Author: Huang Minxue (Associate Professor, School of Arts, Shaoxing University of Arts and Sciences)
This year marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Ren Guang (1900-1941), a pioneer of china's proletarian music movement and a pioneer of film music. In a short life, he shouldered great righteousness with iron shoulders, adhered to the original intention of serving the country, and sang guns and bullets; he brilliantly composed new songs, lyrically wrote patriotic passion, and sang the motherland; from "Fishing Light Song" and "Fight Back to His Hometown" to "New Fourth Army Eastward March", he released the endless charm of melody, highlighted the red gene of music, and was known as "the trumpeter of the nation"; he adhered to the people-centered creative orientation, found the source of creation in life, and took "music accepted by the public" as the purpose of creation. These spiritual treasures should be cherished in particular today.
Ren Guang
Shengzhou flew out of the "little musician"
Shengzhou, Zhejiang, during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the famous artist and sculptor Dai Kui and his son Dai Kui once lived here in seclusion, and both of them were good at piano music. The Tang Dynasty poet Gu Quan wrote here the verse "Lingxi Su to the Lingshan Mountain, reflecting the tall buildings to the moon, in the middle of the night in the crane's residual dream, hesitating the Qinqu Cave Room", which dotted out the rich artistic atmosphere of this small city in eastern Zhejiang. On November 9, 1900, a revolutionary musician who wrote a glorious chapter in the history of modern Chinese music was born in a family of stonemasons in Dongqian Street, Chengguan Town, Shengxian County. He is Ren Guang, the pioneer of the proletarian music movement in our country and the pioneer of film music.
Shengzhou is the hometown of opera, lotus flowers falling, Pinghu tune, and later developed into Yue opera "small song class" can be heard everywhere. In the strong musical atmosphere of his hometown, Ren Guang's musical talent was germinated, and when he was in elementary school, he had learned to play the flute and brass trumpet, and he also made his own erhu, pondering to learn to pull the opera tone, and taking the leather stool as a drum, imitating the rhythm of the opera artists beating the drum.
In 1911, Ren Guang graduated from primary school and was admitted to Shengxian Middle School. Shengxian Middle School is a new school, in order to popularize aesthetic education, the school purchased an organ and hired full-time music teachers. The good educational environment stimulated Ren Guang's musical talent, where he learned to play the organ and erhu technique improved by leaps and bounds. Because Ren Guang can play and sing everything twice, he won the title of "Little Musician". At this time, the tide of the Xinhai Revolution also spread to this small city in eastern Zhejiang, "the sound of the waves angrily broke the tide of Zhejiang", Ren Guang also went to the streets to call on the people to boycott Japanese goods and oppose Yuan Shikai's claim to the throne, which sowed the flame of patriotism in his heart and will ignite the fire of China's proletarian revolutionary music in the future.
In the summer of 1917, Ren Guang graduated from middle school and was admitted to Aurora University in Shanghai. When the May Fourth Movement broke out in 1919, this new wave of culture made waves at Aurora University, and Ren Guang was also determined to exert his personal expertise to realize the dream of music to serve the country and go to France to work and study. In August 1919, Ren Guang left his motherland and arrived in Marseille in October, where he worked at the Aphra piano factory in Lyon and then entered the University of Lyon to specialize in music theory and piano. In 1923, Ren Guang married his French classmate Greta and was sent by a French company to work as a technician and manager of the Aphrodite piano company in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Although Liang Yuan is good, he is not a long-term hometown, although he has excellent living conditions and a happy and happy family, Ren Guang cannot dispel his strong thoughts about the mother of the motherland, and he hears the voice from the hometown and the call from the bottom of his heart from time to time. The motherland gave Ren Guang the wings of dreams, making him a petrel who fought against the wind and rain, resolutely bid farewell to his French wife who did not want to come to China with him, and returned to the motherland where he had been separated for nine years and haunted by dreams.
