Author: Shanjia
Luo Dayou, known as the godfather of music in the Chinese world, has always loved his works "Childhood", "The Way You Look" and "Pearl of the Orient". And he himself said that the most favorite lyric in this life is "Forever Smile" - people in your heart, you don't want to be sad, may your smile, always be like that...
At a concert, Luo Dayou deliberately used this song as the finale track to pay tribute to the author Chen Gexin. He said: "The power of music is really great, and Mr. Chen would not have thought that the song he left behind fifty years ago would touch another composer fifty years later." ”
Chen Gang, one of the composers of the violin concerto Liang Zhu, is also the eldest son of Chen Gexin. Luo Dayou smiled at Chen Gang and said: "This song I sang when I got married, although divorced, this song will always be in my heart..." In fact, this "Forever Smile" was composed by Chen Gexin for his wife Jin Jiaoli. Chen Gang confessed that this song is also a portrayal of parental love, and her mother Jin Jiaoli will always be her father's needle of the sea god...
01
Chen Gexin was born in Shanghai in 1914. Grandpa is an aristocrat from India, and Grandma is a Shanghai woman, so Chen Gexin's blood has the gene that Indians can sing and dance. In the 1930s, Shanghai was known as the Ten Mile Ocean Field, where there were many Jewish musicians. In order to support their families, they live by teaching private students, which also creates good conditions for many Chinese students to learn Western music. Chen Gexin studied piano and composition with the German musician Meyer, and followed the composer Frank to learn the composition. Famous teachers and high apprentices, Chen Gexin naturally has an extraordinary musical temperament.
In 1933, Chen Gexin worked as a music teacher at a girls' high school in Shanghai. At that time, he always wore a flat ironed dark blue bamboo long shirt in class, although half of it was white, but the elegant and handsome between the eyebrows always attracted the young and budding female students in the school. Jin Jiaoli is one of Teacher Chen's many suitors. Miss Jin, with outstanding appearance, her father is also the general manager of WuGong Hotel in Shanghai, and her family is well-off. The most rare thing is that Miss Jin herself, not only the school flower of the girls' high school, but also works as an announcer on the glass radio station of the new company, independent and self-reliant, and has countless suitors.
02
Miss Jin herself, alone likes Teacher Chen. Looking at each other, Teacher Chen also has a secret affection for Miss Jin. In order to confirm his premonition, Teacher Chen specially sent a purple New Year card to the Jin family, with four words written on it: "Lawlessness".
Yes, Miss Jin's heart was moved, and the Prince Charming in this life is Teacher Chen's buddha- But Father Jin disagreed, our Jin family is a devout Muslim, but the Chen family believes in Buddhism from India, and the beliefs are different, which is one of them. Besides, the Chen family is in the middle of the road, where can life be compared with our Jin family? If the daughter marries over, doesn't she want to drink the northwest wind, this is not OK! Marriages that don't have the right door, don't talk about them!
But Miss Jin did not care about Chen Gexin's poverty and wealth, she had the feeling of drinking water, and she wandered in love with Teacher Chen. The two not only dated frequently, but also met in Hangzhou to visit the West Lake. The thing that worries the Parents of the Jin family the most happened, the daughter is pregnant, how can this be good? In desperation, Jin's father had to agree to his daughter's marriage, but there was a premise, Chen Gexin could believe in Islam. In 1934, Jin Jiaoli married her teacher Chen as she wished. And Chen Gang, lying in his mother's belly, also participated in the wedding. Years later, Chen Gang recalled that the customs and habits of our family were always in accordance with the requirements of the Hui family.
03
The power of love is always intoxicating. In the first year after marriage, Chen Gexin joined hands with dancer Wu Xiaobang to create China's first musical "Xi Shi". After that, Chen Gexin became the gold medal composer of EMI Company, a song "Rose Rose I Love You", which made singer Yao Li famous in one fell swoop. One-third of Zhou Xuan's songs by the golden voice came from his handwriting. At that time, the singers in Shanghai Beach were proud to sing Chen Gexin's songs.
Chen Gexin is a fast hand, and can write three or four songs in one night. Whenever a song is completed, his wife, Jin Jiaoli, is his first listener. At this time, Chen Gexin will always confidently say: "Tomorrow, take it out, it will be all popular!" ”
Yes, Chen Gexin has this confidence, and Yihua, Guohua, and Datong Film Companies all invited him to compose music. After the song was completed, Chen Gexin took his son out to bathe, clean up, and then eat a delicious meal at the food stall in front of the house. The people take food as the sky, eat well, have sufficient energy, and naturally have the energy to upgrade and fight monsters and compose new music.
04
In 1940, Shanghai became an isolated island. Many underground party members were captured by the Japanese army, and Chen Gexin was also deeply disturbed, because he had written anti-Japanese songs such as "Through this cold winter", and it was inevitable that he would be arrested. Just when Chen Gexin was worried, when he returned home, he looked up and saw his wife smiling like a Mona Lisa, he suddenly had inspiration, grabbed a pen and paper, and described this love as a musical score, which is "Forever Smiling". Every sentence in the song is a true portrayal of this pair of lovers.
