Shi Guangnan: If you want to know me

Author: Guan Makimura (famous mezzo-soprano singer)

I met Mr. Shi Guangnan in the 1970s, when I was still working in a factory and singing amateur. He is already a world-renowned musician. When I approached Mr. Shi Guangnan with "Playing the Tambourine and Singing", a kind of singing artistic resonance connected our artistic lives. As Shi Guangnan's teacher's lover Hong Ruding said: It is precisely because of Shi Guangnan that Guan Mucun can sing so many beautiful songs; it is precisely because of Guan Mucun that the songs created by Shi Guangnan can be so well expressed and be familiar and loved by more people.

Shi Guangnan is guiding Guan Mucun

Teacher Shi Guangnan believes that to sing a song well, you must deeply understand the mood of the song. "Toast Song" is a cheerful lyrical song with distinct characteristics of the times. But it is not enough to have only cheerful emotions when singing. Here there is the joy of tears, and there is the joy of going through vicissitudes. Only in this way can we sing his creative mood. When I sang, I tried my best to express a sense of depth and heaviness.

Teacher Shi said that "Phoenix Tail Bamboo in the Moonlight" must have the mood of moonlight. When Singing this song, I strive to sing the pure and beautiful emotions of young men and women under the hazy moonlight, warm, clear, and gentle, with a happy and mysterious mood. Wang Guowei said that artistic creation has a threefold realm, and singing should also talk about the realm, which I think is the essence of singing art.

Teacher Shi insists on creating vivid works of art in deep life. As the vice chairman of the All-China Youth Federation, he often leads everyone to go deep into life. I remember once we went to Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan to comfort the ethnic minorities and the masses in poor areas, and in a month's time, we performed more than thirty times. In Xishuangbanna, the lyricist Xiaoguang wrote a lyric: "The river where the peacock yearns is my hometown." The Burmese osmanthus flowers under the betel nut tree are intoxicating, and the sugarcane forest in front of the golden bamboo building is overflowing with honey. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Auspicious peacock yo, why not nostalgic for this beautiful place? Teacher Shi was so excited that he immediately composed the song "The Place where the Peacock Yearns". The next day we sang to the local people, who heard the song and couldn't help but dance. Soon the song spread in the Dai area. Teacher Shi also composed many ethnic minority style songs such as "Wonderful Tibet", "Beijing Fishing Song", "Red Cotton Lullaby", "Tianshan Red Rose", "Turpan Grapes Ripe" and so on. Some of them were written by Teacher Shi in depth into life, and some were created after he carefully studied the local culture and customs.

Once, after Seeing my impromptu free dance, Mr. Shi decided to create a song and dance drama "Gypsy Girl", he did a lot of research work, completed the abdominal draft, but unfortunately did not fall on the paper, and left us. But his passion for life and his fiery creative enthusiasm left an indelible impression on me. Teacher Shi insists on taking the road of nationalization of art songs and artistic national songs. This is also an artistic pursuit that we all intend to do. He said that our national songs have a very good origin and inheritance. We want to make the national song artistic, make her more beautiful and further sublimate the art. At the same time, we must make art songs suitable for the public to enjoy and be loved by the public. Like "A Sister's Heart" and "Waiting at Dusk", they are both popular and beautiful, and have been sung for a long time.

I was the lead actor and lead singer in the movie "Bright Moon on the Sea". The Aquamarine Dream suite is a recognized art classic. The distinctive feature of these songs is the perfect unity of nationalization and artistry.

Mr. Shi's meticulous attitude towards his work has set an example for us. His requirements for us are extremely strict. Once I participated in a performance at the Asian Games, the song was "Raise the Golden Cup Full of Fine Wine" specially composed by Mr. Shi for the Asian Games. At that time, I thought that this song would not have too many opportunities to sing in the future, so I did not seriously memorize the lyrics, and I sang with the song score when Singing. After Teacher Shi found out, he seriously criticized me, he said: "Being a good artist, every time you can't be sloppy in front of the audience, watching the song score and singing, how can you enter the state and better express your emotions?" "Since then, every time I sing, I have told myself not only to memorize the lyrics, but also to memorize them before facing the audience.

When performing the singing section of Nanhou in the opera "Qu Yuan", there were several passages that were more difficult, and at that time I wanted to make some changes, Teacher Shi saw my thoughts, and he insisted on teaching me to sing. He said that this is the need to show the role, and if there is difficulty, do not reduce the requirements. I insisted on practicing, and after completing the role task, I could see that Teacher Shi was more satisfied.

Almost every song has an unforgettable story behind it. An old scholar wrote to me: "After listening to your songs of Shi Guangnan, my blood pressure dropped." Another young person from re-education through labor wrote to me: "The "Toast Song" you sang greatly infected me, making me feel the value of life, see the light and the future, and have confidence in life." Thank you for giving me the courage to be a man again. "The grapes of Turpan are ripe" also saved a love and achieved a marriage. A Xinjiang girl wrote to me that her name was Anarhan and that her boyfriend's name was Crimea, just like the song. More coincidentally, her boyfriend is also a soldier in the People's Liberation Army, stationed at a frontier post, which is the same as described in the song. The plot is slightly different, in reality, Analhan is very dissatisfied with the relationship because he is separated from her boyfriend. When she heard the song I sang, she thought about her situation and was deeply ashamed, feeling that she was not as enlightened as the Analhan who sang in the song, so she reconciled with her boyfriend as before. By sending me this letter, I am thanking them, and at the time of writing, they were already married.

"If You Want to Know Me" is a song specially written by Teacher Shi after learning that I won the "National New Long March Commando Pacesetter". In the process of composing the music, he made several changes to the lyrics, one was to add the "ah come and come" lining, and the other was to delete the five words of "new Long March Army" and repeated the "Youth Commando" in the first paragraph. After the song became popular, many people also wrote to ask where this "youth commando" was.

There is a lyric in "If You Want to Know Me", "Brilliant Flowers Bloom in the Spring Breeze", Teacher Shi is the most brilliant flower in the spring breeze of reform and opening up, and he used his life to compose the praise of reform and opening up. The many popular songs created by Mr. Shi have become treasures of Chinese song art, which will forever be recorded in the annals of Chinese art history and sung by the people. He set an example for us as a people's musician. I will continue to sing and disseminate the excellent songs he composed, so that more people can feel the beauty, passion and strength to move forward from Mr. Shi's songs.

(Guangming Daily reporter Guo Chao interviewed and sorted)

Guangming Daily (2021-07-23, 15th edition)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily