There is a phoenix in the world: exploring the artistic life of Guan Sushuang

Hubei Daily reporter Wang Jing

There is a phoenix in the world: exploring the artistic life of Guan Sushuang



I have a "one-sided relationship" with Guan Sushuang. When I was a child, I was taken into the cinema by adults and spent an afternoon with a movie that was singing non-stop. As the first play I have seen, I don't remember much about the plot of the Peking Opera movie "Iron Bow Edge", but I have always had an impression of the big bow in the play and the girl who can pull the big bow (Guan Sushuang), but I did not expect that 20 years later, in the "Search for the Hometown of Cultural Celebrities", I "met" with Guan Sushuang again.

One

In the old days, theatrical actors were "dramatists" who were looked down upon, and ordinary people generally did not want to fall into them. Therefore, the source of "drama" is a bitter child who was sold into the drama class since childhood, and the other is that the disciples of Pear Garden inherit their father's business, and Guan Sushuang is a child born in the drama class. On August 25, 1929, the eldest daughter of Guan Yongzhai, a Peking Opera drummer who lived on the big stage of the New Market in Hankou, was born, and the children of the poor were also given names, and the girls were called Da Mao. Da Mao's ancestors were from Jiangling, Hubei Province, but she was born in Hankou, grew up in Hankou, and started in Hankou all her life.

"Walking tightly and slowly, you can't walk out of Hankou for a day; playing in the east and playing in the west is not enough for the people's paradise." As the people's paradise of the old Wuhan cultural and entertainment center, the first name was Hankou New Market, and the big stage in the new market was the center of Wuhan's drama performances that year. With the help of Mr. Xu Mingting of Wuhan Municipal Library, we found some materials for the big stage. The big stage was built in 1919, and the first to appear on the stage here was the Han opera troupe headed by Yu Hongyuan; in 1922, new dramas (civilized dramas) became popular in Wuhan, and the big stage should be moved from time to time to stage new plays; after the 1930s, the big stage has been performing Peking Opera until the early 1940s. This was the heyday of the big stage. During this period, Mei Lanfang, Cheng Yanqiu, Tan Furong, Zhang Junqiu, Qiu Shengrong, Yuan Shihai, Gai Mingtian, Yu Zhenfei, Tong Zhiling, Yan Huizhu, Zhou Xinfang, Gao Baishi, etc. all performed on the big stage. In Zheng Jungle's article "The Great Stage of the People's Paradise", it is recorded that "each 'horned child' only brings a personal organist and drummer, and is performed by the big stage Dajing team, and in front of the big stage, there is a queue every day to buy tickets and high-priced flying tickets." ”

Today, from the side door of the New People's Park, there are still many old photos of the famous actors performing on the wall along the stairs. Standing in front of these old photos, it seems that you can still hear the sound of gongs and drums and cheers. I think that Da Mao must have been obsessed with watching these performances.

The children in the drama class will hum two sentences no matter what. Before he could read, his father had taught Da Mao to sing "Female Uprising Solution" and "Scolding the Temple After Driving". Although Guan Yongzhai did not approve of Da Mao learning to play, for the sake of his future livelihood, because Da Mao liked to sing opera, Da Mao began to practice from the age of 8. In 1942, Wang Yunwu, a martial artist in Jiangnan, and Dai Qixia and his wife came to Wuhan to pick up classes on the big stage. Da Mao, who has been immersed in the big stage for more than ten years, already has the ability to appreciate and identify the drama, and when she watched the performances of these two, she admired Dai Qixia and his wife very much, and had the idea of worshiping the teacher.

To worship the master, you must first give Da Mao an official name, and Guan Yongzhai asked the literati to deliberate and name Da Mao Su Shuang. The legend of Su Frost is a kind of sacred bird, and it is also said to be an alias for the phoenix. Guan Yongzhai was very satisfied with the name and decided that his daughter would definitely spread her wings and soar in the future. According to the rules of the pear garden line, after worshiping the master, the apprentice should follow the master's surname, and from then on, Da Mao was called Dai Sushuang.

