Text/Blue Orange & North Cliff
In the classic old song "A Thousand Years to Wait", there is an interlude of humming, for more than twenty years, many people think that this interlude sings "Sha ~ La ~ La ~ Ah", in fact, there is an unknown "patriotic Easter egg" buried in it.
Last year, at the 26-year reunion of the "Legend of the New White Lady" crew, a singing video of the songwriter Mr. Zuo Hongyuan and his apprentice was played, and unexpectedly, this interlude actually sang China clearly.
After many people saw it, they turned out The original version of Gao Shengmei and listened carefully, and it was really Chi~na~a~
Speaking of this song, why should China be placed with such an Easter egg, Zuo Hongyuan said that he put a lot of feelings in it:
The Legend of the White Snake is our traditional Chinese culture, the representative of Chinese opera and traditional music, so he wants to sing the motherland.
But because of the general environment of that era, although he was in Taiwan, although he missed the motherland, China also had to secretly hide and sing.
After everyone knew this answer, they were shocked and ignited a sense of pride:
Speaking of Mr. Zuo Hongyuan, many people feel strange, in fact, he is a veritable music master.
The drama "The Legend of the New White Lady" is not only the most highly sung "Millennium Wait", but also the 12 songs, 103 singing segments and more than 100 soundtracks, all from Mr. Zuo Hongyuan.
Zuo Hongyuan brought us far more than this, once he knew the songs he had created, many people said: At that time, they were shocked!
Zuo Hongyuan is 89 years old this year, is now a director of the Teresa Teng Cultural and Educational Fund, and is also the "chairman of the China Film Producers Association", writing songs for more than 50 years, and has written songs for almost every popular singer in Taiwan.
The deceased lyricist and his old partner Zhuang Nu once said that Zuo Hongyuan was "the most important music master and music promoter before the modern folk song movement in Taiwan, and he opened the golden age of dreams."
His music has accompanied the growth of generations.
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Zuo Hongyuan was born in Wuhu, Anhui Province in 1930, and not long after his birth, war broke out. Born in a chaotic world, everyone can't get rid of the fate of upheaval and displacement, and Zuo Hongyuan is the same.
When I was 18 years old, I left my hometown due to war and came to Taiwan. When I left home, I had no place to sleep, so I fled to the place where the pigs slept and hugged the pigs to keep warm. I saw the people around me die one by one.
In the days of anti-japanese displacement, every time he fled to a place, he could be fascinated by local operas, including Henan Zizi, Xiangzi, Shaoxing opera, perhaps talent, perhaps because of interest, many songs, he could listen to it once or twice.
In 1949, Zuo Hongyuan fled to Taiwan with the crowd to take refuge in the chaos of the war, after which he entered the music department of the Taiwan Political and War School and began to study music systematically and professionally.
In 1954, Zuo Hongyuan stayed on as a teacher after graduation. When he first tried to write songs, he would write a children's song every week, and at that time, he composed a lot of children's songs, such as "Big Rooster" and "Outing".
Zuo Hongyuan felt that why children's songs must be limited to children, they can also become popular music.
So he tried to break the original style and integrate a fresh sense of rhythm into the song, the most famous and widely circulated of which should belong to "Snail and Yellow Oriole Bird".
"A vine in front of Amena, the green space in Aneng Aneng is sprouting."
The nursery rhymes he composed, especially loved by children, completely stimulated his enthusiasm for creation.
Doing children's songs allowed Zuo Hongyuan to really form a fate with music, and also laid the foundation for him to turn to pop music later.
Later, when recalling, Zuo Hongyuan said:
When I write nursery rhymes, it's the happiest time of my life. It was impossible to eat a bowl of beef noodles, and there was no money, but at that time I began to get acquainted with music, so later the teaching assistant did not do it, and really devoted myself to the pop music world.
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Zuo Hongyuan's pen name is Gu Yue, and speaking of this name, there is a more interesting origin.
Because he was secretly writing songs at that time, he was afraid that the teachers would know, so he gave a pen name that no one knew.
Two words together, is Hu, I want to write pop songs, nonsense, wild thoughts, in fact, I used a lot of stage names, is afraid that the teacher knows, at that time to write children's songs, write popular songs, 100% is interested.
After turning around and devoting himself to popular music, Zuo Hongyuan's creation began to diversify, not only creating music, but also investing in movies.
I've spent all my life and time here.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Zuo Hongyuan began to cooperate closely with Qiong Yao, and after that, Zuo Hongyuan almost arranged the soundtrack of Qiong Yao's films.
Familiar ones include the episode "A Thousand Words" of "Caiyun Fei", and the music in these film and television works deeply touched people's hearts, indirectly making Qiong Yao films sell well in the 70s and achieving the golden age of Taiwanese cinema.
In addition, there are "I Am a Cloud", "A Red Bean", "Calendula" and so on.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Qiongyao opera music created by Zuo Hongyuan was spread to thousands of households.
In 1990, a song "Wan Jun", soft intestines, not tired of listening.
A girl named Wanjun, her story is intriguing, the little bride, fate of three lives, suddenly a dream, sad for eternity.
At that time, Zuo Hongyuan not only helped "Wan Jun" to create music, but also helped Xiao Jinming create her first record, and wholeheartedly accompanied her to record and sing.
After 20 years, in the CCTV 4 sets of "Chinese Literature and Art" Zuo Hongyuan special field, Xiao Jinming and teacher Zuo Hongyuan, who sang that year, stood together again and sang the classics of the year, and the stage and offstage were extremely emotional.
In 1993, "Green River Grass" became a popular hit song at that time with a particularly bright rhythm, and even now, it is still a famous classic song in KTV.
The grass by the Qingqing River is leisurely and immortal, the wildfires are inexhaustible, and the wind and rain cannot be blown down.
Regarding the movie, Zuo Hongyuan has a very interesting saying of "the length of the two skills".
Zuo Hongyuan said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily: "Film and music are my lifelong pursuits, this is an intoxicating industry, I enjoy it. "I want to have two skills, in case one of the skills is closed and eliminated, the second industry can still have food to eat."
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In addition to contracting Qiong Yao opera, most of the Taiwanese singers of that era were related to Zuo Hongyuan.
Liang Hongda said in the interview program that Teacher Zuo is a singer.
Roughly speaking, Zuo Hongyuan contributed more than a hundred horses to the pop music scene, the most famous of which is Teresa Teng.
Teresa Teng's father is Zuo Hongyuan's eldest brother, and the two are inseparable. The name Teresa Teng is directly related to Zuo Hongyuan.
Zuo Hongyuan recalled in a show that when he first met Teresa Teng, she was only about 15 years old, singing a song on a stage similar to a rural party, and her father introduced her to Zuo Hongyuan.
Zuo Hongyuan asked the little girl's name, and she drew in the palm of Uncle Zuo's hand, the first word was "Deng", the second word was "Li", and the third word was "筠".
"筠" was originally pronounced "yún", but at that time Zuo Hongyuan was not sure how to read it, so he asked her if it was "jūn", and the little girl turned to her father and said: You see everyone reads "Jun", so I might as well change my name to "Teresa Teng Lijun".
Since then, Teresa Teng has become Teresa Teng and will be popular throughout the Chinese world in the future. The famous song created by Zuo Hongyuan for her is the theme song of the movie "Caiyun Fei" adapted by Qiong Yao's novel.
In 1973, director Li Xing put Qiong Yao's novel "CaiYun Fei" on the screen, starring Zhen Zhen and Deng Guangrong, while Zuo Hongyuan arranged all the interludes of the film.
At that time, Zuo Hongfei recommended Teresa Teng to sing "A Thousand Words", "How Can I Leave You" and other interludes, but Qiong Yao was suspicious, thinking that the little girl was too young to express the deep meaning of the lyrics. But Zuo Hongyuan repeatedly insisted, patting his chest to vouch for Teresa Teng.
Teresa Teng, who is less than 20 years old, is indeed a hit, and the interlude she sang was even more popular than the total theme song "Caiyun Fei" sung by Youya, which was popular among fans in Southeast Asian countries.
Since then, Qiong Yao has been fascinated by Teresa Teng and is eager to let Teresa cover every episode of her movie. Zuo Hongyuan also naturally became Teresa Teng's teacher and special composer, making her the first singer to have a tailor-made repertoire at that time.
Zuo Hongyuan created many popular songs for Teresa Teng, such as "Sea Rhyme", "A Thousand Words", "Fine Wine and Coffee" and so on.
Wine and coffee, I just had one drink, remembered the past, and drank a second cup
These songs are very in line with the characteristics of Teresa Teresa's voice, soft and gentle, and after Teresa's emotional interpretation, it has become the most popular song of that era. Teresa Teng has also become a star that everyone knows. In this, Zuo Hongyuan is indispensable.
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One day in 1977, Lin Fengjiao was filming Li Xing's film "A Boat in the Ocean", and she introduced a young man in the screenwriting team to Zuo Hongyuan, who was Hou Xiaoxian.
Hou Xiaoxian said to him on the phone at that time: "I am Hou Xiaoxian, I hope to have the opportunity to be a director, if Mr. Zuo you can complete my film, I will thank you for the rest of my life." Zuo Hongyuan said: "Instead of shooting one, I want you to shoot three." As long as you want to shoot, dare to shoot. If you have this sentence, I will definitely help you complete your dreams. ”
In this way, Hou Xiaoxian made his first movie "She Is Slippery Again", starring Zhong Zhentao and Feng Feifei. Zuo Hongyuan wrote him the interlude "See Her Slippery Again" and found Qi Qin to sing.
You have never seen me, I have not seen you, and when young friends meet, they are in love and in agreement... Fei Xiang covered the song and changed its name to "Slippery Her", which was popular throughout the country along with "A Fire in Winter" and "Clouds in Hometown".
Qi Qin's singing method is completely different from the popular singing method in Hong Kong at that time, with a rock flavor. Rock is lyrical, British and heavy metal rock.
As the title song of Qi Qin's first album, it was a hit.
In 1977, Qiong Yao's work "I am a cloud" was about to be released, Zuo Hongyuan recommended a new singer to her to sing the theme song, after the release of the movie, the theme song was widely popular in Taiwan, and this singer also caught fire, she is Feng Feifei.
After that, the iron triangle combination of Zuo Hongyuan, Qiong Yao and Feng Feifei dominated the Taiwanese Chinese music scene for five years.
In addition, Meng Tingwei, Xu Ruyun, Gao Shengmei, Li Bihua... Many singers' classic songs are Zuo Hongyuan's handwriting.
For example, Li Bihua's "Cloud Knows" and Xu Ruyun's "Hourglass" are still the must-have tracks for many people to go to KTV in the following decades.
But it is far more than that, when digging into Qi Qin, Zuo Hongyuan believes that the best singer at that time was Qi Qin, the second was Jacky Cheung, and Andy Lau still had to grow.
Therefore, he participated in the creation of jacky Cheung's "Wait until the flowers are thankful", and he felt that Jacky Cheung was very suitable for singing this kind of song.
Singing is not making up sentences, to express a complete feeling, the taste is right.
As soon as this song was sung by Jacky Cheung, it was sung at once, which also laid the foundation for him to be called the god of song in the future.
Speaking of which, Zhao Wei also wants to thank Zuo Hongyuan, because the person who took her to participate in the audition for "Huan Zhu Gege" was also him.
A reporter interviewed Zuo Hongyuan: How many people are you a Bole? Why are you passionate about this?
Zuo Hongyuan said: There are a lot of people, there may be a hundred people, Xiao Jinming was taken out by me, and Zhao Wei was also selected by me. Without me, Zhao Wei was replaced, and talented children could pull one.
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Zuo Hongyuan loves music and is also very confident in his works. When someone interviewed him and asked, how will he choose the 3 most outstanding masterpieces?
He said: Teresa Teng sang, every sentence is a play. "A Thousand Years to Wait" is a household name, not very national, but it is also very interesting, such as "I was hit by youth", Jacky Cheung "I waited until the flowers are also thankful". I can't choose. I think I have a lot of good songs.
Zuo Hongyuan's creation can not only absorb the national style well, but also well follow and integrate the times, and his "nationality" is deeply rooted in his integration of Western music.
After coming to Taiwan in 1949, he taught composition, singing, and piano, and the style of Beethoven, Bach, and Haydn also had a profound influence on him.
From this he had the idea that whether it was serious classical or popular music, "the roots are the same, but the things that stretch up are different."
Zuo Hongyuan first showed his singing voice in "The Legend of the New White Lady".
Ah hehe, ah hehe, the beauty of the West Lake, March day, spring rain like wine, willows like smoke... "Crossing Love" is sung by Zuo Hongyuan himself. When it comes to the song "Crossing Love", Liang Hongda is full of admiration.
"'A hundred years of cultivation to sleep together ~~', the tone of this sleep, is a kind of Peking Opera taste, can perfectly combine the traditional culture and popular style of Peking Opera, only zuo lao alone."
There is also a very chic song in "Huan Zhu Ge Ge", which is neither ancient nor folk song, called "There is a Girl".
There is a paragraph in it that Zuo Hongyuan dedicated:
There is a girl, she has some willfulness, she also has some arrogance, there is a girl, she has some rebellion, she also has some crazy nothing to quarrel, anyway awake is also awake, nothing to tell a little lie, anyway idle is idle
In the 90s, Rap was not popular enough, so this piece of music caused questions from producers and record companies, and Qiong Yao also said that it was not elegant enough.
But Zuo Hongyuan still insisted on singing in this way, and now it proves that this paragraph is used correctly, and "There is a Girl" has become a long-term brainwashing divine comedy, and even now it is still being covered.
At that time, Zuo Hongyuan was already 68 years old.
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In 2016, Zuo Hongyuan told reporters in an interview: Listeners are progressing with the times, you always feed them old things, they will not swallow, so yesterday's success does not represent tomorrow's success.
People are getting older, but their hearts are not old, and music is getting younger and younger.
Nowadays, when Singing with his apprentice, he still dances with his hands, his breath is calm and powerful, and his treble bass is at ease. Music is more like a catalyst for life for him.
Until now, nearly 90 years old, he is still composing, songs, movies, and operas.
Not only is the enthusiasm high, but the thinking is also incredibly clear, he said:
All songs depend on the tastes of an era, and the tastes of young people dominate a lot.
Zhuang Nu (left) and Zuo Hongyuan
For example, my songs may have been popular in 300 songs, reduced to 50 in 10 years, and reduced to 1 in 10 years. I'm content with every number.
It's great to win a moment of brilliance. It is difficult for a song to be sung by people of every age, and if there is, it must express some kind of positive, sunny, loving concept, and its melody is extremely moving and chic.
I hear many people lament that the new songs are not good now, and the old songs are not as good. That's because the old songs that have been handed down are the bones of a large number of mediocre old songs that stand out.
In 1985, Zuo Hongyuan participated in the establishment of Shanghua Shang records company, and took the film and television songs he was good at as the magic weapon on which Shanghua Records started.
In the heyday, Shanghua's popular singers Li Yijun, Gao Shengmei, Qiu Haizheng, Meng Tingwei, Chen Mingzhen, Huang An, Qi Qin, Xu Ruyun, Xu Meijing, Xiong Tianping, Power Train, Dick Cowboy, etc. A large number of singers have benefited a lot here in Zuo Hongyuan.
Zuo Hongyuan has a daughter named Zuo An'an, who studied music from an early age under the influence of her father and became a musician when she grew up, and Karen Mok's "Without You" is from Zuo An'an's hand.
For him, music is the most loved thing in his life, it is work, but also the greatest happiness, a person who can be happy with a lifetime, will still have a childlike mentality at the age of 89, not afraid of old age and death.
"I just want to leave a few more good songs for the society so that these songs can be passed on."
In the hearts of these older generation artists, art and hobbies are worth pursuing with a lifetime, and this is the most important meaning of life.