If you often listen to music, you must have heard of Li Yugang, or heard his famous work - "The New Princess Drunk".
But in addition to this classic song, which was once popular all over the country, people will also pay attention to another thing about Li Yugang, that is, the grudge dispute between him and Mei Baojiu.
However, one of them is a singer in the music industry and the other is a master of Peking Opera, and it seems that they can't play eight poles.
Originally, the relationship between them was quite harmonious, and there was even a bit of master-apprentice feeling.
But after only a year of their intersection, the relationship between the two suddenly deteriorated, and the contradiction became deeper and deeper.
Even, the Peking Opera circle proposed to "ban" Li Yugang, and Mei Baojiu himself also put down cruel words: Do not forgive each other until death!
So, what exactly happened between them? Let the two who originally had a harmonious relationship go against each other from then on.
Completely opposite origins
The relationship between Li Yugang and Mei Baojiu can be described by the letter "X".
In the early years, they came from completely opposite origins and pursued different fields, but for various reasons, the two once crossed together, but eventually parted ways.
Li Yugang was born in a poor family in Jilin, because the family's economic conditions were too poor to get tuition, he was forced to voluntarily give up the university he was admitted to and enter the society alone.
However, he wants a diploma without a diploma, and social experience without social experience, so any slightly more decent job will be rejected by him.
For this reason, he can only go to the restaurant as a waiter, passing dishes, cleaning, and taking care of customers all day long.
After that, he went to work as a handyman in a dance hall, responsible for manual labor, not only hard, but also unable to earn a few bucks.
So he decided to switch to business, initially as a salesman, but his performance was not good.
Later, he borrowed money to invest in clothing stores, but he still failed, not only did not make money, but also owed a lot of debt.
At this moment, Li Yugang felt that his life had completely failed, and when he was discouraged, he had the idea of committing suicide by throwing himself into the river.
Fortunately, a passing beggar stopped him in time and saved his life.
Since then, Li Yugang has begun to re-examine himself.
He thought: A beggar who has nothing can face life positively, and he has read books for a few years, why can't he live bravely?
Thinking of this, Li Yugang suddenly cleared the clouds and found his own mountain.
He found that he loved singing and was very talented about it, so why not break into the singing world and give it a try?
So, Li Yugang chose to work in a video store, and thus changed his life.
In the video store, he not only made some money to support himself, but also took the opportunity to learn many songs, including male and female voices, pop and opera singing.
More importantly, he met the most important mentor in his life, Ma Hongcai.
Under the guidance of Ma Hongcai, Li Yugang made rapid progress and soon became the top singer in the store.
Unlike Li Yugang, who was born at the bottom, Mei Baojiu was born in a wealthy opera family, and his father was the famous Mei Lanfang.
Mei Baojiu is Mei Lanfang's youngest son, and when he was just born, his father did not pay much attention to him.
But fortunately, the older brothers and sisters in front of him were unwilling to inherit Mei Lanfang's mantle and continue to sing, so Mei Lanfang could only pin her hopes on Mei Baojiu.
As a result, Mei Baojiu began to learn art at the age of 10, and officially performed on stage at the age of 13, and won praise from the audience.
After that, he continued to work hard and eventually became another generation of Peking Opera masters.
Li Yugang and Mei Baojiu, one is a singer from a poor video store, and the other is a Peking Opera master born in a famous family, just because of such two people who can't fight with eight poles, but they are entangled by fate.
And all this starts with an accident.
Once a friendship
At that time, Li Yugang was about to sing "For Whom" with a female singer, but when it was time to appear, the female singer could not attend due to some accidents.
In a hurry, Li Yugang had a clever move, and he sang the entire song alone by using the conversion of male and female voices, winning full applause.
Because of this success, Li Yugang decided to open up a new way, in addition to using male and female voice switching, he is also ready to add some opera elements.
So, in 2006, we heard the classic song that was popular all over the country - "The New Noble Concubine Drunk".
In this song, Li Yugang boldly used Peking Opera elements, so that he was a fledgling and connected with the then Peking Opera master Mei Baojiu.
At that time, the traditional culture of opera was gradually declining, and the drama in the popular "New Noble Concubine Drunk" made it re-enter the public's field of vision.
This song mixed with opera was mixed at the time, some said it was a divine comedy, others said it was a crooked way.
Mei Baojiu also listened to this song, he did not directly evaluate the quality of the song, but encouraged Li Yugang to say: The form of art is diverse, as a folk artist, it is not easy for you to get to this point.
It can be seen that Mei Baojiu is very tolerant and open-minded, knowing that she is important in the Peking Opera industry, but she has not used this position to point fingers to young people.
Li Yugang was just starting out, and he was both excited and excited to receive Mr. Mei Baojiu's affirmation and encouragement.
At that time, although Mr. Mei Baojiu had 44 disciples under him, there was only 1 "male dan".
In addition to being happy, he wanted to communicate with Li Yugang, and even moved the idea of taking him as an apprentice.
As a generation of Peking Opera masters, as long as it is something that can carry forward the opera culture, Mr. Mei is willing to understand and try.
At that time, the attitude of the two was still respectful and friendly: Li Yugang, as a junior, was full of respect for a Peking Opera master like Mr. Mei; Mr. Mei also did not put up a shelf, expressing optimism about the drama in Li Yugang's song.
But just when everyone thought that they would become a friend of the New Year, the relationship between the two suddenly changed.
The fuse of contradiction: "Mei Lanfang in the front, Li Yugang in the back"
After Li Yugang became popular, many fans supported him, and even some people helped him publicize it under the title of "Mei Lanfang in the front, Li Yugang in the back".
Although Li Yugang is very good, it is really a little inappropriate to hold him to such a height as Mei Lanfang's inheritor.
However, I don't know if Li Yugang didn't want to refuse the kindness of fans, or for what reason, he himself did not give any explanation after hearing such a slogan.
What's more, he didn't put himself in his shoes: What would Mr. Mei Baojiu react if he heard this slogan?
The slogan quickly reached Mr. Mei Baojiu's ears, and instantly touched his anti-scales: he, a serious descendant of Mei Lanfang, did not dare to be so famous as his father, and this young man was so arrogant.
Under the fury, Mei Baojiu did not think too much, and directly criticized Li Yugang openly in the media, intending to kill his majesty.
Mei Baojiu said: As a man, wearing a fake bra and singing "concubine drunk" in white painted all over his body, it is really not like words!
Mr. Mei's words were very heavy, and everyone who heard them was shocked: he didn't save face for Li Yugang at all.
When Li Yugang heard these words, although he felt uneasy in his heart, he thought of his growing fame and was not willing to be criticized like this, but publicly "frightened" back.
"Even if the Peking Opera industry does not recognize me, then I am also the hottest male actor now, this is a fact."
In this way, there is no desire to communicate and discuss in the opera, only a strong smell of gunpowder.
This propaganda title was the trigger for the contradiction between the two, and both sides insisted on each other's words and never gave in.
In this way, the stalemate between the two was not broken until CCTV stood up to match.
Real grudge: Li Yugang called himself "representative of the Mei faction"
Soon after, CCTV invited the two to participate in the party at the same time, and everyone thought that this was a rare opportunity to stage a good story of "will be peaceful".
When recording on CCTV, the director specially instructed Li Yugang to let him be sincere and talk about the topic, and he also said that he understood the director's meaning.
When he performed on stage, Mei Baojiu sat on the chair below.
However, I don't know whether Li Yugang was too nervous or too excited in his heart, and when he opened his mouth, he said: "Today, I will represent the broad and profound Mei Pai art and pay high respect to the national audience." ”
The audience was stunned, and Mr. Mei Baojiu, who was still talking and laughing, immediately turned cold after hearing these words.
"He also deserves to represent Mei Pai," he said, getting up and leaving.
At this time, Li Yugang did not realize that what he said offended Mr. Mei Baojiu, and continued his speech, until the staff reminded him, he was shocked: the matter was messed up by himself.
After this incident, the two did not intersect again.
The majority of netizens also sighed: "Just got up and left, Master Mei Baojiu's cultivation is really good." ”
"Mr. Mei is right, Li Yugang's artistic attainments, deductive skills, basic skills, etc. are not the same thing as Mei Pai, fortunately, Mr. Mei made a decision immediately, otherwise everyone would think that the drama that Li Yugang usually sings is all of Mei Pai."