According to the information we found, Dai Qixia is the apprentice of the "Xiao Yang Yue Lou" in Jiangnan Mingdan, and she has also worshiped Xun Huisheng and learned drama from Xiao Cuihua, so she has a wide play path, deep kung fu, and the sword Ma Dan and Hua Dan are all-powerful. Her husband Wang Yunwu is a brave warrior, and the typhoon is praised for its speed and fierceness. But these two plays are more wild.

Two

After paying homage to the teacher, Guan Sushuang practiced hard, not only learning Huadan opera, but also learning Laosheng opera, Hua face drama, Xiaosheng drama, Wusheng opera and Lao Dan opera, and paying attention to learning from drama, Chu opera, Han opera and acrobats. Dai Qixia decided to teach 16-year-old Guan Sushuang "The First Two Books of Rainbow Neon Guan", this play is very artistic, it is a combination of singing, reading, doing, and playing, the first half of the singing is the Lady Dongfang clan, the second half is singing the Yahuan, and all those who sing this play are one and two. This play occupies a pivotal role in danxing. Like WuSheng's "Nagasaka Slope" and "Evil Tiger Village", it is a compulsory repertoire. At that time, the four famous Danmei, Shang, Cheng, and Xun all performed this play, that is, Zhang Junqiu and Zhao Rongchen, who were famous for their big green clothes, also performed. A few months later, Dai Qixia thought that she could perform, and after consulting with Wang Yunwu, she decided to let Guan Sushuang use this play to shoot cannons, and the drama code was arranged in the finale position, so she hung a water sign for Dai Sushuang's "Hongni Guan" at the entrance of the theater.

"Cannon play" is generally said to be a masterpiece play sung in the first three days after a new corner arrives in a place. Guan Sushuang's "cannon" has another meaning, which is that the master and the master are announcing to the audience that their apprentices can sing the lead role. A play of "Rainbow Pass" made Guan Sushuang first appear sharp and became famous in Wuhan. The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression entered its seventh year, and in order to survive, Dai Qixia and Wang Yunwu began to flee with Guan Sushuang, and the first stop was Xinyang in Henan. Guan Sushuang, who had just broken into the rivers and lakes, performed in Xinyang with plays such as "Yutang Spring", "Erjin Palace", "Qi Xie", "Hongni Guan", "Xin Anyi", "Thief Immortal Grass", "Tianba Baishan", "Zhou Yu Returning to Heaven" and other plays of Qingyi, Hua Dan, Wusheng, and Xiaosheng, who not only could sing, but also had good skills, especially the difficult skills that could be turned over from three high tables, which amazed many fans.

In 1946, Guan Sushuang came to Shanghai with his teacher. At this time, Shanghai's drama scene was extremely prosperous, the north and south were full of famous characters, everyone showed their housekeeping skills, and good dramas came out one after another. Mei Lanfang and Yang Baosen are on the "Heavenly Toad Stage"; Ma Lianliang's "Fufeng Society" is in the "China Grand Theater", and Zhang Junqiu, Xiaosheng has Ye Shenglan, Ma Fulu is ugly, and Yuan Shihai is huaface; Kundan Yanhuizhu, Li Yuru, and Tong Zhiling will be full every performance.

Guan Sushuang and his master and mother could not enter the big theaters such as "Heavenly Toad" and "China", so they could only come to the common stage near the Eight Immortals Bridge in the French Concession to take a class. The horns of the "Common Stage" are not as famous as "Heavenly Toad" and "China", and in order to attract the audience, they often stage plays. This kind of drama is won by the set of the storyline organ, and a play can be performed for several days, which is very suitable for the appreciation and taste of the middle and lower class masses. Guan Sushuang participated in the performance of "The Legend of the Swordsman of Shushan Mountain", in which she played a righteous heroine. This character sang, flipped, and played, and her martial arts skills were unleashed. In order to show the characteristics of the chivalrous woman who can fly on the wall without a trace, she borrowed the technique of acrobatic wire pulleys, galloped down from the air, and immediately started to fight. She is physically fit, her movements are clean and neat, and the audience looks both thrilling and enjoyable, so every time she performs here, the field will be "fried". Shanghai audiences have always loved to see new tricks, as long as your play is fresh, whether it is Beijing school or Shanghai school, they have to buy it. Therefore, many newspapers and periodicals have published articles praising guan and suppressing frost.

