"People call me Golden-Voiced, I originally had Ginny there, but I scooped it out of the sand."
Yu opera master Ma Jinfeng and disciple Liu Bing
This sentence is often said by the famous Yu opera performer Ma Jinfeng, which not only reflects her humble character, but also allows everyone to see her difficulty.
Many people can only see her achievements in opera, but they cannot see the efforts behind her.
Her life was very bumpy, she was "resold" three times at a young age, and she lost her father again just after she was sensible.
Later, he relied on his mother for life, and in order to practice his "golden voice", he shouted into the jug every day, and the mark on his head was the best proof.
From childhood to adulthood, she did not have a distorted mentality due to the injustice of the world, but dedicated her life to opera.
Ma Jinfeng performance photo
In addition, she has experienced two marriages in her life and has four children, and she should have suffered the loss of her daughter.
So, what exactly has she experienced in this life? What happened to her children after they died?
Poor background, constantly being "sold"
She was also a poor man, born in 1922 in a poor family in Cao County, and her father made a living selling art from an early age.
Although he is famous, he has always lived a life of being manipulated by others, and he was bedridden at a young age due to overwork.
Sure enough, no matter what era the capitalists are "vicious", they don't care about his health, they force people to come to power, and finally faint directly on the stage.
However, his wife searched the whole family and could not get a little money to treat him, and in the end he could only sell himself to save her husband.
Fortunately, they met a kind man surnamed Ma, who not only helped her father heal his illness, but also often let his mother go home to take care of their father and daughter.
Young Ma Jinfeng
Later, in order to let his daughter have a skill, his father took her to learn singing with her from the age of three. Although her voice condition is average, she learns martial arts very well, and the typhoon is still very positive.
After four years of hard training, she also got the opportunity to perform on stage, and was affectionately known as "seven-year-old red".
As a result, when she was eight years old, a natural disaster occurred in her hometown, and they had to go to Kaifeng, Henan.
It was also this year that she studied art under the name of Ma Shuangzhi, a famous lady of Henan Bangzi, and even then their lives did not improve.
Ma Shuangzhi
The disaster was not alone, the grandmother was seriously ill, and her father had to "sell" her to a drama team, and the thirty-five yuan in exchange did not come in handy.
After her grandmother died, her father wanted to redeem her, but she was "re-sold" to another class owner.
You think that's the end of it? She was sold to a drama team for the third time, and those who didn't know thought that she was deliberately "making the difference".
It was these few tosses and turns that her father could no longer contact her, and as a result, when others mentioned her, she was angry and crashed to death on the pillar.
Ma Jinfeng performed stills from "Little Garden" when he was 12 years old
And Ma Jinfeng also had a very bumpy life, was sold many times, changed his surname several times, and the competition in the last drama team was fierce, and all of them were experts.
She was much inferior to others, and at that time she still had two nicknames, namely "Four Sentence Support" and "One Kick".
Because she had a bad voice at that time, she was shouted "go down" before she could sing enough four sentences.
Another time was when she couldn't make a sound halfway through the singing on stage, and the class leader directly kicked her off the stage without any feelings.
Ma Jinfeng performed a still from "You Turtle Mountain" at the age of 14
But God arranged for a person to redeem her, named Guan Yutian, who took good care of her and taught her a lot of singing skills.
Later, after her mother found Ma Jinfeng, she also lost his guarantee, and the class owner was willing to release him.
After her freedom, she still did not give up singing, but worked harder, so how did she change from "broken voice" to "golden voice"?
The golden voice shouted out from the jug finally saw the light of day
For a long time, everyone was not optimistic about her, but she did not believe in fate and insisted on practicing her voice.
But there are also conditions for practicing your voice, you must have a humid air, and the environment in Lankao is very dry and very unsuitable.
So her mother helped her think of a way, that is, to practice against the jug, as long as the inside is filled with water, then its surroundings are still wet.
In this way, she lay on the jug every day, because the brain door is the fulcrum, and after a long time, there is a deep mark on it.
In his early years, Ma Jinfeng
As Zhang Pufu said:
"The golden phoenix was like trudging through the vast desert when he suddenly heard the sound of a clanging spring, like staying through the vast dark night and seeing the dawn..."
However, her successful transformation is inseparable from one person, and that is her mother.
In those years, in order to tell her to get up early to practice her voice, her mother did not take off her clothes to sleep every day, and she would wake up many times every night for fear of waking up late.
