Selection of good materials, shaping system, grooved belly, open bottom plate, heqin, inlay accessories, mounting summer cloth, coarse ash, coarse grinding and audition, fine ash, push top paint, string loading, seal engraving... The cutting of a guqin takes at least one to two years to go through the above dozens of steps. Therefore, the harp is the most artistic way to hone one's heart.
Born in a family with a strong guqin atmosphere, The post-80s non-hereditary heir Ou Hongshan has been curious about guqin playing, restoration and cutting since childhood. In 2010, he devoted himself to the inheritance of the Lingnan Guqin, and with the guqin from little known to widely known, he is now a representative inheritor of the municipal intangible cultural heritage of guqin art (Lingnan school).
Under the influence of Junhong, the representative inheritor of the provincial intangible cultural heritage of guqin art (Lingnan school) and his father, he participated in the restoration of more than a dozen guqins such as "Tuning Yuan" in the Yuan Dynasty, "Ya lu Qi" in the Ming Dynasty, and "Luan Ling" in the Qing Dynasty.
Ou Junhong, Ou Hongshan father and son. Ou Hongshan (left) holds in his hand the "Sword Que Qin" created by him.
"Observing the inscriptions of the guqin is like traveling to various dynasties to talk to the deceased, and the time that every violinist and collector can accompany the violin is limited, but we hope to continue the inheritance of the guqin culture."
With the change of the times, Ou Hongshan chose to use a new way to build a bridge of communication between ancient skills and modern people, so that guqin culture can "touch the net and break the circle" and enter the lives of more people.
When I first entered the piano door, it was difficult to find the perceived sound
Ou Hongshan was born with a curiosity and closeness to the guqin, and before he formally learned the skills of the guqin, he learned the humming of guqin songs in a subtle way.
From the age of 13, he began to follow his father in the restoration and cutting of the guqin, starting with small accessories and slowly polishing the lacquer tire. Even the color of the lacquer on the guqin is modulated by itself, mainly grinding with antlers, but also using mineral raw materials such as cinnabar.
Ou Junhong saw that he was willing to learn and was happy to teach patiently. At that time, the concept of inheritance was not so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, but it was naturally affected by spontaneous interest in the family atmosphere, not deliberately.
"Technique is just the movement of the hand, and it takes a year or two to master most of it, but the taste of the piano and the ideas conveyed need to be understood after a long period of immersion."
The guqin slowly melted into Ou Hongshan's childhood memories, so that it was difficult to use a clear time to define when he began to learn the guqin. Because most of the people around him did not understand the guqin, When he was a child, Ou Hongshan often felt depressed and could not find a confidant.
Later, he was admitted to Guangdong University of Foreign Studies to major in business English, and occasionally went to the foothills of Baiyun Mountain with his classmates to play the piano after class, which led some students to learn guqin. After graduation, he entered the foreign trade industry, and the proportion of guqin in his life became smaller, and he would only pick it up again in the small circle of relatives and friends in his spare time.
Au Hong Shan in the studio chopping the piano.
The turning point took place in the early 21st century. In 2003, the Chinese guqin art was selected by UNESCO as a representative work of oral and intangible heritage of mankind. In 2008, the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games made the world hear the sound of the Chinese guqin.
Ou Hongshan felt that the state paid more and more attention to traditional culture, and people from all walks of life and all ages became interested in the guqin. Around 2010, he chose to return and devote himself to the inheritance of Lingnan guqin.
Not long after, Ou Hongshan encountered the collision and run-in of the two concepts of guqin innovation and inheritance. More and more people wanted to learn the guqin, and he began to consider whether he could break the tradition of one-on-one teaching and teach multiple people at the same time.
Will it be bad for multiple people to learn together? Will the guqin art, which has always been regarded as the "white snow of Yangchun", go towards vulgarization? With these questions in mind, Ou Hongshan had an in-depth discussion with his father, Ou Junhong. The final answer is that the traditional form must be retained, and on the basis of one-to-one inheritance, small classes of multiple people can be appropriately added.
"On the basis of inheritance, we must always pay attention to the needs of society and conform to the current trend." Ou Junhong is very open-minded about innovation. "Playing the guqin at temple fairs and on the streets was a fantasy in the past. However, because the state attaches importance to the inheritance of traditional culture and performs to the public on appropriate occasions, it can achieve better publicity effects, and the two do not contradict each other. ”
The touch net broke through the circle and flew into the ordinary home
In the past ten years, Lingnan Guqin has gradually flown into ordinary homes, from single-digit students to hundreds of students every year, and the teaching place has changed from home to Lingnan Tianhongqin Hall located on Dade Road in Yuexiu District. With the advent of the Internet era, the "touching the net" of intangible cultural heritage has become a major trend, and Ou Hongshan has brought the guqin to social media, and from time to time uploads some videos of guqin performance on douyin and video numbers.