In Shanghai, Guan Sushuang received praise, but the teacher's wife Dai Qixia did not have the expected red, she decided to leave Shanghai for Qingdao, and Guan Sushuang was taken to Changsha by Wang Yunwu.

The 19-year-old Guan Sushuang came to Changsha with his master Wang Yunwu and began to pick up the girder and hang the head card. After three days of singing the cannon drama, it caused a sensation in Changsha, and after singing in Changsha for a year, Guan Sushuang not only had a good economic income, but also filled the division, and since then she has restored her original surname.

In 1949, Guan Sushuang came to Kunming, where she not only sang a play against Ma Lianliang, the head of the four old students, but also matched Ma Lianliang with a play "The Whole Book of Oolong Courtyard". Since then, Guan Sushuang has become a regular visitor to Mr. Ma, who has given her performances. It was also here that she first met Ma Lianliang's apprentice Xu Minchu, and more than ten years later they married Qin jin.

Three

After liberation, Guan Sushuang successively served as the head of the Kunming Peking Opera Troupe, the deputy head of the Yunnan Peking Opera Troupe, the president of the Beijing Opera House of Yunnan Province, the chairman of the Yunnan Provincial Drama Association, the vice chairman of the Chinese Dramatists Association, and the third and fourth members of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

Guan Sushuang, who has the courage to innovate and create artistically, has shaped the images of ancient and modern and ethnic minority women such as Bai Suzhen, Xiaoqing, Mu Guiying, Yang Paifeng, Chen Xiuying, Xie Yaohuan, Dai Nuo, Ye Niang, and Nati Xiu, showing her multi-faceted performance talents and unique artistic styles. The modern Peking opera "Dainuo" is a play with Yunnan national characteristics and local characteristics that she starred in. "Dai Nuo" is adapted from the movie script "Jingpo Girl", the image of Dai Nuo created by Guan Sushuang is real and moving, especially the most accomplished musical singing, "long knife hitting the stone", Guan Sushuang sang "Nan Zizi" skillfully rubbed into the melody of Jingpo folk songs, sweet lyricism, is one of Guan Sushuang's representative works.

"Iron Bow Edge" is another masterpiece of Guan Sushuang, and Mr. Xie Lu of the Provincial Beijing Theater still recalls with relish: "When "Iron Bow Edge" was performed in Beijing in the 1980s, the 'doll tune' that Guan Sushuang sang was good one sentence at a time, and 12 sentences were called 12 good by the audience. ”

One of her other good plays, "Water Man Jinshan", is extremely delicate, and the martial arts scenes are a collection of essences, reflecting her outstanding talent of collecting literature and martial arts. In 1962, when the great poet and dramatist Guo Moruo came to Kunming, after watching the performance of Guan Sushuang's "Water Flooding the Golden Mountain" and other plays, he wrote a poem praising her performance: "The dance posture Xuan Ang fell back to the light, and the song was loud and loud to curb the clouds." Clad in iron locks, Wen Hou lived, and the water flooded the Golden Mountain Bai Shizhen. ”

It cannot be said that Guan Sushuang is a person who lives for drama. In 1992, at the closing ceremony of the 3rd Arts Festival held in Kunming, Guan Sushuang led the performance of her masterpiece "Water Flooding Jinshan" as the finale. The exquisite art of Peking Opera has transported tens of thousands of spectators into a world of mythology. But this brilliant performance also became the absolute sound of Guan Sushuang's life, and three days later, in the early morning of March 6, Guan Sushuang passed away.

When the play finally ends, the audience will disperse, but the drama embedded in everyone's heart will continue to be performed. (Reporter Wang Jing)