There are so many stories behind the song "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is"?
"Journey to the West" is the first TV series to be put on the TV screen among the four classical Chinese classics. The play was directed by Yang Jie, the first generation of CCTV TV drama female director, and was launched on July 3, 1982, and the pilot episode "Demon Removal Black Chicken Country" was broadcast on October 1 of the same year. During the Spring Festival of 1986, CCTV broadcast the first 11 episodes in a row. On February 1, 1988, all 25 episodes aired. In 2000, the remade 16 episodes of "Journey to the West Sequel" were broadcast on CCTV. To this day, the show is still recognized as an unsurpassed classic, once creating the highest rating of 89.4% on CCTV and replaying more than 3,000 times.
The music and interludes mentioning "Journey to the West" are unprecedented in the history of Chinese TV dramas, with only 23 interludes, and the background music is also refreshing to the audience. In particular, the popular ending song "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is" has been widely circulated and is also known as a classic.
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The ending song of the TV series "Journey to the West" "Dare to ask where the road is"
Lyrics: Yan Su, Composer: Xu Jingqing, Singing: Jiang Dawei
This article tells the little-known stories behind the song "Dare to Ask Where the Way Is......
1. "Dare to ask where the words are, the words are at the feet" - lyrics Yan Su
In 1982, Yan Su received the initial task of composing the lyrics of the ending song of "Journey to the West", and did not feel any difficulty. Soon after returning home, the first few lines of the lyrics were quickly written. Unexpectedly, when the last sentence of the lyrics "Where is the road" was written, it was "stuck" in front of the word "ask". First I used "I want to ask where the road is", then I changed it to "I would like to ask where the road is", and then I tried to use "if you ask", "try to ask", and "you ask...... But they all felt inappropriate. Later, I found the inspiration for the word "dare" from Lu Xun's seven-law poem "Xinhai Remnant Autumn Occasional Works", "I was shocked by the autumn and came to the world, and I dared to send spring to the pen", and finally wrote "dare to ask where the road is".
Yan Su
The question of "daring to ask where the road is" has come out, but what is the answer? Yan Su has encountered a "bottleneck" again. Thinking about it, he just couldn't figure it out as he paced around. Unexpectedly, Yan Su's move disturbed his son, who was doing his homework, so he complained impatiently: "You have walked out of the way on the ground." His son's words made Yan Su feel empowered, and he suddenly remembered the last sentence of Lu Xun's novel "Hometown": "In fact, there is no road in the world, and when there are more people walking, it becomes a road", it turns out that "words are at your feet". As a result, "dare to ask where the road is" has the answer - "the road is under your feet". Many years later, when Yan Su recalled this creative experience, he once sighed that the lyrics "Dare to ask where the road is, the road is under your feet" was created by standing on the shoulders of Lu Xun, a giant. Because of this, Yan Su named the song "Dare to ask where the road is".
2. "The name of the song is not red" - composer Xu Jingqing
At the beginning of the establishment of the film crew of "Journey to the West", director Yang Jie instructed Wang Wenhua, who served as the music editor, to find someone to write the opening song of the play first. To this end, he has contacted many composers, including many famous artists such as Wang Liping, Li Haihui, Peng Xiuwen, Zhang Fuquan, Zhang Dianying, Niu Chang, and Shi Fu. Although the song that has been handed in does not seem to have entered the director's "magic eye", in the end, he still used the song "Hundred Songs and Thousands of Twists and Turns to Show Sincerity" written and composed by Wang Liping as the opening song of the three episodes of "Counting and Collecting Pig Bajie", "Three Dozen White Bone Spirits" and "Woe to Guanyin Courtyard".
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The opening song of the TV series "Journey to the West" "Hundred Twists and Turns Show Sincerity"
Lyrics and music: Wang Liping, singing: Wu Yanze
So far, the music of "Journey to the West", especially the opening and ending songs, has become a "heart disease" for director Yang Jie, and it has also put music editor Wang Wenhua under tremendous pressure. As a last resort, he had to "go to the hospital when he was sick" to look for a composer who could take on this great responsibility. One day, he asked Lu Shilin, the composer of the documentary "The Death of the Red-crowned Crane", to help. Although Lu politely declined his invitation on the grounds that "there are many people and demons in "Journey to the West" and cannot be controlled, he still recommended a "little-known" Xu Jingqing for Wang Wenhua to "try", and told this person that "if you have an idea, you can also play a few nice notes by picking up a stone".
