In the summer of 1968, Zhang Chengzhi and two classmates climbed over the Great Wall in Zhangjiakou, grabbed a Jiefang truck, and ran to the vast Mongolian steppe. The car was full of Zhiqing who had joined the queue, and everyone sang "The Sea Sails by the Helmsman" all the way.
Grassland herders sing the same song, but tuck a few Mongolian words in between bars. However, as soon as the herders mounted their horses, the "helmsman" disappeared, leaving only the melodious Mongolian tune echoing in the endless green grass and high winds.
Zhang Chengzhi, who had just listened to the long tune, felt that his soul was going to be out of the box, he had never heard such a free song, he couldn't help but follow Abba and Eji's ass to write words, people would nervously drink when they saw him take out a pen, "It's all old things, remember what it does!" ”
"You intellectual youth dare to hum a long tune, but we don't dare to teach it yet."
In the era of "going up the mountains and going to the countryside" in the land of China, the youth of neighboring Japan are also exerting their youth, led by the University of Tokyo, colleges and universities across the country are on strike, and students occupy classrooms to protest against rising tuition fees and government interference in academia.
At that time, a young man named Nobuyashi Gonrin dropped out of college, took to the streets with a cheap guitar on his back, and sang songs of his own composition, which came from the lives of low-class laborers, with poetic and powerful lyrics, and one of the songs, "Friends", became a must-sing song for student gatherings, like Bob Dylan's "The Answer Is In the Wind".
Friends in the darkness before dawn
Friends, light the flames of battle
Dawn is no longer far away Dawn is no longer far away
Long-haired, bearded, harmonica-wielding guitar-hugging, sang one song after another calling for dawn and friendship, which were banned on the radio, and the rebellious young man called him the "god of folk songs."
Nobuyasu Okabayashi
In 1976, a Japanese friend who grew up in Beijing gave Zhang Chengzhi a tape of Nobuyashi Okabayashi's "Revolutionary" song, in which a black horse galloping in the grassland met a guitar playing in the valley.
1 Guards
Before picking up the train in Inner Mongolia, Zhang Chengzhi had just graduated from Tsinghua High School. In his sophomore year of high school, he held a meeting with several classmates, left a title that history remembers to this day, and then posted his first big-character newspaper, and the signature of the three words "Red Guards" quickly resounded throughout the country.
These three words have burdened Zhang Chengzhi with a lifetime of admiration, infamy and controversy, and he has reflected, counterattacked and repented more than once in his novels. He can accept the youth that cannot be recalled, but he cannot let go of the ideal of ashes.
Zhang Chengzhi is a Hui child who grew up in a Beijing hutong, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, but his personality is the outside and soft on the inside, and he is no less nicknamed by children in the same courtyard. When he was a child, his grandmother's long back kneeling in front of the wall and silently reciting brought him a great shock to his heart, and he felt that he was different from others.
After attending middle school, Zhang Chengzhi walked out of the low alley and played with the children in the compound. When the trumpet of the revolution sounded, he devoted himself wholeheartedly, strung together ideals along the route of the Red Army's Long March, wrote a blood book after returning, and volunteered to go to Inner Mongolia with his classmates to join the team.
In that era, young people from all over the country went from the cities to the countryside. In order to join the team in the grassland, Zhang Chengzhi hitchhiked north without hesitation, and on the long-distance bus from Kashgar to Urumqi, the Uyghur villagers sang continuously, and in the constant bumps, he remembered the story of the poet Ye Wenfu.
Ye Wenfu also took this train, because of the language barrier, no one in the car paid attention to him, several days of travel made his loneliness accumulate, and when he finally got out of the car, he rushed to the side of the road, holding a tree and crying.
Thinking of this, Zhang Chengzhi ripped open his throat, and when he heard the people around him singing what songs, he imitated and roared out, and the uighurs in a car blinked in shock. After a few words of roaring, everyone turned back to him and smiled, and the eldest sister sitting next to him saw his uneasiness and sang a song of Zhiqing to comfort him, "Lang Ya Lang, dear Lang, you have to find a good object." ”
When he arrived at the grassland, Zhang Chengzhi, who put on a colored robe and rode on a horse, felt that he was extremely happy, and other Zhiqing visited the leader, and he pulled the herdsmen all night to hum a long tune and lived a nomadic life for more than three years.
One day, he galloped on his horse, and when he went downhill, he lost weight for a moment, and at that moment, the long tune that was usually sung stumbled suddenly blurted out, and the high tune kept coming out of his heart, and the horse ran faster and faster, and it was about to run to the sky.
Suddenly, the horse lost its hoof and fell, Zhang Chengzhi's eyes went black, he turned over on the ground for an unknown number of circles, and when he sat up in a daze, his classmate wiped the blood on his face and said without a head, "You have been escorted to Peking University."
Zhang Chengzhi fainted again, he did not know whether to laugh or cry, the three words that made him the target of public criticism, and now he actually sent himself back to the city, sent to the highest school in the country, and made him a worker, peasant and soldier college student.
