【Remembrance】
Author: Shen Tiemei
I have been praying that there is no way that the day of November 11, 2021, will never come. I tried to convince myself that if I had escaped this day, my father would not have been separated from us forever. However, the reality is as cold and pale as the winter in the mountain city.
At 23:35 on the night of November 11, 2021, the 87-year-old father's heart stopped beating, bid farewell to the art of Peking Opera that he had loved all his life and his daughter, who loved him deeply, and went to another shore.
His father is worthy of: outstanding Peking Opera performing artist, opera educator, representative inheritor of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage projects (Peking Opera), the first batch of national first-class actors, the first batch of special government allowances, the current Jutan Qiandan leader...
Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Wuhan, Chongqing, Chengdu... and even Singapore, it is gratifying that I continue to receive remembrance and mourning of my father from many cultural institutions and former friends across the country, and those sincere words always make me cry:
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the China Academy of Arts, the China Drama Association and other institutions have sent condolences and unanimously commented that his father was "profoundly accomplished, accomplished, and artistically comprehensive in the field of Peking Opera art, showing unparalleled extraordinary talents, forming a unique artistic style, and becoming a family of his own..."
Shang Changrong wrote a long letter with tears: "... Big Brother Fucun is the leader of pear garden and the proud son of the art world! He is also my most respected brother! He has formed a very personalized performance style by combining the achievements of each family and leading the way, and he has actively explored and enhanced the expressiveness and creativity of the entire Peking Opera stage with his own practice and achievements";
Pei Yanling said sadly, "... Mr. Shen is my predecessor, he is a true master, I like his performance too much, I think no matter how much praise can not be exaggerated, he has his own things, in addition to these styles of "Mei" and "Zhang", in his performance also rubbed a lot of things that belong to himself. He's an all-rounder";
Sun Yumin lamented: "Teacher Shen is an idol I admire and a talented artist. His performance can provoke the psychological induction of the audience, give the audience great satisfaction and pleasure, and give us professionals a lot of inspiration, and I can learn too much from him."
……
I looked up in tears, as if I saw my father laughing and holding my hand, just as he had chatted with me countless times before he died, "I have only done one thing in my life, singing and pondering, and I can get along with art in this life, and I will not regret it in my life." ”
"Idiot" father
Dad was a dramatist, and even when he walked in the car, he would hum Peking Opera. I remember riding the bus with my father when I was a child, my father hummed Peking Opera next to the car, humming involuntarily so loud that everyone in the car looked at us, and I was embarrassed to quietly pull the corner of my father's clothes and pleaded with him, "Daddy doesn't sing, Daddy doesn't sing."
As a Peking Opera performance artist, his father is a woman with a thousand delicate attitudes in the play; outside the play, he is an iron-blooded and tender boy. He plays roles across xiaosheng, danjiao, laosheng three different professions, different genders of the field, his real, beautiful performance and beautiful, beautiful voice cavity, deeply attracted the audience, people call him "Sichuan Mei Lanfang", "Chongqing Zhang Junqiu". He is eclectic, has a wide range of plays, a sweet voice, full of water tone, while absorbing the essence of major genres, insisting on taking his own road of innovation, after long-term stage practice, he finally formed his own rigid and soft and beautiful and fresh artistic style.
Loving Father-
In life, his love is as deep as the sea
Father walked peacefully. On the night of his death, he was not alone, he had a mother who loved each other all his life, three beloved daughters of me, Hongmei and Dongmei, accompanied by his beloved disciples, students and dozens of relatives and friends. We stood by the bed and called out his name and prayed for his last journey. We saw that there was no more pain on his face, his skin was as shiny as usual, and the corners of his mouth were raised, as if he had just finished performing one of his most proud plays.
I am the eldest daughter of the family, and my earliest memories of my father come from my mother. I was born in the hot July of Chongqing, my father learned of my birth, Xingchong rushed to the street to buy nutritional products, and was so hot that he fainted on the street...
My name "Tiemei" comes from Li Tiemei of The Red Lantern. When I was born, the traditional drama was shelved, and my father, who was known as "Chongqing Zhang Junqiu", could only change his career to an old student, playing Li Yuhe and Shao Jianbo.