During the Republic of China period, there was a particularly eye-catching French-style small Western-style building at No. 811 Beidang Road (now Hengshan Road) in Shanghai, with red brick walls, semi-circular arched windows, and full of Western style. This was the only foreign-funded record company in Shanghai at that time, the original main business was to sell foreign music records, because the audience was not much, the sales were not smooth, and then re-recorded Chinese Peking Opera masters singing and Guangdong music records, sales soared, so the high salary hired both European study background, and familiar with Chinese music Ren Guang as the director of the music department, ready to make a big vote. Soon after entering the EMI company, Ren Guang became acquainted with the left-wing dramatist Tian Han, jointly organized the Nanguo Society, and began to get involved in the left-wing music movement. Tian Han considered that Ren Guang "worked in foreign companies, was relatively rich, and was less noticed by the rulers", so he and Ren Guang were "too close". In the turbulent revolutionary tide, Ren Guang used music as a weapon to open the most successful and legendary new chapter of his musical career.
Sonic new song singing "Fishing Light"
After the "1.28" incident in 1932, Ren Guang composed the song "Nineteenth Route Army", praising the patriotic spirit of the Chinese military and people to rise up against the enemy, "national war, anti-imperialist vanguard, seven weeks of bloody war, global shock", becoming the precursor of the anti-Japanese salvation song. On July 23, while listening to a folk music ensemble at the Mingyue Opera Club, he met Nie Er, a violinist in the band. Nie Er wrote down in his diary that "Ren Jun of the Baidai Company came to talk", and expressed sincere admiration for Ren Guang's piano playing level and improvisational accompaniment ability, "He played the piano several times, it was really a bit of real kung fu, sit down and match himself, watch him play strangely". Since then, the two have cherished each other and embarked on a new journey of the left-wing music movement hand in hand.
Ren Guang (front row pianist) and Nie Er (violinist)
At the beginning of 1933, Ren Guang, Nie Er, Zhang Shu, Lü Ji, and others participated in the music group of the Friends of the Soviet Union organized by Xia Yan and Tian Han, and they used ren Guang's high-end radio at home to directly listen to the music of the Soviet radio shortwave broadcast, especially the excellent Soviet songs, and often studied the experience of Soviet song creation together and exchanged composition techniques. On February 9, Ren Guang attended the inaugural meeting of the China Film Culture Association and was elected as an executive committee member to jointly build a "new silver world". Ren Guang was thus "electrocuted" and embarked on a journey of film music creation. On February 12, they also initiated the establishment of the China Emerging Music Research Association, which became the backbone of the left-wing music movement. In the same month, Ren Guang composed the theme song of the same name and the interlude "Nanyang Song" for the movie "The Light of Motherhood". In Nie Er's view, the songs created by Ren Guang are highly compatible with the film, rich in national style, "it is like saying that it is Nanyang, it is better to say that it is Chinese", and recognizes Ren Guang as "our mentor". Nie Er also asked Ren Guang for violin playing techniques, "he corrected many mistakes in my playing the violin."
Ren Guang (right) and An E are on the front line of the War of Resistance
Just at this time, the female writer An E broke into Ren Guang's emotional world. Through Ren Guang's introduction, An E entered the song department of EMI Records and formed a deep revolutionary friendship with Ren Guang. In order to expand the left-wing film front, the film group decided to use the progressive power of Shanghai Lianhua Film Company to produce more patriotic and progressive films.
In the creation of left-wing film songs, Ren Guang adheres to the people-centered creative orientation, finds the source of creation in life, and takes "music accepted by the public" as the purpose of creation. In the article "Song Discussion" co-published with An'e, Ren Guang clearly proposed to "urgently advocate and create truly correct mass music". In his view, "the music that many people accept now is not necessarily popular music", and the number of recipients cannot be used as a criterion. He severely criticized the various mesmerizing voices that were popular in the Shili Yangchang at that time, "In the decaying society of Shanghai, in fact, only the strong and pure songs can be anesthetized, and the anesthetized songs cannot be sung as pure." Music must have the correct value orientation and noble artistic pursuit, "the real mass music, often in the tone, beat is very serious, less interesting, difficult to accept for the public", which requires musicians must shoulder the mission of the times, sing for the people, the "perfect mass music" to "perfect popular literature", compose "perfect songs", "hurry to replace this pathological mass songs". Under the guidance of this creative concept, a masterpiece of epoch-making significance in the history of modern Chinese music is also about to be released.