Let's just say that at that time, if there was an alarm clock, my mother didn't have to work so hard, and later she gradually became famous with this golden voice, but she never forgot her mother's selfless love for her.
There is also a kind man surnamed Ma, who once helped his father heal, married her mother after his wife died, and it was also people who paid for her to redeem her. It was in order to thank people that she changed her name to "Ma Jinfeng" later.
Interview with Ma Jinfeng
At that time, if it were not for her mother's constant presence, I am afraid that she would not have been able to insist, like her clothes on stage were almost all made by her mother.
Their profession is always divided into three, six and nine, and her poor equipment will be looked down upon.
So my mother is always very attentive in this regard, and even the wigs used are bought by my mother with her savings.
And when she was performing "Luoyang Bridge" to dress up in the mirror, she was disgusted without a mirror.
So my mother went to wash other people's clothes and work, and with the money she earned for a few days, she bought a mirror for her, which she treasured at home until she was old.
Ma Jinfeng with his mother
Just after her fame soared, war broke out, how should she get out if she swore not to perform for the "devil"?
The realistic version of "Mu Guiying", wit saves everyone
At that time, she could be called a "big name", not only able to sing auspicious tunes, but also singing Yu West and Yu Eastern tunes, and even created a new singing method.
Later, when she encountered the war period, she also went deep into the bottom with her teacher to perform, especially the song "Lao Zhengdong" that praised the female soldiers who protected their families and defended the country.
In 1942, the "invaders" went to Luohe and asked her to perform for them, but she refused to comply.
Unexpectedly, they threatened her with people from the theater and forced her to agree.
Ma Jinfeng
As a result, she took more than twenty people with her, hid her weapons in her clothes, and went to the performance dirty.
Seeing this, they thought it was a smelly beggar, so they all drove them out, and by the time they reacted, they had already left.
Among those people was also a young man, and it was not until twelve years later that this young man specifically found her to thank her, and Ma Jinfeng knew that the other party was a woman.
The reason why she has become a respected old-timer in the music industry is not only because she sings well, but also because she focuses on innovation.
For example, in 1953, her adaptation of "Mu Guiying Hangs a Commander" was sung in Shanghai and won many people's love, and even the famous opera writer Wu Zuguang praised her and called her "Luoyang Peony".
Ma Jinfeng's "Mu Guiying Hangs the Commander" stills
It is also from this moment that there is a new profession, when she was asked what profession "Mu Guiying" belongs to? She said:
"If Mu Guiying belongs to Tsing Yi, it is too stable, if it belongs to Dao Madan and is too tender, if it belongs to Lao Dan and is too old, the 'Mu Guiying' I play is considered a 'handsome Dan' trade."
It was also from this moment that Shuai Dan was born because of her.
However, there is another heavyweight who is very optimistic about her, who is it?
Won the favor of "Mei Lanfang" and walked to the peak of his own
In 1954, Ma Jinfeng performed on stage as usual, but she did not notice that there was a person silently observing her offstage.
This person is the famous Mr. Mei Lanfang, he went to the backstage to find her and said:
"I have played Mu Guiying all my life, but I have not acted in her story after old age."
In the autumn of 1957, Ma Jinfeng (right) and Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang (left) in Luoyang. (Color restoration photo) courtesy of Ma Jinfeng's disciple Liu Bing
As if he had met his soulmate, he cherished her very much, and also invited her to his home, hoping to discuss the art of qu together.
The two met late, talked all afternoon, discussed all the details, and pointed out the problems of her performance of China.
Later, Mr. Mei Lanfang specially invited her over when she performed in Nanjing.
That time, Mr. Mei also made an exception, allowing her to go backstage to see her makeup, and gave her his phoenix crown.
This shows her position in Mr. Mei's heart, and she has also benefited a lot from this study and improved her skills.
Interview with Ma Jinfeng
And she is unambiguous in her approach to professionalism, and after becoming a "celebrity", she always makes her final appearance, but she still puts on makeup in advance, and this stop is a few hours, but she never shouts tired.
It is this attitude that allows her to endure and be praised by everyone forever.
Like she said:
"The stage is my life, and singing to the audience is the biggest thing in my life."
Ma Jinfeng and fans
Once, when she went to Handan to perform, she couldn't make a sound on stage because of her excessive use of her voice.
Although the audience expressed understanding, in order not to disappoint them, she insisted on performing on stage after taking medicine on her neck.
However, after the ups and downs of her first life, she still could not escape the hardship after becoming famous, and even her daughter could not always be with her knees!