The calm days soon ushered in a storm. On December 16, 1941, Chen Gang remembered that when he was 6 years old, he was sleeping in a small room when suddenly a flashlight pierced the quiet night. His father, Chen Gexin, was handcuffed with Lu Xun's wife, Xu Guangping, and was taken to the infamous No. 76. The agents of No. 76 did not expect that Chen Gexin, who seemed to be weak, was so strong after being severely tortured, that he only insisted on one sentence, "I am Chinese"... It was not until 1942 that Chen Gexin was rescued.
But after his release from prison, Chen Gexin seems to have undergone some kind of transformation, he entered the "Huaying" music department directly under the Wang puppet government, and wrote regrettable works, among which the military song for the Kamikaze Special Attack Team of the Japanese Air Force is an indelible stain.
05
In 1946, after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Chen Gexin was arrested and imprisoned for "traitorous crimes", and after 15 days, he was acquitted. At this time, he was unemployed and helpless, and did not know where to go. Xia Yan, who was far away in Hong Kong, entrusted others to see Chen Gexin and suggested that he go to Hong Kong for development. After much thought, Chen Gexin still set foot on Hong Kong land. Old friends here, such as Zhou Xuan, Bai Guang, and Yao Li, are like on the beach, often coming and going. Chen Gexin's depressed mood was swept away, he felt more relaxed than ever, and a masterpiece "Congratulations" was born.
When Chen Gexin recalled writing this song, he confessed: Since I was released from prison in 1942, I once felt like I was in winter. I must encourage myself to spend this cold winter like the songs I wrote myself, while writing some lyrical songs for the sake of life. Until 1946, at the request of xia gong, he arrived in Hong Kong. I felt the warmth of approaching spring, which led to the work of "Congratulations".
From 1946 to 1950, these four years were the happiest days in their lives. However, the homeland is difficult to leave, in the dream, Chen Gexin always misses the grass and trees of Shanghai, so the legendary work "Night Shanghai" came out. This song also marks the peak of Shanghai's "Shanghai culture".
In 1950, at the invitation of Xia Yan, director of the Shanghai Bureau of Culture, Chen Gexin returned to Shanghai with Zhou Xuan. But Chen Gexin would never have imagined that in 1957, his classics would become yellow songs. Although he did not say a word at the meeting, he was still branded as a rightist and was sent to The Baimaoling Farm in Anhui Province for labor reform.
06
His wife, Jin Jiaoli, seems to be delicate, but at the critical moment, she refuses to divorce, and she is willing to wait for her husband to return from reform. As a mother, with four children, Jin Jiaoli took up the burden of the family. She copied sheet music for the Shanghai Orchestra day and night, in exchange for 72 yuan, while maintaining the minimum living at home, while taking out money to buy food and medicine for her husband. Hazy days, always depressing, but every time Jin Jiaoli goes out, she will always clean herself up, she knows very well: wearing clothes and hats, is also a person's dignity, although the husband is labor reform, but with me, the sky can not fall...
Every year during the Spring Festival, Jin Jiaoli travels from Shanghai to the farm to reunite with her husband. Chen Gexin loves to drink black tea the most, and without water, he uses muddy water that has just washed his shoes and puts it in a small lead bucket to burn tea. The two sat facing each other, just like at home in Shanghai. Just a cup of tea has not yet been drunk, the whistle in the labor camp team sounded, the car was about to leave, Jin Jiaoli's heart was like a knife, and she could only wave goodbye.
In 1961, Chen Gang returned home and overheard his mother's wailing. It turned out that the telegram that had just been received said that Chen Gexin had died of heart failure. In fact, the answer has long been hinted at, every time Jin Jiaoli sees Chen Gexin, she feels that Fujun is getting thinner and thinner. Indeed, lack of food, malnutrition, and heavy physical labor finally prevented a generation of song immortals from surviving that cold winter. It was January 25, 1961, and Chen Gexin was only 47 years old. In 1962, Jin Jiaoli took a small wooden box and retrieved 206 bones of her husband Jun, as well as the kerosene lamp that accompanied him for four years...
The blessings are unmatched, the misfortune is not alone, and the second son, Chen Hao, is also classified as a rightist. A mathematical prodigy from Fudan University was assigned to a farm in Jiangxi to raise pigs. Chen Hao couldn't get over this hurdle, and he thought about it several times in his heart, "Once you die, you know." Knowing the mother of Mo Ruo, Jin Jiaoli came to Fudan University to talk to her son, "Your father died in a foreign country, I am a woman, and I took him back alone." Although all thoughts are gray, I have never thought of the word 'death'. It is my son, so I must not give up on myself, otherwise I will not be my son. His mother's words and the fate of his mother's widow were all presented in front of Chen Hao, and he found the courage to live from despair, which his mother brought to him.
After many years, the eldest son Chen Gang sighed: "My mother has experienced too much suffering, if it is a slightly fragile woman, I am afraid she will not be able to bear it." Even in such difficult circumstances, she can still be full of confidence and love life, which is the wealth that our whole family can not use. “
Life is sometimes cold and rainy and late wind, but brave people can turn dangers into disasters. Winter came to spring, and in 1979, Chen Gexin was finally rehabilitated. At the end of 2010, Jin Jiaoli passed away peacefully at the age of 94. "I can't give anyone to take away, the only spring light, I can't let anyone blow out, the sun in the chest", still singing...