First, Liu Wenbin has loved drum books since childhood
Mr. Liu Wenbin was born in Huanghuadian Village, Erwangzhuang, Baodi County (now Baodi District, Tianjin), a farmer. Originally known as Liu Cunyou, he was born in the seventeenth year of the Qing Dynasty (1891) on the 29th day of the fifth lunar month. Since childhood, he likes to listen to drum books, often teaches himself to sing local drum books, and learns several big drums when he comes and goes. At that time, most of the singers were half farmers and half arts, farming when the farmers were busy, and singing at temple fairs when the farmers were idle, and performing in various parts of the rural market towns. At that time, There was a Mr. Zhang who sang a big book in Baodi, because of his lame legs, known as Zhang Lame Lao, he often sang in Wuqing, Baodi, and Sanhe areas. Usually riding a donkey everywhere to sing, his singing is deeply loved by the rural masses.
The singing method of the Jingdong big drum has always been known as nine chambers and eighteen tones, and the original singing method is: Come on, today I opened the book for the first time..., so I pulled the long cavity to sing, and the first sentence was sung down as if it did not take less than ten minutes. This rigid singing method is not accepted by the city audience, which is the main reason why Mr. Zhang Lame cannot gain a foothold in Tianjin City.
Mr. Liu Wenbin
Second, enter the Razor gate and sing drum book
In the early years of the Republic of China, the countryside often caused disasters and famines, often ten years and nine harvests, in the countryside really can not survive, 23-year-old Liu Wenbin in order to make a living in Tianjin to make a living. He successively lived in the old city of Tianjin, such as Chengxi Yihe Doudian, Sun Family Courtyard, Wu Family Courtyard, etc., and sometimes lived behind Xiaoxi Guanyi Barrier. He was shaving his head and lived in a small shop where many people lived. Shave your head in the alley during the day, and sing a big drum book for recreation at leisure in the evening. When he was farming in the countryside, humming small songs while working, he had learned many small sections and long drum books, such as "Liu Gong Case", "Demolition of the West Chamber", "Hong Yue'e Dream" and so on. At that time, the poor people in the lower classes had no entertainment, so the drums he sang were loved by his friends.
Some people listen for a long time and feel that it is inappropriate to listen to it in vain, so they take the initiative to give some bits and pieces of money, more money than shaving their heads, and gradually it becomes another way to make a living. Because I usually sing and practice, I have naturally practiced for a long time. Since then, he has been singing in the streets with big drums, and often active in the Xiaoying Market area of Tagu Road. The conditions of the "Ground Breaking" performance were very poor, with a large cloth canopy and several benches nailed with wooden planks. This is what people often say: "Half windy, full of rain." He also often said: "People stop working, their teeth hang in line, and their intestines and stomachs suffer." "Because he didn't have a portal to the rivers and lakes, he was ostracized by the artists and the snakes in the city, and he was kicked by others during the performance, and he didn't receive the big drum." This is because he does not have a jianghu master to lead the way, nor does he know how to use "spring point" (jianghu terminology) to talk to them. In Tianjin City, this line of work was not done, so I had to return to the store to bid farewell to my fellow villagers.
Third, it is difficult to get a foothold and return to your hometown to worship the teacher
If he wanted to do this line again, he had to worship the master, and he returned to Baodi with his luggage through the introduction of his fellow villagers, and at the temple fair, he worshiped Mr. Song Ende as a teacher. Mr. Song also specially taught him the "Spring Point" portal rules used by artists. According to his personal recollection, he also invited the artists to eat a donkey meat flapjack at the temple fair, which cost him a whole year of money. Song Ender is a semi-blind man nicknamed "Song Blind Chaff ". According to the generation, Liu Wenbin should be a "Wen" character, and his stage name is "Wen Bin".
Teacher Song not only taught the origin of the Big Drum Book, but also taught the jargon of the terms, and said the position of the three teachings and nine streams and the artists in society.