In troubled times, leave regrets for the family
In 1966, she was suppressed for special reasons, locked up in a cowshed, and subjected to unprecedented insults.
At that time, she was often criticized, either slapped or pulled by her hair, and in an instant she became like everyone shouted and beaten.
Ma Jinfeng
But having suffered since she was a child, she has long practiced a strong character, so she still insists on practicing.
She was finally liberated in 1976, but her daughter Ma Chunrong left her forever.
It turned out that when she was criticized, her daughter couldn't stand the stimulation and chose to commit suicide.
Everyone knows that people in the past married early, and she was no exception, getting married when she just turned eighteen.
Ma Jinfeng and Mei Baojiu
The other party is walking with her, although older, but always a person worth relying on, the two married and gave birth to a daughter, that is, Ma Chunrong.
In that troubled world, although they had a hard time, they were still happy to rely on each other, until a woman came to the door and broke everything.
It turned out that the man had been married a long time ago, and when people came to Ma Jinfeng, she knew that she was discouraged and left with the child.
Old Ma Jinfeng
Later, after she became famous, she met a "big drama fan" and was also an intellectual, and at that time, in addition to completing his work, he helped Ma Jinfeng change his words.
The two have complementary personalities and have never had a dispute, but they still separated because of the "problems of the times".
During that time, their three children were raised by her mother, so they received little love from their mothers in their childhood, but they were very considerate of her and never complained.
Ma Jinfeng and his wife with their youngest daughter Ma Dianshen
After her second husband retired, he accompanied her to perform everywhere and take care of her life.
In her life, there is only one thing she has insisted on from beginning to end, and that is acting.
In 1982, "Flower Dynasty" was to be made into a movie, and she also got the role of Seventh Grandmother, one of which was to fall off a horse.
In her sixties, she insisted on going into battle in person, and finally got blue and purple, which is admirable.
Ma Jinfeng Cheng Seven grandma stills
It can be said that her whole life began to study at the age of 3 and entered old age, and she has been working hard for the development of opera.
At the age of 80, insist on attending classes and leave health preservation secrets
When she was old, she devoted herself to the inheritance of opera art, and even though she was in her eighties, she still insisted on teaching classes for the students of the Xiqu Academy and carrying forward Yu opera.
I never expected that she would still be able to perform on stage in her nineties, although her hair was gray, but she was in good spirits.
In 2020, at the age of 98, she also participated in CCTV's big column "Jiao'er is coming", and also sang an excerpt from "Mu Guiying Hangs a Commander" on the spot, and her style was never lost to that year.
Old Ma Jinfeng
Although her eldest daughter has become a pain in her life, it is very good to give birth to three children.
Her two daughters have been living with her in Henan, and her son in Shandong.
He brought her to Shandong in 2017 and took care of her meticulously, and even YQ in previous years was not infected.
Until 2022, she left everyone due to kidney failure, but fortunately there was not much pain when she left.
It is said that people die, living people are the most painful, although their children are sad, but there is no regret, after all, Ma Jinfeng is also a rare long-lived old man, who has lived a hundred years old.
Report of Ma Jinfeng's death
Now they are living their own lives, and that is the greatest reward for her.
Much of her longevity is due to her self-discipline, and her daughter once said she never ate ice in her life to protect her throat.
Even in winter, I don't turn on the heating, so I worry that my throat is too dry to stand it.
Of course, everyone is also interested in her diet, in order to protect her throat, she will drink soup every day, in the words of Chinese medicine:
A bowl of soup before meals, old age does not hurt.
In addition, she also pays great attention to spiritual health, saying that spiritual cultivation is the first.
Whether it is the ups and downs of her youth or the death of her loved ones, she can adjust her mentality well and heal herself.
Ma Jinfeng, November 1922 - May 29, 2022
Of course, the most important thing is to enjoy life and do what you like the most, so that happiness can accompany you for the rest of your life.
Of course, her perseverance is also difficult for many people to touch, and when she was 90 years old, someone asked her if she would still practice?
She said:
"Get up early, go for a walk outside, hang your throat. As an actor, I practice every day. ”
Ma Jinfeng takes the students to rehearse the program
I don't know if we move when we see her like this?
epilogue
Although she left us, her achievements have remained forever, and she is still the irreplaceable "Mu Guiying" in everyone's hearts.
I wonder what you think of her? Welcome to leave your thoughts in the comment area below, like the article, remember to like and follow us, see you in the next issue.