#春晚 #
After Chinese New Year's Eve meal, I don't know how many people turned on the TV on time, and then scolded and grinned and opened the social software, and carried out real-time Spring Festival Gala (tǔ) movement (cáo) with friends and relatives and strange netizens.
Under the "contrast" of language programs, singing programs have won my heart.
Someone left a message, let Liu Huan, Han Hong, Zhang Ye teacher sing for 4 hours...
There are also comments that Wen Na (the band's) skewers are the only moments of communication with the family...
▲ On the twenty-ninth day of the New Year, netizens watched the real-time comments of the Spring Festival Gala. Image source: Screenshot of social platform
Year after year, those pop songs that have become classics on spring evenings, why do they sing the gods?
01
In 1983, the first CCTV Spring Festival Gala was conducted in the form of live broadcast, when 4 telephones were set up on the spot to allow the audience to call and participate in the on-demand interaction of the program.
This form is a fresh experience for the audience, and a stimulating challenge for the choreographer. After all, a little carelessness may cause a performance accident.
Unexpectedly, shortly after the party had just begun, the "accident" appeared.
The little girl who was responsible for recording the on-demand phone call walked to the director Huang Yihe with a full plate of on-demand notes, and when she looked at it, she was on-demand "Nostalgia".
Huang Yihe was suddenly embarrassed, because "Nostalgia" is a forbidden song.
▲ In the spring evening of '83, it was used to answer calls from viewers on demand. Image source: Network
On December 31, 1979, CCTV broadcast the TV scenery film "Legend of the Three Gorges" after the end of the "News Network", and the interlude "Nostalgia" sung by Li Guyi was also broadcast. One night, with a sincere and poignant singing, this song immediately became popular.
In February 1980, "Nostalgia" was selected for the Beijing People's Television program "Weekly Song", and for a whole week, only this song was broadcast in two times a day, while broadcasting and teaching. It is no exaggeration to say that people on the street were lining up to buy things and humming this song.
However, the popularity of Nostalgia was soon attacked.
Some people say that there is a "Li Lijun" on the mainland.
In the first few years of the popularity of "Nostalgia", Chinese listened to not this kind of low-pitched, tactful song, but an exciting and powerful song. With the opening up of the country, Hong Kong and Taiwan pop songs entered the mainland with tape recorders and tapes, and Chinese heard pop music that was very different from the previous styles, especially "Sweet Honey" and "He Rijun's Return" sung by Teresa Teng.
But all this was quickly accused by some people of being "mesmerizing", the reason is only that they express more love and have no "atmosphere". The singers were naturally criticized.
And "Nostalgia", which uses anthropomorphic techniques to express feelings for hometown, also "lies down with a gun" due to the lyrics and singing method.
▲ Li Guyi sang "Nostalgia". Image source: Network
Huang Yihe was faced with this full of on-demand orders in front of him, unable to decide, so he asked the little girl to find Wu Lengxi, the director of the Radio, Film and Television Department, who was not far away. When Wu Lengxi saw it, he shook his head, and the little girl left. Who knows, in the following period, the little girl brought one plate after another of on-demand broadcasts, which were still "Nostalgia".
At this moment, Wu Lengxi finally couldn't sit still. He paced back and forth in front of Huang Yihe, struggling in his heart. At this time, Huang Yihe said: "TV on demand, order not to broadcast, is not to deceive the audience?" ”
Finally, Wu Lengxi stomped his feet: "Huang Yihe, sow!" ”
At this time, Li Guyi, who was on demand on the stage and sang several songs in a row, did not know what was happening backstage.
With the host Jiang Kun reporting that "so-and-so and a few other people, they order "Nostalgia", everyone welcomes", Li Guyi sang "Nostalgia".
▲ In the Spring Festival Gala of 1983, Li Guyi sang "Nostalgia" under the audience's demand. Image source: Network
The national audience in front of the TV finally heard the song they wanted to hear.
02
Due to the popularity of the first Spring Festival Gala, the 1984 Spring Festival Gala was also a formal continuation.
The audience still has the right to order songs.
"There are a lot of on-demand notes below, on-demand Hong Kong's excellent and popular singer, Mr. Cheung Ming Min."