"Mr. Mei is also at the scene, and he has so many disciples, how can it not be Li Yugang's turn to represent the Mei faction." ......
In addition to supporting Mei Baojiu's voice, there are also some people on the Internet who feel sorry for Li Yugang.
They said: There are some things that should not be said nonsense, but he really can't remember.
After that, it may be that CCTV does not want to offend Mr. Mei Baojiu, and Li Yugang's activity announcements have become less.
And it is said that the film and television drama "Mei Lanfang" has already set Li Yugang as the starring role, and after this happened, the director also canceled the cooperation with him.
In order to give Master Mei Baojiu a blow, the Peking Opera circle directly classified Li Yugang as an unwelcome object and "blocked" him.
In this way, Li Yugang fell from the altar overnight, and Mr. Mei refused to forgive him until death.
On March 29, 2016, Mr. Mei Baojiu was sent to the hospital for rescue due to sudden bronchospasm, resulting in lack of oxygen to the brain, and passed away in a hospital in Beijing on April 25 at the age of 82.
Li Yugang posted on Weibo to mourn Mr. Mei Baojiu, perhaps he himself was aware of the problem with the previous wording, but before Mr. Mei Baojiu's death, he did not find a chance to apologize.
Every time I think about the situation of the two of them, it is always embarrassing.
It was possible to work together to promote the inheritance and development of Peking Opera culture, but why did it become such a lose-lose situation?
Delve into the reasons why the two failed to reconcile
On the surface, the grudge between the two is because some of Li Yugang's statements offended Mr. Mei Baojiu, but if it is only a verbal conflict, it is not impossible to reconcile, and there are often good sayings in history that "do not fight and do not know each other".
After in-depth research, the reason why the two have never reconciled will surface:
On the one hand, there is the fan effect.
The title of "Mei Lanfang in the front, Li Yugang in the back" is not Li Yugang's self-styled, but individual fans have infinitely praised him in the name of love, which has pushed him to such a height.
But Li Yugang himself did not realize the importance of correctly guiding fans' speech, and did not even have a public explanation.
He chose to enjoy the glory brought by this title, and the final result can only be "fan behavior, the right lord pays".
Since then, Li Yugang and Mr. Mei Baojiu have had a disagreement.
Water can carry a boat, it can also overturn it, and so can the fans, who can hold you and harm you.
For example, the incident of Zhao Liying and Wang Yibo's fans tearing each other in August 2021 directly led to the 15-day ban on Zhao Liying's studio Weibo account.
On the other hand, there is the problem of communication.
Faced with the incident of the title, Mr. Mei Baojiu chose to publicly criticize Li Yugang without communicating privately with Li Yugang, which made Li Yugang, who had become famous, annoyed in his heart.
And Li Yugang did not choose to communicate with the old man to explain, but directly replied.
Both of them are unwilling to put down their faces, and the fan team tears each other apart, which can only make the contradiction bigger and bigger in the end.
If the two had met privately and talked openly, the outcome might have been different.
After that, CCTV also took the lead for the two of them, but Li Yugang did not realize the importance of this communication and was not fully prepared, so that the communication between the two ended before it began.
One by one, one by one, an irresolvable grudge has been formed.
But to be honest, they have all contributed greatly to the promotion of opera.
Mr. Mei Baojiu naturally does not need to say much, he dedicated his life to opera.
After experiencing so many things, Li Yugang is also constantly precipitating himself, improving his realm, fading his previous immaturity and arrogance, and only leaving a gentle strength like water.
Moreover, he has not forgotten that he is famous because he is stained with the light of opera, and has always contributed his strength to the inheritance and development of opera:
Singing songs on music variety shows is not to pursue the number of votes, but to let more people know about Chinese style music;
In order to attract young people, he took the lead in launching the comic version of Chinese opera Solitaire on Douyin.
In order to inherit and develop opera culture, Li Yugang has a lot to do.
In this sense, Li Yugang and Mr. Mei Baojiu can also be regarded as having the same path.