"The guqin's circle is very small, and it has only spread in the elegant elite cultural circle for so many years. In order to increase the depth and breadth of the dissemination of guqin art, it is necessary to use a new platform and play a wider range of themes. "On the Douyin platform, in addition to the traditional guqin songs, foreign famous songs such as "Edelweiss", classic songs in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Dream of the Red Chamber" are well interpreted by the guqin.
Ou Hongshan uploaded a video related to the guqin on the video number of the Tianhong Qinguan.
Extensive materials are not the same as arbitrary. Au Hongshan will observe the overall style of the repertoire, express ideas and the degree of collocation of the guqin, and selectively adapt it. For example, the theme song of the four masterpieces is arranged according to the central idea of traditional Chinese masterpieces, and on this basis, the interpretation will not go out of place and will not deviate.
"Through more platforms, more communication channels, and more people know about us, we can better inherit." At the insistence of Ou Hongshan, the Lingnan Tianhong Qinguan he operated launched Dianping and Meituan.
In line with the professional advantages of business English, Ou Hongshan will communicate with foreigners on various occasions from time to time to push guqin to a broader platform. In 2011, when Ou Hongshan first brought the guqin to the Guangfu Temple Fair on Beijing Road, he noticed that some foreign tourists were curious about the guqin and eager to try it.
At the "Guangzhou Night" in Davos in the summer of 2017, Ou Hongshan played the famous guqin song "Flowing Water" for Schwab, chairman of the World Economic Forum, and introduced the traditional Chinese guqin culture to Schwab in fluent English. At the 14th Fortune Global Forum held in Guangzhou, he used his own "JinSitong" piano to play the famous guqin song "Shenren Chang" to the economic leaders, participating members and their spouses.
Ou Hongshan introduced traditional Chinese guqin culture to Schwab in English.
In his view, culture and art is a universal language. "I have many foreign students who spontaneously understand the traditional Chinese guqin culture." Au Hongshan said that the guqin may have touched their hearts and resonated in some ways, so they needed a way to learn how to pluck the strings.
However, unlike the Western learning method of recognizing the score first and then playing, in the process of guqin teaching, it is often necessary to teach fingering first, cultivate musicality through humming, and finally recognize the score, focusing on the on-site hand-to-hand teaching method.
Inherit innovation, not blindly seek innovation
With the change of the times, the white snow of Yangchun is no longer difficult to find.
Returning to tradition itself, what is mutable and what is immutable?
Ou Junhong gave his own answer: the most fundamental thing is to retain the essence of tradition. The methods and methods of dissemination can be diverse, but consideration should be given to serving traditional culture, rather than changing the essence of culture.
Returning to the Lingnan guqin itself, that is, the traditional playing style and taste are not suitable for change, but can have a personal style. On the contrary, the guqin performance is regarded as "ping-pong and ping-pong" like playing cotton tires, which is a departure from tradition and sensationalism.
It can be seen that innovation is not blindly seeking innovation, but creating new ideas and new styles on the basis of understanding and grasping the law.
This is particularly evident in the cutting and reform of the guqin. From material selection to lacquering, every step tests the skills of the luthier, and it is the most painstaking way to restore the guqin. In the past 50 years, Ou Junhong has repaired nearly 20 guqins and restricted 150 new pianos.
The guqin is not only a cultural relic, but also able to produce sound, so the requirements for restoration are higher. It is not only necessary to "repair the old as old", but also to reproduce the tone of the guqin.
Ming Dynasty Guqin Ya Luqi.
Twenty years ago, Ou Junhong inadvertently obtained a bed of Ming Dynasty Guqin Ya luqi, more than 650 years ago. But when she first got her hands on it, Ya Luqi not only did not have a head, but even the body of the piano also had a "hunchback" phenomenon.
If you want to repair the guqin, you must first connect the head of the piano, and you must also correct the "hunchback", otherwise the strings will stick to the surface and cannot play the sound. However, the lacquer ash cannot be damaged during the correction process, because the lacquer ash passed down from generation to generation is the most precious, and if the lacquer ash is shaved off and repainted, it will cover the tradition.
Under the dilemma, Ou Junhong realized the method of repairing the "hunchback" guqin from the orthopedics' orthopedic techniques. Use pairs of wooden triangular wedges to penetrate through the slits on both sides of the guqin and slowly flatten the guqin. In this way, it took him more than a year to connect Ya Luqi's body and head.
At that time, Ou Hongshan was his father's deputy to xiuqin, and he participated in the restoration of many guqins in the Qing Dynasty and even the Yuan Dynasty, of which yaluqi's restoration impressed him the most. He recalled that by opening the cavity of the guqin, he could clearly see the thickness of the cavity and the position of the tone, and gained a lot of experience in making the violin.