"Zhang Mingmin, you can talk to the audience for a few words."
"I can't speak, I might as well sing a song to everyone."
"Then on behalf of the audience, I will order you a song, "My Chinese Heart"!"
Subsequently, Zhang Mingmin, dressed in a light-colored suit, sang "My Chinese Heart" affectionately.
▲At the Spring Festival Gala in 1984, Zhang Mingmin sang "My Chinese Heart". Image source: Network
"The Great Wall of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River of Huangshan Mountain, weighs a thousand pounds in my heart; no matter when, no matter where, my heart is the same."
This patriotic song spread throughout the streets overnight, stirring up homesickness among Chinese people around the world.
"My Chinese Heart", created in 1982, originated from an offense in Japan.
In 1982, when the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology openly tampered with history textbooks and distorted the history of aggression against China when examining and approving textbooks for primary and secondary schools, it aroused the indignation of the entire Chinese nation. In the same year, Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher began negotiations, and the Hong Kong issue was put on the agenda, in view of this, Hong Kong Eternal Records approached Huang Xia and invited him to write Chinese patriotic songs.
Stimulated by the "textbook incident", Huang Xia wrote "My Chinese Heart", composed by Wang Fuling and sung by Zhang Mingmin.
▲ One of the four talents of Hong Kong, Huang Xia. Image source: Network
In 1983, when the Spring Festival Gala director team was preparing for the Spring Festival Gala in 1984, they hoped to make some innovations, introduce Hong Kong and Taiwan songs in a way that conformed to the mainstream ideology, and hoped to find Hong Kong and Taiwan singers to perform live.
They decided to go to Guangdong to find out.
In the car in Shenzhen, Huang Yihe, who is still the director of the Spring Festival Gala, overheard this Chinese song from Hong Kong: "The rivers and mountains are only in my dreams, and the motherland has not been close for many years..."
Such a powerful, emotional song, he was caught at once. After many searches, he finally contacted Zhang Mingmin and invited him to participate in the Spring Festival Gala.
However, Zhang Mingmin's trip to Beijing did not go well, and the decision on whether Hong Kong and Taiwan singers participated in the performance has not really been decided. It wasn't until a few days before the Spring Festival Gala that he was approved to take the stage.
Huang Yihe was relieved.
On the evening of February 1, 1984, Zhang Mingmin sang on stage as scheduled.
Since then, "My Chinese Heart" has sung the land of China and sung into the hearts of every Chinese son and daughter.
03
In 1985, the venue for the Spring Festival Gala was moved from the CCTV Studio to the Beijing Workers' Gymnasium.
This year, Cantonese songs were sung for the first time on the Stage of the Spring Festival Gala.
"The Great Wall Never Falls".
▲ In the Spring Festival Gala of 1985, Lu Nianzu sang "The Great Wall Never Falls". Image source: Network
In 1983, the Hong Kong TV drama "The Great Hero Huo Yuanjia" was introduced to the mainland, and was first broadcast on Guangdong Television, and then spread to CCTV and various local stations. No matter where it was played, "Huo Yuanjia" received extremely high ratings.
This TV series about the legend of the patriotic martial artist Huo Yuanjia in the late Qing Dynasty has set off an unstoppable wave of martial arts culture and Cantonese learning in the mainland.
The heat has been going on for a long time.
▲ Stills of "The Great Hero Huo Yuanjia". Image source: Network
I have seen netizens remember such a thing: in 1984, when I was still a child, after watching Zhang Mingmin from Hong Kong sing "My Chinese Heart", I was very excited, crying and shouting for my mother to call to order "The Great Wall Never Falls".
Of course, because there is no telephone at home, in the end, the netizen's mother did not call on demand, and Zhang Mingmin did not sing "The Great Wall Never Falls". He sang "Ridge Up", "Grandma's Penghu Bay" and "Country Road".
Perhaps, on the Chinese New Year's Eve night of 84 years, the audience with this regret is not only this netizen.
Fortunately, the following year, the netizen's wish came true.
On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve 1985, the national audience heard "The Great Wall Never Falls" sung by Lu Nianzu, who is known as "Guangzhou Liu Wenzheng", in front of the TELEVISION.