Wang Wenhua - Music editor of "Journey to the West".
When Wang Wenhua found Xu Jingqing and asked him to recompose the music for the song "Hundred Songs and Thousands of Twists and Turns to Show Sincerity" written by Wang Liping, Xu Jingqing felt a little embarrassed. In fact, Xu Jingqing and Wang Liping, both musicians, have a good personal relationship. Wang Liping, who is already the composer of the TV series "Dream of Red Mansions", has no skills in the Dream of Red Mansions. He also said to Xu Jingqing: "Otherwise, you write down the words, and you can compose the music." In the end, Xu Jingqing did not recompose the music for "Hundred Songs and Thousands of Twists and Turns", because he could predict that once the music was composed, and when the words "Lyricist Wang Liping, Composer Xu Jingqing" appeared in the subtitles, the audience would definitely think that the name was reversed.
Xu Jingqing in creation
So, he composed a piece of music called "Happy Huaguo Mountain". After the song was sent to Yang Jie, she was immediately taken by her. When told that the composer was not famous, Yang Jie's reply was also straightforward: "I don't want a name, I want a song." Later, this song was renamed "Cloud Palace Xunyin", which replaced Wang Liping's song "Hundred Songs and Thousands of Twists and Turns to Show Sincerity", which became the opening song of the TV series. Whenever this familiar music sounds, the people know that "Journey to the West" is about to start......
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The opening song of the TV series "Journey to the West" "Cloud Palace Xunyin" composer: Xu Jingqing
Not only was Xu Jingqing's opening song adopted, but Xu Jingqing, an "unfamous" person, was also selected by director Yang Jie and became the composer of the TV series "Journey to the West".
Xu Jingqing and director Yang Jie
Of course, the composition of the ending song "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is" naturally fell to Xu Jingqing. Unlike Yan Su who wrote the lyrics, Xu Jingqing's creative inspiration did not come from pacing, but from watching from the bus. One day, Xu Jingqing took a bus from Xizhimen to the unit, looked at the vendors setting up stalls on the roadside, listened to their shouts, looked at the bustling crowd on the street, and observed their hurried figures. "What are people busy in this life for?" suddenly came to Xu Jingqing's heart. Yan Su's two lyrics "A lot of spring, autumn, winter and summer, a scene of ups and downs" couldn't help flashing in front of his eyes. Unconsciously, he hummed the melody of these two lines, humming and humming, and he himself was moved. After getting out of the car, he was afraid that he would forget this song, so he quickly took out a cigarette case from his pocket and opened it to make paper, and borrowed a pencil from a passing primary school student.
Manuscript of Xu Jingqing's "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is".
Perhaps it was Xu Jingqing's name that made him "quiet" for most of his life. The song "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is" quickly became popular with the hit of "Journey to the West", but the embarrassing thing is that people only remember the lyricist Yan Su and Jiang Dawei, the singer, but they don't know the composer's "surname". So far, the songs he wrote have been made into ringtones and downloaded an astonishing number of downloads, but few people have paid him royalties. Xu Jingqing has always wanted to hold a Journey to the West concert, but he is "poor" and unable to hold it because of his "shyness". Although the concert was later successfully held thanks to crowdfunding donations from netizens, when he delivered a speech at the concert, he only said "he wants to cry". This sentence contains too much of his sadness and helplessness. When CCTV host Dong Qing interviewed Xu Jingqing, he once said to him with emotion: "This concert is too late. But Xu Jingqing replied contentedly: "It's not too late, as long as I'm alive, it's not too late." ”
Journey to the West Theme Concert (December 4, 2016, Great Hall of the People, Beijing)
3. Singing turmoil
Among the more than 20 episodes of "Journey to the West", "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is" is undoubtedly the "ceiling" in the episode. However, who sings this song has become one of the most controversial focuses. Not only is there always a controversy between director Yang Jie, who holds the "power of life and death", and composer Xu Jingqing, but also caused a storm due to the replacement of singers......