In May 1934, Ren Guang was invited by director Cai Chusheng to score the film "Fisherman's Song", for which he made a special trip with An'e to "trek to the fishermen's area" and rented a sampan to "witness the fishermen's life and listen to the fishermen's life", in order to capture the inspiration for song creation. Because of their deep life and real feelings, they waved the theme song of the same name of the film on the night of their return to Shanghai. Ren Guang and An E tried to sing this new song for Cai Chusheng overnight, and got Cai Chusheng's approval. Subsequently, Ren Guang and Nie Er completed all the soundtracks of the film "Fishing Light Song".
Poster for the movie "Fisherman's Song"
"Fisherman's Song" is a silent film, the soundtrack is very important, this theme song is excellent with the narrative of the film, telling the painful life of poor fishermen, expressing the author's deep sympathy for the working people, so that the audience feel empathy and obtain a strong artistic resonance. An'e is quite skilled in the use of words and sentences, so that "Fishing Light Song" not only moves the spiritual rhyme of classical poetry, but also combines the simplicity and freshness of modern life language:
Clouds floating in the sea and air,
Fish hiding in the water,
Drying fishing nets in the morning sun,
The oncoming sea breeze...
The song cooperates with the film picture, from the morning scene of the East China Sea to the film narrative, the scene blends, the sound and picture are mirrored, and the lyrical tune of the Jiangnan folk song is poured out to the fishermen who have been working hard at the sea all day, "the waist has been sore, the hands are swollen, and the fish have been caught in the belly empty", but it has always been in the tragic situation of "the fish are difficult to catch and the tax is heavy, and the fishermen are poor in the world"; it also reveals the irrepressible resentment hidden in the hearts of the working people. Ren Guang adopts the national five-voice palace mode, the rhythm is calm and soothing, the melody is gentle and smooth, and it has a strong breath of life. According to the film's lead actor Wang Renmei recalled, "I remember when the scene came to an end, I sang "Fishing Light Song" like a cry, the evil waves on the ocean, the hard work of learning the bridge, the pain of the fishermen, all rushed to the heart, and my tears could not help but flow down", "How well the lyrics were written, coupled with the poignant and sad tune, really had the power to touch people's hearts." In a later interview with reporters, Ren Guang also said that the secret of the success of this song is:
Music is of the masses and should be played out from the masses, and our duty as composers is merely to convey the painful cry of the miserable life of the toiling masses. (Zhifei: The Story of Mr. Ren Guang, a Film Composer)
On June 14, the film "Fisherman's Light Song" was released at the Shanghai Jincheng Grand Theater, the scene was full, and it was still difficult to find a ticket for 84 consecutive days, and the "Declaration" said that it was "able to stand up so long in the summer, it is indeed unprecedented, it is a strange talk." In his article "Chinese Music in the Past Year", Nie Er analyzed the reason for the success of "Yuguang Song" because "the reality of the content, the sadness of the rhythm, the organization of the music score, and the realistic theme of its matching the film are all the reasons for its sensation", "Its sensational influence even formed a trend that later films had to be accompanied by music to be able to sell well".
In 1935, "Fisherman's Light Song" represented China in the Moscow International Film Festival, and won the Honorary Award for "vividly and profoundly reflecting the real life of China with its brave spirit of realism", becoming China's first film to win an international award. The song "Fishing Light Song" also went with the popularity of the film, and it was popular among the population and was widely sung. A veteran soldier of the New Fourth Army recalled that during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, between tense and frequent battles, everyone would get together to sing "Fishing Light Song". Commander Su Yu, the head of the military region, was fond of this song, and often sang it improvised with an accordion to eliminate the wounds left in the battle and command thousands of troops and horses to win greater victories. According to the recollection of the announcer Meng Qiyu, in 1940, when the Yan'an Xinhua Radio Station was broadcasting, it did not start broadcasting songs, and the central leading comrades instructed to buy back more than 20 records from the Kuomintang District and select "Yuguang Song" as the opening song. "Fishing Light Song" sang the voice of the toiling masses, and the stars and fishing fires, like the light in the dark night, illuminated the direction of China's progress, and people in the Kuomintang district called Xinhua Radio a "beacon in the vast night." Until this year's CCTV Spring Festival Gala dance "Morning Light Song", it still uses the main theme of "Fishing Light Song" as the background music to show the old style of old Shanghai.
Tian Han, who had been arrested and imprisoned at that time, overheard the prison guards singing "Fishing Light Song", and could not help but write "Huai'an'e in Prison" with deep affection:
Junying love should be turned into hate,
I'm also quite soft and rigid.
How to forget,
The new song Sings "Fishing Light".
"Whenever we sing the national anthem, we can't help but think of you"
While composing the songs, Ren Guang used his special status as a comprador of a foreign company to cover the revolutionary activities of the party and provide selfless contributions to the production and dissemination of a large number of red music. On April 14, 1935, the day before his departure, Nie Er, together with Ren Guang and others, tried to sing the "March of the Volunteer Army" with the first draft of the short score. Subsequently, Nie Er sent back the revised score of the "March of the Volunteer Army" from Japan. At that time, the French manager of EMI was worried that the production of this appealing salvation war song would cause "trouble" and "protest" from the Japanese side, so he hesitated. Ren Guang insisted, "We don't mention Japanese imperialism in our lyrics, we don't mention anything, and we generally talk about the War of Resistance, which should be possible." Considering the good market prospects of this song and considering the economic interests, the French manager decided to make a desperate bet and agreed to produce and distribute it.
On May 9, Ren Guang organized Sheng Jialun, Situ Huimin, Zheng Junli, Yuan Muzhi, Jin Shan, Gu Menghe, Shi Chao and other 7 people to "record for the first time this world-famous "March of the Volunteer Army" in the studio of EMI Records," with the number of the recording master version of 34848b, which is still preserved in the Shanghai National Anthem Exhibition Hall. "The March of the Volunteer Army" sings the voice of the sons and daughters of China who are united and march forward courageously, and sends out the strongest voice of the era of China's anti-Japanese struggle to save the dead. As Xia Yan put it: "After the '12.9' Movement in 1935, the mass singing movement surged and became a nationwide mass movement. Anti-Japanese songs were sung all over the country, and Nie Er's "March of the Volunteer Army" became a clarion call for the anti-Japanese struggle... Ren Guang, who was 'working in a foreign company' at that time, later joined the New Fourth Army and died in the rebellious army of the Anhui Incident, such a good comrade is always worth remembering. In August 2019, teachers and students of Shengzhou Middle School wrote in a memorial letter to Ren Guang alumni:
In Shanghai, you were the first to produce a record of the "March of the Volunteers"; in France, you organized overseas Chinese to sing the "March of the Volunteers". Because of you, the "March of the Volunteer Army" quickly spread throughout the north and south of the great river, inside and outside the Great Wall, inspiring the courage and confidence of the Chinese people to resist Japan and save their lives.
Whenever we sing the national anthem, we can't help but think of you, because the song has your broad mind as a musician and your patriotic feelings as a "national trumpeter". From you, we deeply understand that life can have a length, but there is a music of life, and there is no end!
According to incomplete statistics, there are as many as forty or fifty left-wing songs recorded by Ren Guangzhi's hand. Entrusted by the party, he also took advantage of his position to let Nie Er serve as the deputy director of the music department of THE EMI company, and jointly held the "HYDAI New Voice Meeting", inviting people from all walks of life to participate, creating public opinion for left-wing songs and creating communication conditions. Every red music record produced by EMI in that year condensed Ren Guang's painstaking efforts, which not only promoted the vigorous development of China's revolutionary literary and artistic undertakings, but also had a wide impact overseas, effectively promoting the process of Chinese music going out.