In the same year, the National Student Assistance Work Center invited Xu Xiaoming, director of "Huo Yuanjia" and a singer and actor, to the Beijing Workers' Gymnasium for a concert. As a result, Xu Xiaoming opened three performances in Beijing with the theme of "Feelings of Home and Country".
▲Xu Xiaoming. Image source: Network
In this performance, Lu Guochen, the lyricist of "Wan", was also in the performance team of the north. He once recalled in the article: "This performance was very successful and still excites me to this day! ”
He probably didn't expect that Chinese love for the song he composed was also unforgettable to this day.
Some say it's a Cantonese version of the national anthem.
04
The reason why a classic is a classic is because it can make people have countless moments on the head, which can be affectionate or cheerful.
In 1987, Fei Xiang from Taiwan, who brought warmth to the national audience on the cold winter night, was the first Chinese singer on the Spring Festival Gala stage.
At that time, when Fei Xiang, dressed in a red suit, tall and handsome, sang on the stage, he did not know how many viewers in front of the TV set were captured.
▲ In the Spring Festival Gala in 1987, Fei Xiang sang "Clouds of Hometown" and "A Fire in Winter". Image source: Network
On the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, before the singing, Fei Xiang said: "I am very happy to be able to spend the Spring Festival in Beijing, and I want to share this excitement and happiness with you. This time back in my homeland, I met my grandmother for the first time. Then he kissed his grandmother, who was sitting in the audience.
▲Fei Xiang kissed his grandmother. Image source: Network
He presented his first song on the Spring Festival Gala stage, "Clouds of Hometown". He said the song was dedicated to my grandmother, my mother, my hometown.
"The wind of my hometown and the clouds of my hometown soothe my wounds."
After singing, Fei Xiang gently wiped away the inconspicuous tears from the corners of his eyes. And Fei Xiang's grandmother was also silently drying her eyes with a handkerchief.
Immediately after, Fei Xiang said: "I also have a hundred-year-old grandmother, in my hometown in Shandong, who may be sitting in front of the TV at this moment." I would like to dedicate another song to her, to all the audiences. ”
At the end of the conversation, Fei Xiang, who had just made a deep love, suddenly sang and danced and sang "A Fire in Winter".
Fei Xiang's writhing posture and cheerful singing not only made the audience excited, but also made thousands of viewers in front of the TV set excited.
This fire from Fei Xiang ignited everyone's expectations and enthusiasm for the new year.
▲Fei Xiang. Image source: Network
05
On the eve of entering the 90s, the most impressive thing about the 1989 Spring Festival Gala was Wei Wei's "Dedication of Love".
At the scene of the party, Wei Wei sang affectionately to a sobbing girl during the tea party.
▲ At the Spring Festival Gala in 1989, Wei Wei sang "Dedication of Love". Image source: Network
Who is this girl? She is a nanny who once worked in the home of Nie Weiping, the "Chess Saint", for several years, Gong Yixia.
In 1987, Providence tricked the girl, who was not yet twenty years old, to suffer from a spinal giant osteoma and suffered unbearable pain. After expert diagnosis and treatment, the cost of treatment of this disease is at least 20,000 yuan. In the year when the average monthly salary is only about 100 yuan, this cost is extremely difficult for the girl's family. And for the Nie family, the old employer who has already run for her a lot, it is also difficult.
In January 1988, when the editorial board of a newspaper learned of the incident, it reported on Gong Yixia's plight. Subsequently, the public reached out to help and made donations. In this way, Gong Yixia's surgery fee was quickly settled.
After the operation, Gong Yixia recovered well. At that time, under the medical level, patients suffering from this tumor could return to a state of upright walking and self-care, which was a medical miracle.
Soon, Gong Yixia received an invitation from the director team of the Spring Festival Gala and went to Beijing to participate in the Spring Festival Gala in 1989.
At the scene of the party, Gong Yixia once again met her former employer and benefactor, Nie Sister and Nie Brother. What is even more unexpected is that a singer sang her story throughout the country with a song "Dedication of Love".
The girl snuggled up to the person next to her, sobbing as she listened.
