stage creation, such as the structure of "loose horse running and airtight" in calligraphy, and the ever-changing shape of seal engraving between square inches, all of which have great inspiration for his innovation in the art stage.
Therefore, behind the pain, Ke Jun's heart is more grateful, grateful, and nostalgic; it is an infinite love and endless love for kunqu art. As he said when he recalled his mentor Zhang Jinlong: "Without his whip, I could not have suffered so much, and only after suffering and suffering would I love deeply; without his whip, I would not have been able to inherit so many plays, and I could not have had such a good foundation in martial arts, and I would not have been able to walk on today's Kunqu opera stage." This whip allowed us to practice Tong Zi Gong, spurred us to keep moving forward, and let us practice consciously guarding the heritage of Kunqu Opera. As he still clearly remembers, on September 23, 1993, when he was 27 years old, he worshipped the 85-year-old master Zheng Chuanjie as a teacher: "Not only to kowtow to the teacher, but also to kowtow to Kunqu." What the teacher passed on to me was not only drama, what he passed on to me was virtue, the truth of being a human being, and the devotion and responsibility to Kunqu opera. ”
He was hurt by his apprentice but never thought about returns
However, the art and love that Ke Jun inherited from his mentor faced the crisis of no one inheriting it. In 2008, Ke Jun was designated as the inheritor of Kunqu Opera, and he took the initiative to choose his apprentice Yang Yang, hoping to pass on what he had learned in his life. Unexpectedly, the apprentice bowed his head and replied coldly: "Let me consider it!" Let Ke Jun fully feel the complex discomfort mixed with loss, chagrin, speechlessness, hurting self-esteem, hot face sticking to cold ass. As a result, he could only recover some unpopular martial arts on his own, and he continued to eat the pain of skin and flesh and practice acting hard.
Until one day, Yang Yang finally came to Ke Jun and said: "I have considered it well, and I am willing to work in the Kun Theater with peace of mind and learn drama from you." In the face of this long-awaited moment, Ke Jun's heart was like a fresh spring breeze, and he really wanted to give his apprentice a sentence of "let me consider it." But when the words came to his mouth, he swallowed them again, because he knew that it was not easy for young people who were now engaged in Kunqu opera. "In this materialistic society, where they are paid meager wages, guarding lonely homes, and practicing inhuman deeds, what reason do I have to ask them to suffer the suffering they do not want to suffer, the sins they do not want to suffer?"
Ke Jun, who understood and considered the difficulties of his apprentices, not only passed on his own family dramas to Yang Yang one after another, but also created various opportunities for him to learn and perform. The concert version of "Peach Blossom Fan" was performed in Switzerland, and Ke Jun gave up the opportunity to star In Shi Kefa to Yang Yang. He said: "There is only one light on the stage, and it should be more bright for young people." Performing in Stockholm, Sweden, Ke Jun first let Yang Yang perform the traditional Kunqu opera "Night Running", and then performed the experimental Kunqu opera "Night Running". Near the end of the play, he held a large red belt and handed it to Yang Yang; Yang Yang knelt down on his legs to bow to him, and he also knelt on both knees to salute Yang Yang, and the two masters and apprentices hugged each other tightly and mixed the "worship of the master" ceremony into the play.
When the original drama "Gu Yanwu", which Ke Jun considered to be "the most important play in his life", appeared at the China Arts Festival, he only performed three scenes of "Si Gui", "On the Test" and "QingLing", and the other three "Tips Mother", "Shocking Monument" and "Prison" were performed by Yang Yang. He said: "Inheritance is not blindly learning from the teacher. Students should use more brains, in addition to learning the teacher's singing and making a table, they should put their mental efforts on thinking more about the characters and pondering the laws of Kunqu opera, rather than staying on imitation. Ke Jun came to Beijing to perform "Gu Yanwu" this time, and also brought Yang Yang to show the fusion of the two versions of "Famous Artists" and "Youth Edition". He said: "At my age, there is no problem in playing Gu Yanwu physically and mentally, but the inheritance work is not waiting for you to be unable to act, not waiting for the imminent death to think of inheritance, not waiting for the shadows of the ancestors to be gone before vowing to rescue and protect." ”
Yang Yang also gradually understood the painstaking heart of his mentor Ke Jun. Yang Yang said, "I have hurt the teacher's heart fiercely. At that time, Kunqu opera was still in its trough, and Teacher Ke wanted to take me as an apprentice, but I said that I should consider it. For more than 10 years, the teacher did not give up on me because I had hurt his heart, he has always guided me, like a teacher, like a father, without reservation, dedicated to teaching me drama, never counting the returns. Therefore, for so many years, I have always had a wish in my heart, that is, to kowtow to the teacher and perform a worship service in this traditional way. But Ke Jun said: "Students must know 'thanksgiving', and teachers must know 'unloading grace'." We must understand that we are the inheritors of Kunqu opera, and only Kunqu opera should be grateful, only the ancestors should be thanked, and only the audience should be satisfied. ”
Persevere all the way in the artistic life that leads to your dreams
Ke Jun is not only the inheritor and explorer of Kunqu art "Shouzheng Innovation", but also a leader and manager who has long been committed to the dissemination and development of Kunqu opera. During his tenure as the director of Kunqu Theatre, he created the country's only Kunqu website "Universal Kunqu Online", which expanded the spread and appeal of Kunqu. During the difficult period of the transformation of the literary and art reform troupe into an enterprise and a restructuring system, he led the Kun Opera To bite the bullet, tenaciously forge ahead, and killed a bloody road in a difficult environment, holding 148 individual special performances, accumulating 214 traditional plays for the Kun Opera.
Today, he is the chairman of the Jiangsu Dramatists Association and the general manager of Jiangsu Performing Arts Group Co., Ltd., the burden on his shoulders is heavier, and he thinks more questions, but he has never put down art, has always insisted on creation, insisted on performance, insisted on reading, insisted on thinking, and also insisted on writing, recording in front of and behind the stage, art and life in the form of a diary. Since June 1, 2017, he has written a daily diary, "I know that my life is an artistic life, and my artistic path is the road of kunqu inheritance and dissemination, which is my life." ”
Ke Jun revealed that he also made a 23-year plan for himself. In addition to writing a 3 million-word diary, he also plans to publish his own collection of seal carvings, and dreams of performing the most difficult Kunqu martial arts drama "Battle against the Knife" with his grandson Xiaoyuan at the age of 80. Ke Jun said: "For this dream, I have to insist on practicing every day and insist on performing on the stage. I must learn from the teachers of the previous generations, do not lose effort, and have a healthy body, a healthy body, and a pleasant body and mind. ”
Source Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Wang Run
Edited by Jin Liwei
Process Editor Wu Yue