Xi'an, 28 Sep (Xinhua) -- When the setting sun set from the mountains, a rough folk song from northern Shaanxi floated from the banks of the Yan River.
In the Jinyan'an Cultural Tourism Industrial Park in Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province, a live-action song and dance drama called "Thirteen Years of Yan'an" was shockingly launched.
"The mule at the head, the lamp with the three lights..." The 52-year-old Li Dexiong, who has been singing "Driving Animals" for five or six years, has a thick and infectious voice that stands out in the performance team.
Created in the 40s of the 20th century, "Driving Animals and Spirits" is a masterpiece of northern Shaanxi folk songs, telling the story of a group of porters crossing the mountains and sleeping in the poor Loess Plateau and the deep longing for lovers.
Tourists watch the song and dance drama "Thirteen Years of Yan'an" in the Jinyan'an Cultural Tourism Industrial Park in Yan'an, Shaanxi. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zou Jingyi
Yan'an is located in the hinterland of the Loess Plateau, with mountains and ravines, and the American journalist Edgar Snow described it as "one of the poorest areas I have seen in China" in "A Journey to the West".
Despite the hardships of life, the simple villagers of northern Shaanxi always swallowed the bitterness into their stomachs, sang optimism and openness to their lips, and thus gave birth to unique northern Shaanxi folk songs.
These folk songs "feel sorrowful and happy, and caused by accidents", echoing the sound of cows with the voice of the sheep, expressing their own arrogance. These folk songs sing the dreams of the descendants of northern Shaanxi in hoes and ploughshares, sing the feelings of mother-in-law in northern Shaanxi on pot counters and window paper, and also sing the daily life of ordinary people on the Loess Plateau and the optimism of fellow villagers in northern Shaanxi who love life and love their homes.
The tune is still the same, but life has already turned a new chapter.
"I came to perform at night and ran a grain and oil store during the day, fulfilling my dream of singing and living a relatively prosperous life." Having worked outside for 20 years, Li Dexiong is quite satisfied with his stable life today.
In this industrial park, some of the actors are local farmers. In the high-pitched and passionate tune, there are endless busy lives, and there are endless new dreams——
"I want to carry forward the folk songs of northern Shaanxi, and it is best to perform abroad..."
"I want to try hard to make money and buy a new car..."
"I want to sell apples and crops at a good price this year..."
There is life, there is a story, there is a song.
Citizens watch the Northern Shaanxi Storytelling Benefiting People performance on the square in front of the Yan'an Ansei Culture and Art Center in Shaanxi Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zou Jingyi
Yan'an Ansei District Culture and Art Museum, whenever tourists come to visit, young folk singer Cao Hui always loves to sing her latest work "Yan'an Beauty" to everyone.
"Red apples are covered with mountains, mountain flowers bloom in the sky, lambs sprinkle joy in the sun, and good days are red and hot and everyone loves..."
"Standing in Yan'an's apple orchard, looking at the red apples and the smiling faces of my fellow villagers, I can't help but want to sing for apples and for the development of Yan'an." Cao Hui was impressed.
In 2019, Yan'an officially announced that it had solved regional absolute poverty, and 693 poor villages and 195,000 people were lifted out of poverty. On the new road of rural revitalization, Yan'an's continuous development of industry has grown steadily, and the four agricultural industrial chains of apple, animal husbandry, facility agriculture and small miscellaneous grains have continued to grow. Last year, Yan'an apple output reached 4.318 million tons, ranking first in Shaanxi Province, with an output value of 24 billion yuan.
A sound of northern Shaanxi folk songs floated through thousands of ravines, witnessing the rapid changes in the old revolutionary area.
Yan'an New City, one after another high-rise buildings; The forest coverage rate increased from 33.5% before returning farmland to 48.07%, and the mountains were full of green waves. New Voda Natural Gas, Yizhantu Energy Technology and other "gazelle enterprises" have landed in Yan'an... Scientific and technological innovation is bringing surging development momentum to the old revolutionary areas.
New appearance of the urban area of Yan'an City (drone photo). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zou Jingyi
Wang Jianmin is the director of the Ansai District Folk Art Training Center and a well-known folk singer in northern Shaanxi. Over the years, he has led a group of folk singers to sing in the fields of northern Shaanxi, sing on the gorgeous stage of TV stations, and also brought his singing to New Zealand, Russia and other countries and regions.
"Why is your voice so high?" Whenever friends abroad ask Wang Jianmin, he always says, "How high is the enthusiasm for life, how strong the love for the hometown, how high the voice." ”
"The rolling rice wine kang head swings, and the koji comes up boldly; The new countryside is built in rows, and the new era of red is sung by the sky..."
With the main melody of the times, singing the hot new life, grabbing a handful of loess and sprinkling it into the sky, the folk songs of northern Shaanxi will never end. (Contributors: Liang Aiping, Zou Jingyi)