In this story, there are unfortunate mortals, and there are even more kind "supermen". There is no blood relationship between them, but because of their kindness, they have condensed into an invisible, solid whole, creating many miracles.
"As long as everyone gives a little love, the world will become a better place."
Truth, goodness and beauty are the most touching melodies in the world. At that time, the people who listened to this song were all untouched.
Later, Chinese every time he was in trouble, he was indispensable to "The Dedication of Love".
06
When the time came to the 90s, everything was developing rapidly, and people were dazzled. The popular songs at the Spring Festival Gala are also dazzling.
The Chinese music scene has ushered in a new era of pop.
Back in the last decade, the 1980s was the beginning of the Chinese mainland recording industry.
In 1979, Guangzhou Pacific Audio-Visual Company was established, and after a year, it produced 8 million cassette tapes and recorded almost all well-known singers in the mainland. Since then, the mainland has begun to mass-produce pop music, and followed the example of Hong Kong by record companies to sign with singers, playing the idol card.
It took about a decade for this kind of learning and imitation to gradually mature in the mainland pop music scene, including the emergence of original pop music and the emergence of the first batch of youth idols in the mainland: Chen Lin, Mao Ning, Yang Yuying and others.
▲ Mao Ning and Yang Yuying, the earliest batch of domestic "small fresh meat". Image source: Network
At the Spring Festival Gala in 1993, Mao Ning sang "The Sound of the Waves Remains". This song sings about the early 1990s, a blend of tradition and popularity:
"The moon's cry is always a thousand years of wind and frost, and the sound of the waves still does not see the original night... How do you and I repeat yesterday's story today, whether this old ticket can board your passenger ship. ”
▲ In the Spring Festival Gala of 1993, Mao Ning sang "The Sound of the Waves Remains". Image source: Network
Creator Chen Xiaoqi said: "In fact, this reflects the state of 'marginal people' of our generation, that is, it is in the gap between traditional culture and modern culture." The lyrics of 'Can this old ticket board your passenger ship' express the confusion on the edge. ”
Subsequently, at the Spring Festival Gala in 1995, the audience ushered in a carnival of original pop music: many popular idols from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan gathered together.
The first generation of jade idol Yang Yuying sang "Tell You Gently", and the sweet and green state in love came out one by one, and how many people were drunk in her sweet singing.
▲ In the Spring Festival Gala of 1995, Yang Yuying sang "Gently Tell You". Image source: Network
Yang Yuying
The old wolf in the white shirt sang "You at the Same Table", filling the gap in the mainland campus folk songs of the 90s and pouring out the glory of that generation of college students.
Andy Lau, one of Hong Kong's "Four Heavenly Kings", sang "Water of Forgetting Love", interpreting the fragile emotions of men, resonating with countless listeners, and continuing to blow the whirlwind of Hong Kong idols on the mainland.
▲ In the Spring Festival Gala of 1995, Andy Lau sang "Forgetting Love Water". Image source: Network
Three years later, the Spring Festival Gala program, which has appeared most frequently in many memorable film and television works so far, turned out to be a reality.
Na Ying and Faye Wong sang "Meet 1998" on the spring evening of 1998.
▲ In the Spring Festival Gala of 1998, Na Ying and Faye Wong sang "Meet 1998". Image source: Network
This performance has become an insurmountable classic in the history of the Spring Festival Gala, not because the song title and the year coincide, but because the song contains people's expectations for a new life after 20 years of reform and opening up, as well as the joy of the recent reunion of Hong Kong and the mainland for a hundred years.
Meet in the sweet spring breeze
Meet that eternal youth
Heart meets heart meets heart meet
Meet year after year
No matter how far away you are
All kinds of beautiful pictures show people's yearning and love for a warm and happy life.
People are in love, running to the future.
07
Stepping into the millennium, the world connected to the Internet has gone faster.
The Chinese pop music scene in the 21st century is also developing towards pluralism and disorganization. Pop music such as ten thousand horses galloping, thousands of streams competing, a large number of excellent Chinese musicians have appeared one after another.