My father once said: "At that time, I really didn't know what would happen in the future, but I thought that even if I couldn't act in this life, I still had the next generation, and I named you 'Tiemei', which is what it means." ”
Boys to mothers, girls to fathers, this old saying is not wrong, because the family is full of girls, so combing their hair every morning has become a trouble, but the three sisters like to find their father to comb their hair. He was very patient, his hands and feet were light, and the big braids when I was a child were basically combed by my father. I remember when I was in elementary school, my parents had to leave home because of a performance, and I had to leave the three sisters who were not yet underage at home and entrust them to the neighbors to take care of them. Every time they went outside to perform, our sisters thought they didn't love us anymore. Until one morning, we sent our father, and after seeing him say goodbye to us, we quietly wiped the tears from the corners of our eyes, and from that day on, I understood that my father's love for us was so deep.
Of the sisters, I was the only one who inherited my father's business, and I trusted him and told him anything. I remember once participating in the competition, I sang very well but did not get the first place, but when the award was awarded, the teacher chose me to do the debriefing singing, I was very aggrieved, as soon as I sang it, I wrote to my father, he quickly replied, telling me that the ranking is not important, the important thing is that after this competition, you get exercise, you have been improved, the other does not need to be too calculated, the key is that the performance has been recognized by the audience.
I later learned that the letter actually made Dad very sad. Because Dad has also suffered hardships, but he has always been a person who suffers and persists in silence. When I saw that my daughter also suffered twists and turns when she was growing up, and she couldn't help herself, my heart was even more sad. He only has enlightenment to encourage us, telling us that growth will not be smooth sailing, but to be optimistic and confident. But my father still laughed at life and pursued it persistently as always. I deeply felt that my father's love was so strong that he could not be dissolved, and his emotions were as rich and delicate as the many roles he played.
Yan Shi——
Artistically, my father's harshness made me
He gave me life, and he was my guide to the door of opera, giving me artistic life. He cultivated me with strict and almost harsh requirements, and witnessed me walk out of China with Sichuan opera all the way and stand on the world-class stage.
Some people say that Shen Tiemei's singing art has never been ancient. I would like to say that my artistic achievements are far inferior to those of my father, I am just more fortunate than him, born in a good era.
I began to learn Peking Opera with my father at the age of 3, due to the opportunity to engage in Sichuan opera, from the time I was 14 years old on stage to now every play, my father will carefully guide, my father will write down my shortcomings, and even videotape home to study, tell me what is wrong, his click is always to the point.
My father was extremely demanding of my art, and it wasn't until I won the "Second Degree Plum" in 2000 that he began to praise me. But he always wanted me to be more perfect, and even watching me perform a few months before I died, he would still point out my shortcomings.
My father not only supervised me artistically, but also taught me often in terms of artistic ethics. "Tie Mei, when you see the master, be polite, 'no matter how high the bean sprouts are rushed, it is a small dish', you have to learn from your father's respect for the teacher."
His father's "three and a half" classics and "Shen's Performance Psychology and Shen's Peking Opera Performing Arts Methodology" have been recognized and admired by the industry and outside, and in his later years, he was invited to teach in major academies, opera academies and other places, cultivating a large number of outstanding successor talents. Similarly, the essence of my father's interpretation is also influencing me, allowing me to unconsciously inherit and carry forward my father's performance system, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Sichuan opera "Jinzi", "Li Yaxian", "Fengyi Ting", "Sister Jiang" and other classic works have the shadow of the father. Theorists and critics said that my father was a "drama idiot" and "a drama soul", and my father often said that I had Peking Opera in my life, and I was satisfied in this life and this life.
My father's life can be summed up as: true art, true disposition, true feelings. The special era and unique experience have caused my father to suffer a lot of ups and downs in life and career, but he has been strong or more tolerant... Father's emotions are actually as rich and delicate as the stage roles he plays.
Dad in the last days of his life because of illness and breathing are very difficult, lying in bed and do not forget to tell me to pay more attention to the cultivation of young actors, but also put forward valuable advice on the development of Sichuan Theater, let me worry less about his body, more focused on his career, he was obsessed with opera for a lifetime, and finally worried about how his art is better inherited... As the last Qiandan in China, his departure represents the end of the era of Qiandan art.
[Author: Shen Tiemei, the eldest daughter of Mr. Shen Fucun.] He is a deputy to the National People's Congress, a representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage project (Sichuan Opera), a national first-class actor, the vice chairman of the Chinese Dramatists Association, the chairman of the Chongqing Municipal Federation of Literature and Literature, and the president of the Chongqing Sichuan Theater. 】