Taking Gu as a teacher and combining his own experience, Ou Hongshan created the "Sword Que Qin" with his own style and charm, integrating the rigidity and softness of the qin and the sword, in order to pay tribute to the diligent learning concept of Yang Xinlun, the master of the Lingnan School of Guqin, "QinXin Sword and Guts".
It is the inheritance of skills, but also the inheritance of culture
"The course of history is not subject to the will of man, and man must always adapt to the new environment in order to follow the pace of history." Ou Junhong sighed that when he was 30 years old and followed his teacher to learn the piano, the strings were made of silk and silk, and now they can be replaced by rayon and other forms.
As can be seen from the changes in the strings, the technique is dynamic and developed. However, the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage is not only related to skills, but also to the infiltration and cultivation of cultural cultivation.
Entering the Lingnan Tianhong Qin Hall, five or six beds of guqin are regularly arranged, and the walls around them are hung with calligraphy and paintings, heirloom guqin and harp tools. In this space, there are not only guqin, but also calligraphy, seal carving, Taiji sword and many other traditional Chinese cultural elements.
Guqin Art (Lingnan School) Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative Inheritor Ou Junhong in Lingnan Tianhong Qin Museum.
Ou Junhong studied under Yang Xinlun, the grandmaster of the Lingnan Guqin Generation.
Born in a family of traditional Chinese medicine, Ou Junhong learned Qihuangshu since childhood, learned martial arts at the age of 8, and after the age of 15, he attacked seals and practiced cursive calligraphy. In 1975, when he was 29 years old, he began to learn guqin cutting, restoration and performance with Yang Xinlun, the grandmaster of the Lingnan Guqin Generation.
Some commentators said that he inherited the Lingnan style of Master Yang Xinlun's "robust, cheerful and bright", coupled with the fusion of traditional Chinese spiritual essences such as tai chi, golden stone, and calligraphy, forming a personal style of ancient clumsiness and ancient remoteness.
Traditional Chinese culture is truly integrated into all aspects of Ou Junhong's life, and even in his daily life, you can see him dressed in Tang costumes, accompanied by pen and ink paper, taiji sword or guqin.
"For a culture and art, the coordination of styles is very important." Ou Junhong spoke deeply and slowly, but without losing his own insights. He believes that the matching of clothing and guqin is not deliberately made for others to see, but lies in its own coordination. "If you wear Tang costumes or Hanfu to play the guqin, the visual atmosphere will give people a very coordinated feeling, and wearing a suit is another feeling."
"Strictly speaking, according to the tradition of the guqin, we also have to bathe, change clothes, and burn incense to bring the soul to a higher level." Ou Junhong said that if you can burn incense in the traditional study and communicate with the audience who can enjoy the guqin, so that there is a resonance between the listener and the player, it is the most perfect state.
Ou Junhong always emphasizes that "it is natural and comes from the heart". In his view, playing the guqin is not to perform for others to see, but to calm his own soul.
"I have always stressed that according to personal interests, we can truly learn and inherit the essence of Lingnan guqin." For example, Ou Junhong said that among a hundred students, there are very few people who can really master the guqin, and perhaps 10% of them cannot reach it. Being able to persevere and become a backbone student, with the ability to pass on the inheritance, depends on fate.
This process can be described as "big waves and sand", not only to look at the innate conditions of the individual, but also to work hard enough the day after tomorrow. As a new generation of inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, it has also become the new mission of Ou Hongshan to continue to inherit the culture behind the Lingnan guqin.
Zhiduo D Guqin
Also known as "qin", "seven-stringed qin", also known as "green qi", "silk tong", etc., is a kind of horizontal stringed instrument. Guqin art is the oldest in Chinese history, the highest artistic standard and the most national spirit, aesthetic taste and traditional artistic characteristics of the instrumental music performance form, in addition to solo also includes singing and playing both piano songs and harp ensembles. The data from the current archaeological excavations confirm that the guqin shape system has been completed by the Han Dynasty at the latest.
Lingnan guqin art is mainly spread in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province and the surrounding areas, and its origins can be traced back to the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Influenced by the two schools of Confucianism and Taoism, it has formed a style of clarity and elegance, gentleness and elegance, elegance and tranquility in terms of repertoire, musical structure, timbre and playing techniques. His piano music mostly laments the world, sends love to the landscape, and pursues the realm of neutralization and tranquility, and his representative works include "Water East Tour", "Bijian Flowing Spring", "Fishing Tree Q&A", "Deification Introduction" and so on. In addition, the Lingnan school also has famous pianos such as "Heavenly Worm", "SongXue", "Zhenyu", "Narcissus", etc., and the Qingyin Yazhuo and the Chuanzhi Fa song are in harmony.
Written by: Nandu reporter Wang Meisu Intern Li Xukui Chen Wuhong
Photo: Nandu reporter Chen Chong
Some of the information comes from the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network