2 Encounter
In 1983, Zhang Chengzhi went to Japan as a researcher to study, and as soon as he settled down, he contacted the record company and wanted to meet with his idol, Nobuyasu Okabayashi.
In the early 1980s, when scar literature was rife, Zhang Chengzhi's novella "The River of the North" caused a controversy, and other writers were reflecting on the turbulent years, but he made an idealistic former Red Guard as the male protagonist.
At the end of the novel, Zhang Chengzhi borrowed Ganglin Shinkang's "Love Song for You", so that the two people who were close to each other's hearts were close to the end of the world, "I am going to go to graduate school to pursue my dreams, so please find someone who can give you happiness to marry."
Your pain is deep
I certainly can't understand
Why we are so far away
In fact, it has always been close at hand
Yeah, I'm who I am
I can't become you
Gangrin Shin-kang knew nothing about Jang Seung-chi, and when he received a call from the record company, the first thing that came to mind was that this person must have political purposes.
The two met unexpectedly, and Zhang Chengzhi, who came to the idol's house, drank a whole bottle of shochu himself, said a lot of things to himself, like taking a picture with a trembling hand, leaving a blurry photo of the other party, and then left drunk.
People who are not familiar with Zhang Chengzhi will be stunned by the diametrically opposed temperament of this Shandong han, he will rudely push the reporter who came to the door to interview him out of the door, get angry at his mother and wife like an angry child, and carefully carry his wheelchair friend Shi Tiesheng to the fourth floor when the elevator breaks down.
At the meeting of the Writers Association, Zhang Chengzhi always looks at everything, whether sitting next to Wang Meng or Su Tong, he will not look at it squarely, but for friends with similar smells, he will hold up an enamel teapot to drink, and then take out his newly written novel, Dude's newly written this, so awesome! ”
Zhang Chengzhi
After meeting with Ganglin, Zhang Chengzhi went to listen to his live performances several times, and then returned to China to continue his writing. In the winter of 1984, far from modern civilization, he went deep into the ravines of Xihaigu in Ningxia and wrote the epic story of the local people who guarded the faith for a hundred years, "The History of the Soul".
At that time, Nobuyasu Gunbayashi began a nationwide tour without plugging in, and his goal was to sing three hundred times, throw away all electronic accompaniment and large venues, and return to a guitar and a few acquaintances, who he did not want to make his songs a symbol of politics.
However, the fame of Japanese Bob Dylan is too big, there are always people in the audience shouting, let him sing the "famous songs" of the sixties, whenever he encounters this scene, he will loudly hit back, "Lao Tzu's own songs, sing whatever you want!" ”
Bob Dylan used to be a source of Gunlin's yearning for music and inspiration, but when he couldn't stand the pressure of fame and fled back to the countryside to farm for four years, he knew the way back and could no longer rely on being a replica of the superstar, he said in a conversation with Zhang Chengzhi, "I have to go by myself now, Bob Dylan is just a person who is five years older than me." ”
3 Zhiyin
In 1986, Zhang Chengzhi sat opposite the "God of Folk Songs" again, and contrary to the last time they met, this time it was Gunlin who took the initiative to ask to see him because of a music review, "Desperate Avant-Garde".
In Zhang Chengzhi's pen, Ganglin's music is no longer a sign of "revolutionary songs", but an exclamation of longing for life. After reading it, Ganglin Shinkang said excitedly that as a singer, there is no other wish in this life to have an audience like Zhang Chengzhi who understands himself.
The second time they met, the two people with a age difference of two years seemed to be reunited as old friends, and they poured out all the words that had been hidden in their hearts for many years.
"I don't want to be able to write a song like Dylan anymore, and now whether it's a church, a tavern, or someone's wedding, give me a guitar and he'll have it all, and I want to understand, I can't write 'The Answer in the Wind', but Dylan can't sing my song." 」
Bob dylan
"Brother Ganglin, I am very lonely, surrounded by people looking up at me, and I also want to find someone who can support me, but there is no one."
On the waist seal of the Japanese version of "The River of the North", Nobuyasu Okabayashi wrote such a passage,
He was the name of the Red Guards, a word that has gone down in history, and under heavy labels, he continued to realize his grim journey. I think that's why he understood me as a pain under the label of the god of folk songs. People live to be themselves, to realize themselves.
The picture on the cover of "The River of the North" is the roaring waves of the Yellow River, when writing this novel that makes countless intellectuals feel nostalgic, Zhang Chengzhi never thought that one day, the Yellow River and Ganglin Shinkang can meet, can a Japanese understand the Yellow River?
The moment he saw the waist seal, Zhang Chengzhi's heart burst into tears, he knew that Ganglin had read himself, in front of the roaring Yellow River, how could a singer who had sung for the students be indifferent.
4 Singing
In 1971, the final song of the Hibiya Music Hall concert in Tokyo, everyone clapped their hands and shouted slogans, and Nobuyashi Okabayashi on the stage adjusted the position of the harmonica, he wanted to sing "What We Are Looking Forward to", and he wanted to lead young people to shout out their hopes to the society.