After some twists and turns of apprenticeship, Liu Wenbin crossed the rivers and lakes and went to Tianjin to perform, making friends with many artists from various walks of life, further broadening his artistic horizons. He made a bold reform of the singing of the Jingdong big drum, first erasing the lyrics of the previous scene and changing it to: "The table is..." Straight to the point, directly into life. On the basis of simplicity, the voice is wide, the words are round and full of charm. Through continuous performances, many basic singing voices have been fixed. In addition, the lyrics he sang were accurate and smooth, and in terms of singing, he also absorbed some rural small songs and land tones, and also absorbed the shouting and selling voice of the city vendors into the Jingdong drum, he once said that he also absorbed the south market selling sauce beef and selling beef offal into the Jingdong drum singing voice. One of the singing methods he excels at is to absorb the old pedantic recitation of ancient poems, this kind of singing urn sound urn, using a back voice (head cavity and back of the head), which is jokingly called "the big drum of the altar".
In the front row is Liu Wenbin, and in the back row, the second from the right is Dong Xiangkun
Fourth, for the master and disciple, a blockbuster
At this time, in addition to setting up a cloth canopy to sing "on the ground", he also insisted on walking the streets and alleys, entering the doors of the mansion and singing in the mansion. According to him, the first time he sang it was with his disciple Li Wenjun. At that time, it was the master of the Kuo family who sang and ordered a passage of "Luo Cheng's Calculation" by his master and disciple, and it just so happened that he could not sing. Li Wenjun recommended his brother Liu Wenbin to sing on his behalf, but the main family was unwilling, so he made Liu Wenbin happy and said, "He looks like that, how can he sing?" At that time, Liu Wenbin was sick and did not pay attention to his dress. Later, after being interceded by others, he still let him sing. The song began: "The winter is cold, the twenty-eight houses descend to Fan, the left canopy is born in Jinan Province, and the white tiger star is born in Zichuan..."
The sound of these few Jingdong drums singing is loud, amazing, unexpected, applause is continuous, and the singers are asked who they are. Since then, Liu Wenbin's name has not gone away and resounded throughout the Jinmen.
Later, more and more people listened to him, and more and more people invited him to perform in the theater. After a while, the radio station asked him to sing live for a long time, and because of his excellent singing skills, he was hired by the radio station for a long time. Through the broadcast, Teacher Liu Wenbin shook Tianjin, Beijing, Hebei and other places.
Fifth, listen to the many, and die for the drums
Because his singing has a unique style and the lyrics are easy to understand, it is suitable for the poor public audience to accept, especially those songs that reflect family life, and are deeply loved by urban and rural women. Because of the songs he sings, he is particularly good at depicting love and the tragic and joyful plots of civilian life. These songs are as natural and simple as the narrative home, and there are also some philosophical lyrics that warn the world. Therefore, he had a large female audience. There is a gong old lady (midwife) surnamed Gong in Liangjiazui, Hongqiao District, who is fascinated by Liu Wenbin's Jingdong drum. One day, cooking at home, suddenly remembered to listen to Liu Wenbin singing, made a mistake in the busy, forgot to plug in the electrical box socket with the wet hand, accidentally electrocuted and died. In order to listen to Liu Wenbin take his life, this matter was widely circulated in the Liangjiazui area, and the death of Gong Laoniang's electrocution was a sad thing, but at the time it also reflected the influence of the Jingdong Drum in the minds of the general public.
Jingdong big drum inheritance table
Sixth, the official naming of the Jingdong big drum
Later, in the case of tea garden performances and frequent radio broadcasts, the other party asked him what kind of big drum he sang, and Liu Wenbin said frankly: "We are Jingdong people (Jingdong refers to Tong county, Sanhe, Wuqing, Baodi, Jixian County, Xianghe, Ninghe and other counties), just call it Jingdong big drum!" This is the process of the name of "Jingdong Big Drum".
As the artistic age grows, it continues to sublimate in terms of singing skills. And because he is very simple and generous, he can share the stage with many artists and become a good friend. In Tianjin, he has performed on the same stage with Hua Sibao, Zhang Shouchen, Chen Shihe, Ma Liandeng, Ma Baoshan, Zhai Qingshan and Liu Baoquan.