Selected Songs of Ren Guang, published by the People's Music Publishing House in 1982
In the spring of 1936, in response to the call of the Communist Party of China's "August 1st Declaration" to establish a nationwide anti-Japanese national united front, Ren Guang, Xian Xinghai, Zhang Shu, Mai Xin, Lü Ji, and others joined the vigorous anti-Japanese salvation movement. In order to implement the creative concept of "national defense music", Ren Guang wrote the theme song "The Ballad of Wolf Mountain" for Fei Mu's "Wolf Mountain Blood Record", mobilizing people from all walks of life to "don't divide you and me, fight the jackal together" and "willing to fight the wolf to death, can not be without a hometown", because the theme is too obscure and has not achieved the expected response. Therefore, Ren Guang and An E decided to adapt to the situation and create an easy-to-understand and clear theme national defense song "Fight Back to The Hometown", which was not only Composed by Ren Guang in the anti-Japanese salvation movement to listen to the voice of the public, but also a comprehensive transformation of his music creation style. The song is based on a five-tone scale, with a continuous dynamic rhythm, passionate, swallowing mountains and rivers, and repeatedly singing "Fight back to your hometown!" in the form of a chorus that leads the crowd and harmony. Defeating Japanese imperialism" and accusing the Japanese aggressors of "killing our compatriots" and "forcibly occupying our land" expressed the determination and will of the military and the people of the whole country to become a city and jointly defend against foreign insults, and issued the cry of the times that "we will not be slaves to the subjugated country."
After the "July 7" incident, the dangerous environment in China could not allow Ren Guang to continue to create, and with the financial support of his close comrade-in-arms An'e, Ren Guang went to France again. In Paris, Ren Guang actively engaged in overseas propaganda to resist Japan and save the dead, went to the Communist Party of China's news agency in Paris, "National Salvation Times", to teach and sing anti-Japanese songs, held fundraising charity performances for the relief of domestic refugees, and created the first voice of overseas anti-Japanese salvation songs. In 1938, Ren Guang attended the anti-fascist aggression conference attended by representatives of 42 countries, and directed the overseas Chinese choir to sing anti-Japanese songs such as "March of the Volunteer Army", so that the world felt that "China's modern songs contain China's infinite hope". At the singing contest organized by the Paris People's Choir to aid Spain's anti-fascist war, Ren Guang personally took the stage to accompany him on the piano for the "Chinese March" he composed in Paris, which was praised by French newspapers as "the most successful person in this program" and "can fully express his sympathy for the people of the motherland's resistance to the war of resistance and his determination to resist Japanese imperialism" (Morrow: "Fallen Stars"). Ren Guang fell in love with Tao Xingzhi, who was carrying out national diplomacy in Europe, and the two immediately collaborated on a new song, "Song of Comforting Chinese Soldiers", in solidarity with the world anti-fascist movement. Although he was far away in a foreign country, Ren Guang's pulse always beat with the mother of the motherland, and his blood boiled with the anti-Japanese salvation movement.
"We will win, we will achieve the goal"
In the spring of 1940, Ren Guang returned to Chongqing. In June, Ye Ting, commander of the New Fourth Army, invited Ren Guang, Qian Junrui and other cultural figures to join the New Fourth Army before returning to southern Anhui. On the eve of leaving Chongqing, Ren Guang went to visit his long-lost partner and confidant An'e for the last time:
One night Ren Guang came to look for An'e, and it was said that he was going to join the army in the front, and when he found someone stalking, he threw away his tail; in order to leave Chongqing safely, he wanted to spend the night at my house. That night we turned off the lights and talked in the dark, Ren Guang seemed very nervous, An E was very calm; at dawn An E escorted Ren Guang quietly and forever. (Zhao Qingge: "Anecdotes of the Dead Fifty Years Ago - Remembering Comrade An'e")
After Ren Guang's death, from a box he left behind in Tao Xingzhi, he found "many photographs of An'e Qianli, and unpublished song scores written for An'e's lyrics."