People's aesthetics are becoming more and more diverse, they can accept various styles, and also fully welcome the arrival of Japanese, Korean, European and American trends. At that time, we used Mp3, Mp4, mobile phones to listen to songs, and with a little hand, we could immerse ourselves in the world of music.
In this environment, a young man named Jay Chou brought his unique works to the spring festival gala stage many times, setting off his own trend.
▲ In the Spring Festival Gala in 2004, Jay Chou sang "Dragon Fist". Image source: Network
There is "Dragon Fist" in 2004, "Blue and White Porcelain" in 2008, "Compendium of Materia Medica" in 2009, "Orchid Pavilion Preface" in 11 years, and "Confession Balloon" in 18 years.
Jay
These works on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala are full of 21st century-style Chinese cultural inheritance and innovation.
▲ In the Spring Festival Gala in 2009, Jay Chou and Song Zuying cooperated in singing "Materia Medica + Spicy Girl". Image source: Network
Of course, in addition to Jay Chou, on the Spring Festival Gala stage after the millennium, there are many styles of excellent pop music that have become classics.
In 2006, a Mongolian family sang "Three Treasures of Auspiciousness", the lyrics are interesting, the melody is light and refreshing. For a long time, I could hear an adaptation of the song on TV commercials.
▲ In the Spring Festival Gala of 2006, Burenbayar and his wife Uzina and their little niece Ingmar sang "Three Treasures of Luck". Image source: Network
And "Legend" and "Because of Love" sung by Faye Wong on the Spring Festival Gala stage, and "Wind Blowing Wheat Waves" sung by Li Jian and Sun Li, have become the most discussed pop works in their Spring Festival Gala that year.
That year, with Wang Zhengliang singing while broadcasting on the big screen, the photos of parent-child time are still deeply engraved in my mind: the children are gradually growing up, and the fathers are gradually getting older.
▲ In the Spring Festival Gala of 14 years, Wang Zhengliang sang "Where Has Time Gone". Image source: Network
The audience really shed tears, and the audience in front of the TV also expressed their tears on the Internet.
"Why do people pay so much attention to these photos? I think everyone who looks at these pictures wants to ask themselves, where has the time gone? Host Zhang Guoli said.
Such a real experience was actually 8 years ago.
In recent years, when it comes to the singing programs in the Spring Festival Gala, most of the "theme" songs that come to mind are sung by several star groups.
These songs sound and seem to be very lively, but they always feel that something is missing.
Some viewers want a sense of realism.
08
There is a saying called, "The Spring Festival Gala of Flowing Water, The Iron Teacher Li Guyi".
Since the first Spring Festival Gala, Teacher Li Guyi sang 9 songs alone, and so far 39 years, she has participated in more than 20 Spring Festival Galas.
Together with Teacher Li Guyi, there is also his earliest singing of "Unforgettable Tonight". Since 1984, "Unforgettable Tonight" has been the ending song of the Spring Festival Gala for more than 20 times.
Preparing for bedtime in the song of "Unforgettable Tonight" has become an indispensable "new folklore" for many people to welcome the New Year.
▲ The last song of the Spring Festival Gala in 22 years, "Unforgettable Tonight". Image source: Network
Now, when the audience sees a program that is not satisfied, some people will tease them, "It is better to directly play "Happy Tonight".
Some netizens said that in the previous Spring Festival Gala, the stage was old and the programs were new; now at the Spring Festival Gala, the stage is new and the programs are old.
In recent years, the audience has become more and more unsatisfied with the Spring Festival Gala, in addition to the unsatisfactory quality of the performance, the main reason is that the choice of program content is difficult to satisfy.
Although in recent years, some Spring Festival Gala song programs can be classified into the scope of "not bad", but it is only good, far from reaching the point of making people feel relaxed or emotionally bursting.
Audiences, what they need is the songs they want to hear, the shows they want to watch.
Looking forward to coming.
Resources:
Li Yang, "The Unbanned Story of 'Nostalgia'",China News Weekly," No. 13, 2008
"Sound Moving China" Writing Group: "Sound Moving China: Chinese Stories in Seventy Years of Singing", Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, 2019
Lu Guochen: Behind the Lyrics, Oriental Publishing Center, 2016
CCTV: Witness Says Zhang Mingmin, interview program, 2017