What we look forward to is not the pain of being alive
What we look forward to is the joy of being alive
What we look forward to is not to live for society,
What we hope for is that society exists for us
What we want is not to kill you
What we look forward to is to survive with you
Twenty years later, in a dilapidated rental house in Matsudo, Japan, The nearly fifty-year-old Nobuyashi Okabayashi came to the door with a guitar on his back, and in the house was Zhang Chengzhi, who was taking his daughter to Visit Japan.
GangLin took out the harmonica rack from his bag and put it in front of his mouth, took the guitar borrowed by Zhang Chengzhi, "sing a song for the child first", in the hut that was a little leaky, the song of the god of folk songs sounded, or the voice that made Zhang Chengzhi listen to it.
The quality of his voice is hard to describe, even in the deafening noise, there is a hint of quality. His voice is one step higher than the average person, which not only makes him more comfortable in his roar, but especially when singing, with a transparent masculine texture. ——Zhang Chengzhi
After a song, the nine-year-old girl came over and timidly touched Gunlin's harmonica, and she wanted to try it, and Gunlin smiled, "I'll give it to you later." Later, the harmonica in C tone became the "treasure" of Zhang Chengzhi's daughter, who sometimes reminded her not to listen to Uncle Ganglin's songs when writing homework.
After that meeting, the friendship between the two was cracked, and Zhang Chengzhi advised Ganglin in an article to re-sing the revolutionary folk songs of the 1970s, because today's young people still need such songs.
"Art wouldn't have progressed without the struggles of decades ago, so artists have a responsibility to lead public protests."
However, Gunlin's attitude remains firm, "I will not stop singing, but I will never pander to people who want to hear the political songs of thirty years ago." Zhang Chengzhi was silent, and he did not go to Japan again for more than a decade.
5 Answers
In 2006, Zhang Chengzhi wrote an essay "Forty Years of Lugou Bridge" that had been hesitant for forty years, in honor of a soul who told the truth, who died in 1970 and was buried on a slope by the Lugou Bridge.
This man wrote the most rational words in the most fanatical days, and Zhang Chengzhi did not approve of it at that time, perhaps because of fear, perhaps because he did not want to admit that his youth ideals had been tarnished.
Twenty or thirty years later, Zhang Chengzhi repeatedly raised his pen and put it down, and finally when forty years came, he had the courage to face this peer, he resented the years when his ideals were wrapped up, he wrote all the words he wanted to say into the book, and there was no novel after "History of the Mind".
That year, he went to Japan again to reunite with sixty-year-old Nobuyashi Okabayashi in Kyoto.
"Have you had a show lately?"
"There's really one, do you want to come?"
With the ticket sent by Ganglin, Zhang Chengzhi came to Nagoya and embarked on a live concert of his long-lost old friend.
There were many white-haired old people in the audience that day, most of whom were born after the war, and more or less participated in the student movement in college, and The song of Nobuyashi Okabayashi was their youth, which could bring themselves back to the carefree or world-minded years.
When the guitar sounded, Ganglin Shinkang became the shiny folk song god again, still handsome, and more free, Zhang Chengzhi and the people around him clapped their hands and shouted to their old friends on the stage, "I will always hear the end!" ”
The cheerful tunes didn't seem to stop, and people didn't sit for a while before they stood up and sang and danced along with Gunlin, not noticing when it got dark.
There is no concert in the world, the last song will always come, stomping and dancing Zhang Chengzhi silently read "What We Are Looking Forward to" in his heart, use this song as the end, my friend, no song can be compared with it, don't you want to listen to the whole chorus again.
Ganglin Shin-kang took off the harmonica, the prelude to the last song sounded, not the song, everyone still clapped their hands and sang along, no one shouted the names of those old songs anymore, except for hearing the last Zhang Chengzhi.
Thirty years after separating from the steppe, the Mongolian old Erji, who took care of him like a mother when he joined the line, died, and Zhang Chengzhi rushed to worship, and that night, he rode alone on a horse on the grassland and walked slowly and directionlessly, and when he looked up again, he was far away from the yurt.
The grassland is easy to get lost, or when he knows the youth, the road he walks every day will also turn, but that night, Zhang Chengzhi remembered every way home through the starlight, he hummed a long-lost tune, he decided to continue to write, "I will not repent again, but will continue to fight for the dead."
In 2007, when Nobuyashi Okabayashi returned to Hibiya in Tokyo to resume a field concert, two Friends from Japan emailed Zhang Chengzhi to "live-" the scene, and the black horses in Beijing stared at the night sky, and the chorus of the sea tide seemed to come from their ears.
On that day, the god of folk music used the same poster as 36 years ago, and when he returned, everyone was shouting the name of the song, but he still did not sing it.
In 1966, at the age of 17, Zhang Chengzhi and his classmates held a secret meeting at the Yuanmingyuan, and they made a vow of youth under Zhang's pen name Red Guard. That year, Nobuyashi Okabayashi, who had dropped out of college, bought a shoddy guitar and began singing the songs of laborers in the valley.
Fifty years later, the songs and words that have made a generation of blood boil are long gone, but somewhere in the endless grassland, the guitar that the black horse rides is still singing with the wind.