In the picturesque Narathi Grassland of Xinjiang, melodious and gentle songs sounded, and several people danced with it, everything was as beautiful as a painting.
The music travel documentary program "Singing While Walking" kicks off, and the river band meets the old wolves to form the first chapter, "Wandering at the End of the River". Among the familiar figures, an elegant lady catches the attention of the audience. She is Frenchman Anna Es Martin, 42 years old. Many people know her because she is the wife of actor Liu Ye. However, she is more than that, she is a photographer, theatre planner, and lead singer of River.
Anna and the River Band
As an important landmark of Beijing's nightlife, Sanlitun has become an important symbol of Chinese bar culture. Anna's relationship with Chinese folk songs begins quietly from the moment she steps into the river bar. 20 years ago, Anna was a French exchange student at Beijing Normal University. On the recommendation of a friend, she learned about the Wild Children Band, and the very inconspicuous river bar in Sanlitun was founded by Xiao Suo, the lead singer of the Wild Children Band.
Anna sings at a river bar in 2002 Photo by Jesse Feng
For those obsessed with Chinese folk songs, the river bar is a utopian presence. Zhou Yunpeng described the atmosphere of the bar in an article: "Often a person just sang a song on the stage, jumped on a drummer, then the saxophone came up, the accordion joined, and finally the stage and offstage became a symphony orchestra." "The free musical atmosphere overflows in a performance venue of more than 20 square meters. Anna, who was sitting in the audience, couldn't help but go up on stage and beat the tambourine. This cheerful foreign girl left a deep impression on Zhang Weiwei and others.
Wan Xiaoli, Xiaohe, the Wild Child Band, Anna gradually mixed with each of them into a good buddy. "They're from the Northwest, there's some Western elements in the music, and my DNA recognizes some of the feelings of thousands of years ago." After singing and dancing, Anna often brought some Records of European music to them, and Zhang Weiwei recalled this time and also mentioned that Anna influenced his musical aesthetic. "She brought us music from all over the world and made us feel like we were in sync with the world."
Anna and Zhang Weiwei
The short exchange of life is coming to an end, the night before leaving Beijing, Anna also spent at the River Bar, before parting she gave the ending song of "Schindler's List" and a Jewish song "Golden Jerusalem" to her old friend, and the reluctance and sadness were also integrated into the song.
Anna, who has been thinking about her old friends since returning to China, was given a chance to work in China after graduation as a photojournalist for the French photo agency. After a six-month absence, Anna immediately went to the River Bar as soon as she arrived in Beijing, and this time, Anna used her camera to record the youth of Chinese folk singers.
Anna Ismatian
Anna's lenses are delicate and calm, in addition to photographing several old friends in the river bar, Anna's photography practice is very rich, in 2004 she began to shoot photos for Time magazine as a portrait photographer, and later published the photo collection "Portraits of China". In 2009, Anna took the theme of "Naked Truth" and took all-vegetarian photos of five female stars such as Jiang Wenli, Hao Lei, and Gao Yuanyuan. They took off their costumes and showed their true faces.
In 2017, Anna's photo exhibition "Temperature" was held in Beijing, and there are many memories of the river bar in many works. Perhaps touched by the memories after watching the exhibition, Anna and Xiaohe, Zhang Weiwei, Wan Xiaoli and Guo Long together formed the River Band in 2018, named after the river to commemorate the years in the River Bar, and the first album released, "Anna and Her Friends", became a witness to Anna's friendship with Chinese folk songs for more than ten years.
The Wandering Song
Old friends reunite, giving birth to endless ideas. In 2020, Anna starred in the musical drama "Wandering Song" with Zhang Weiwei, Wan Xiaoli and others, and Anna played the protagonist Ann. When "Wandering Song" came to Shanghai to perform, the reporter interviewed Anna. She said: "These people are doing a musical play together, it must be about wandering. When we met, I came to China from France with my school bag. Carrying guitars and accordions, these people came to Beijing from all directions. Their songs are inseparable from this word, just as the river should flow. ”
A family of four
Anna has many identities, but the first thing she mentions is still her wife and mother, "Because I am Liu Ye's wife, The mother of Nina and Noyi, I can stand here, and I am very grateful to them." Old friend Zhang Weiwei also said: "Anna has paid the most in the past twenty years is the family, and now she has to call her husband 3 times a day." However, in the eyes of several friends, Anna's talent and artistic pursuits, as well as her wandering temperament, are the most fascinating.
The old wolf sang a song "Beauty" in the program: "Beauty is so beautiful that people love, it is the dream that sends you, you exist for us, don't hurt my heart." When Anna's chant joined in, Beauty was even more beautiful.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shi Chenlu Text Editor: Zhang Yi Photo Editor: Xiang Jianying
Source: Author: Guo Sheng Wu Tong