In August, Ren Guang and his party arrived at the Headquarters of the New Fourth Army in Yunling, Jing County, Anhui Province, and they were deeply attracted by the beautiful scenery in front of them, the sheep intestine trail between the green mountains and green waters, the lush and green bamboo sea, and the Huipai buildings of green bricks and tiles, all of which showed the thousands of styles of the water towns in southern Anhui. Ren Guang was assigned to the Field Cultural Service, responsible for music and propaganda agitation, and organized a band with Zhou Dongjun, an overseas Chinese in the Philippines. Soon after arriving in the New Fourth Army, Ren Guang created the "Song of Wiping Guns" for the officers of the New Fourth Army, which was loved by the soldiers. According to Ye Ting's recollection, during his stay in southern Anhui, Ren Guang "made many new works, had a different style, and was deeply aware of the psychology of the masses and the problems of popularization, and all the military called them 'Wang Lao Wu'." Originally a witty and funny movie song written by Ren Guang and An E, "Wang Lao Wu" has now become synonymous with male single aristocrats.
At the end of 1940, the New Fourth Army was preparing to cross the river and go north to open up a new anti-Japanese base area. The Military Department of the New Fourth Army released the "Farewell to the Book of Southern Anhui", and Ren Guang immediately created the swan song "Farewell, Southern Anhui" (later renamed "New Fourth Army Eastward March"). Drawing on the creative experience of "Fight Back to The Hometown", and in coordination with the strategic actions of the New Fourth Army, he took the military trumpet of the third chord of the main key as the prelude, leading to a majestic and firm singing voice, and the main part of the song adopted the minor key style, which contained the new Fourth Army's generals' attachment to the base area in southern Anhui, as well as the firm belief in going north to resist Japan and save the country, "breaking through the overlapping blockade and rushing into the nest of Japanese devils", expressing the grand ambition and pride of "we will definitely win, we will certainly achieve the goal".
On January 6, 1941, the New Fourth Army was suddenly ambushed and surrounded by a large number of Kuomintang troops on the way to transfer, and the Anhui Incident broke out. In the early morning of the 10th in Gaotan Village, Commander Ye Ting reported on the breakthrough mobilization at the combat site, and Ren Guang then commanded all the soldiers to sing the "New Fourth Army Eastward March", "merging with the sound of machine guns and grenades around it into the greatest battle symphony.". On the night of the 12th (dawn on the 13th), the New Fourth Army marched to The Stone Well Pit, and Ren Guang was hit in the chest by a stray bullet, and he was seriously wounded and martyred. Ye Ting witnessed the last moments of Ren Guang's life:
Seeing that there were several feet of lying on the rest of the pile, there were two people on the ground, and they could not hear their cries in the fierce battle. Someone shouted: "Wang Laowu" is injured! Yu was short-sighted and knew that he was seriously injured in the abdomen. When the fireflies and locusts fly, the rest of the heart aches like a cut, speechless enough to comfort them, can not be enough to help... Pathetic! May there be musicians in the hereafter who will sing a lament for me. (Ye Ting: Prisoner's Language)
Statue of Ren Guang in Shaoxing Film Culture Park
From the son of a stonemason to a "trumpeter of the nation", from a senior employee of a foreign company to a resistance fighter who sacrificed his life for righteousness, from devoting himself to the left-wing music movement to composing the new voice of the times to sacrificing his precious life for "holding high the banner of independence and freedom in the War of Resistance and Nation-Building", this is the life journey that Ren Guang has taken in just 41 years. Although Ren Guang did not have time to join the Communist Party of China organizationally before his death, he composed and recorded a large amount of red music with his lifelong musical practice, dyed our banner red with his enthusiasm, practiced the original intention and mission of a loyal proletarian revolutionary fighter, and forged artistic classics in the inheritance of red genes from generation to generation.
Guangming Daily (2020.05.15. 13th edition)