The Paper's reporter Wang Yi
For many chinese audiences who have been older, whenever this African lyric sounds, they will make up the picture of the dancer Zhu Mingying's emotions and songs and dances.
On the evening of February 11, shortly after the opening of the Spring Festival Gala of the Central Radio and Television Corporation, the program "Festival" used a series of songs and dances to bring the exotic customs along the "Belt and Road" to the eyes of Chinese audiences around the world. As the elder of the performer China Oriental Performing Arts Group (formerly known as the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe), Zhu Mingying once again wore African characteristic clothing, painted her bare skin with oil paint, and served as the lead singer of "African Song and Dance".
"I received an invitation to perform about a month ago, and the Spring Festival Gala director group told me that the program has basically taken shape, and I want to invite me to come, and I am willing to sing and dance. Of course I was obligated, coming and singing and dancing (laughs). On the morning of the first day of the Chinese New Year, on the other end of the phone, Zhu Mingying smiled heartily when she was interviewed by the surging news reporter. She said that "Ya Ya O'Reo" is a popular Zairian (now Democratic Republic of The Congo) folk song, "sung in the local Yingala language, usually during festivals, African friends singing and dancing around the campfire." The lyrics are very simple, 'Although the wine I drink is bitter, I want to sing and dance to the fullest, and the boring and bitter life is not worth living...' ”
2021 Spring Festival Gala Program "Festival"
Looking back, in 1966, Zhu Mingying entered the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe after graduating from the Chinese Dance School. The name of the song and dance troupe "Orient" is not a regional concept, but a political concept, referring to the "third world", including the art of asia, Africa and Latin America. "The Oriental Song and Dance Troupe was established under the personal initiative and care of Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice Premier Chen Yi, who once told us: You are not only artists, but also diplomatic emissaries. On January 13, 1962, the day of the official establishment of the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe, Mr. Chen Yi personally came to speak to everyone, he had a strong Sichuan accent, encouraging us to introduce the traditional Chinese folk song and dance art and the music and dance works that express the lives of modern Chinese people to the audience at home and abroad, and at the same time introduce the foreign healthy and excellent song and dance art. Zhu Mingying recalled.
As a dancer of the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe, Zhu Mingying once focused on Asian, African and Latin American dance, "The Oriental Song and Dance Troupe's 'song' is in front of the 'dance', I wonder if I can integrate the song into the dance and fill the gap of the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe? I listened over and over again in my dorm room to a tape that I had recorded in Africa and marked every pronunciation. Later, I ran to radio International to learn Swahili, and at that time more than 100 million Africans in Africa spoke Swahili. Then I spent all day in the Beijing Language Institute, and as soon as I saw African students, I ran over to talk to them. With this tenacity, Zhu Mingying gradually became the first person to sing African songs in China, and during the singing process, she showed her dance skills vividly, which not only made the domestic audience look mesmerized, but also won the unanimous applause of international friends.
Zhu Mingying
"Oh Yeah Oreo" was usually used as Anko's repertoire for Zhu Mingying's solo performance, "I sang two African art songs, and the audience still didn't let me step down. What to do? Usually I will add another song "Oh Oreo", it is not long and fast-paced, especially easy to get out of the atmosphere. "Zhu Mingying said that the Spring Festival Gala program "Festival" should cover a number of distinctive art types along the Belt and Road, so the rhythm of this "African Song and Dance" is faster." My previous performances were mostly solo soloists, this time it was a collective project, it was a gala party, one person sang an African song, where everyone sang and danced together! African song and dance have the characteristics of music. ”
Zhu Mingying said that all the actors in this performance have drawn black skin tones, and professional makeup artists have carefully compared the skin color characteristics of local people, just using oil paint makeup to take an hour or two, and removing makeup is more than an hour, "in order to be more like, the Chinese people are very intuitive at a glance, and can be quickly brought into the song and dance atmosphere." If it is a performance abroad, we will not wear makeup at the original skin color, and when people see Chinese can dance African songs and dances so beautifully. She recalled that she had sung African songs and dances for five consecutive years in a row with her makeup style, so that on Chinese New Year's Eve night of 1984, when she wore a yellow dress and fluttered, she appeared on the stage of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, singing "a chicken in her left hand, a duck in her right hand, and a fat doll on her back", many viewers found out that she was originally a handsome little daughter-in-law.
Zhu Mingying performs the classic shape of African dance
At the Spring Festival Gala of CCTV in 1984, Zhu Mingying sang "The Sea, Hometown", "Back to Her Mother's Home", and "Mo Shuo, Mo Shuo", which later became popular songs. "'Mo Shuo, Mo Shuo' wants to sing the feeling of a girl in the southern water village, the voice is very light, gentle and delicate; 'The Sea, Hometown' is a feeling of telling; 'Back to the Mother's Home' wants to sing the witty humor of the little daughter-in-law, and it must also be integrated with the performance, so I added some northern folk dance elements." Zhu Mingying recalled that it was her first time to participate in the Spring Festival Gala performance. In 1997, Zhu Mingying appeared on the stage of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala for the second time, "At that time, I sang "1997 AD" with Sun Guoqing, Han Lei, Tian Zhen and Sun Nan. ’”
Editor-in-Charge: Chen Shihuai
Proofreader: Yijia Xu