In most people's impressions, the original singer of "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is" is none other than Jiang Dawei. In fact, this song is sung by the soprano Zhang Bangmo, who became famous for the song "The Wave of Gulangyu". Perhaps because the opening song "Hundred Songs and Thousands of Twists and Turns Show Sincerity" had been sung by tenor Wu Yanze, and a female singer was planned to sing according to the convention of the ending song, Xu Jingqing, who preferred popular style and had a soft spot for Zhang Bangmo's singing style, found Zhang Bangmo.
Zhang Bangmo
Unexpectedly, her first reaction was "inappropriate", because "Journey to the West" tells the story of four male masters and apprentices, and interpreting this song with a female voice seems to be "not the right way". But under Xu Jingqing's repeated persuasion, Zhang Bangmo still came. Unexpectedly, after the audition, her attitude towards this song changed, and she poured emotion into the second creation of this song, and the singing effect also satisfied Xu Jingqing. So, in the first 11 episodes of "Journey to the West", the ending song "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is" sung by Zhang Bangmo was used.
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"Journey to the West" Episode 1-11 ending song "Dare to ask where the road is"
Lyrics: Yan Su, Composer: Xu Jingqing, Singing: Zhang Bangmo
However, what Xu Jingqing didn't expect was that the audience's response was a little "unsatisfactory", and people felt that the ending song was too gentle, which seemed to be "incompatible" with the majestic vicissitudes of the original work. Under this pressure, director Yang Jie insisted on making a male version of "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is". In desperation, the selection of male singers began. The director "preconceived" chose Yu Junjian, who was still very young at the time, because he had already sung many episodes of "Journey to the West", and his lyrical tenor made a good impression on Yang Jie. But Xu Jingqing insisted that Li Shuangjiang sing this song, causing Yu Junjian to "miss out" this song.
Yu Jun Sword
Jiang Dawei's chance to sing this episode was purely accidental. Once he met Xu Jingqing when he went to CCTV to record a song, and after the recording was completed, Xu Jingqing asked him to try to sing "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is", and his singing unexpectedly conquered everyone. It is reported that Yang Jie shed tears after hearing this. In view of the fact that Li Shuangjiang's voice problem at that time had not yet healed, the director immediately made a final decision, and Jiang Dawei's version of "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is" replaced the ending song of Zhang Bangmo's version.
Jiang Dawei
However, when Zhang Bangmo was still frequently singing "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is" in various galas and theatrical performances, she was completely unaware of the quietly occurring "changing people and singing". When she saw on TV that the ending song of the newly aired "Journey to the West" had no longer sung by her, and her name had disappeared from the TV series, Zhang Bangmo was no longer "violent and silent", and she was furious and called Xu Jingqing to "ask for an explanation", and the encouraging words were mixed with the "national scolding" mentioned by Mr. Lu Xun. Xu Jingqing, who was ashamed, not only expressed his understanding of this, but no matter how much he said, it seemed redundant. Zhang Bangmo also asked Yang Jie to hold him responsible, and the director immediately replied with a sentence "This is the decision of the station", which made Zhang Bangmo "speechless". From then on, Zhang Bangmo vowed never to sing "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is" again, and he would never see Jiang Dawei again. Jiang Dawei is also very interesting, and avoids Zhang Bangmo everywhere, and the two avoid Yin Xing and never communicate with each other.
Time flies like an arrow. Yang Jie, the director of "Journey to the West", and Yan Su, the lyricist of "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is", have both passed away. In 2024, Xu Jingqing, the composer of "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is", will be 82 years old. Jiang Dawei, who once became popular for "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is", is 77 years old. Zhang Bangmo, who sang "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is" in his 20s, is also 66 years old.
Jiang Dawei and his wife in Vancouver, Canada
The lives of Jiang Dawei and Zhang Bangmo, who sang the song "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is", have also changed a lot. Jiang Dawei failed to go abroad to make a living, and returned to China to make money, which made him infamous and famous, and some people ridiculed Jiang Dawei for "not knowing where the road is". Zhang Bangmo also has the experience of "going abroad and returning to China", but unlike Jiang Dawei, she is still loved by listeners and audiences after returning to China. Today, she has calmly accepted the results of the "change of singing" turmoil that year, and at the galas and variety shows she attended, Zhang Bangmo sang "Dare to Ask Where the Road Is" with her own style again......
*The picture is from the Internet, if there is an infringement dispute, it will be deleted