"Keep singing, singing the song that can't be finished" Hudev inside and outside the documentary "Weiyang Song"

Hood, who has been writing and singing folk songs for nearly 50 years, says that being able to reach out to many young people, sit with young people and talk about things, and listen to their ideas is his "biggest gain." (Visual China/Photo)

(This article was first published in Southern Weekend on November 16, 2017)

Hu Defu still remembers that one day in the 1970s, the senior Li Taixiang suggested to himself: "Now that it is too late to learn the piano, you will go according to your own beat, sing according to your own breath, don't care how people prelude and interlude go." Li Taixiang was sitting at the piano when he spoke, writing music for the lyrics "Olive Tree" composed by the writer Sanmao. Hoodfu went into the room, ready to help him sharpen his pencil.

On the evening of October 30, 2017, Hu Defu's first music documentary "Weiyang Song" was held in Beijing. The white-haired Hoodev sat at the piano and played "The Olive Tree" with his eyes closed, looking intoxicated. Hudev said Lee tai-hsiang inspired his way of singing. Composing and singing folk songs for nearly 50 years, he didn't learn to play the piano seriously.

"I want more people to know about the songs I write and sing, and the times I've been through." Hu Defu told southern weekend reporters, "These songs are not only produced because of me, why are there these songs, the times have influenced me, Bob Dylan, Li Shuangze, Li Taixiang and other people have also influenced me." ”

Weiyang Song consists of nine episodes, each of which is introduced by a song, played by Hudev and tells the story of the song. In addition to "Olive Tree", Li Shutong's "Farewell", Bob Dylan's "The Answer in the Wind", and Hudev's own "Pacific Wind" and other famous works appear in the film.

The title of the documentary is taken from the novel "Weiyang Song" by writer Lu Qiao, which was written in 1945 and caused a sensation after it was published in Taiwan in 1967. "Weiyang Song" is Hu Defu's reading in his youth, and the documentary's Central Mountain Range, Tamkang Middle School and his friend Li Shuangze are also closely related to his growth.

<h3>See what else can grow on the land</h3>

In 2014, Hudev left Taipei, where he had lived for half a century, and returned to his hometown of Taitung to run a beef noodle restaurant with his wife. Later, the noodle shop was enlarged and moved closer to the sea, and the name was changed to "Wind of the Pacific Ocean of Blue Love Sea".

"We don't have recipes, we give everyone what we catch, and the business is good." Hudev said that everyone can see the Pacific Ocean directly in the noodle shop, and the landscape is "invincible in the world". "Weiyang Song" is also filmed here, Hudev is playing the piano and singing on the seashore, and a flock of seagulls suddenly flutters and flies over.

In 1950, Hu Defu was born in the Nanwang tribe of Taitung's Dawu Mountains, and is of both Beinan and Paiwan descent. He made a wish from an early age that he would never leave the place where he grew up: "That valley is so beautiful, we all call it 'fragrant valley'".

But Hudev left his hometown at the age of 11 to study at Tamkang Middle School in Taipei. He has a strong voice, and he can't understand the "Chinese" of others, and he doesn't know where he has gone. His brother told him, "This is where you're going to study." He often recalls the happy days of herding cattle as a child, and unsurprisingly, songs such as "The Child on the Back of the Cow" and "The Wind of the Pacific" soaked in nostalgia have been widely circulated.

Hudev held a concert in Taipei in 1974, but he did not want to stay on the folk song stage all the time. "What is the life and work of our compatriots? How bottomless are they at the bottom of society? How high are the places where they tie the rebar? How deep are they digging? How many waves did they stand up to when they went out into the ocean? Hudev said that he created songs such as "Why" and "Dawushan is a Beautiful Mother" about the people at the bottom.

In "Why", Hoodef asks: "Why do so many people leave the turquoise countryside and float on the edge of the city?" Why are so many people pouring into the dimly lit pits, breathing in sweat and filth? ”

In the documentary, Hudev buys a fish that has just been fished from the sea and greets the old man on the side of the road in dialect when he returns home. In aerial footage, the Pacific Ocean is blue and majestic, and deep in the sand is a green forest.

Recently, the situation has changed, and some young people who have moved to the city to work have also returned to their hometowns. This, Khudev argues, is largely because the "foreign workers" in the cities "relatively deprive them of their job opportunities, so they return to their homeland, accompany their land, see what else can grow on it, and then 'experience' them."

After returning home, some young people from ethnic minorities began to compose songs. "We have a lot of tribal singers, very strong." Hu Defu laughed, "There are not many people who are more singing than A Mei and A-Lin (Note: referring to ethnic minority singers Zhang Huimei and Huang Liling respectively). ”

Khudev returned home, but some people thought he was a musical "deserter" because he didn't stay on the folk song stage all the time. In addition to inspecting the underclass, he initiated or participated in many social activities such as "Caring for Taiwan's Young Prostitutes" and The Haishan Coal Mine Explosion Rescue. Without participating in these different movements of the times, Hudev believes that he would not be where he is today.

In the past, when collecting traditional folk songs from Ethnic Minorities in Taiwan, Hu Defu wrote songs describing the social situation at that time. As events change, the social and political meaning of music diminishes a lot. "Now folk songs are more about conveying a culture and thinking about life, rather than promoting some specific movement." Hudev told Southern Weekend that this may be a significant change in the social function of folk songs.

But today, Hoodef remains concerned about social issues. "Born as an 'indigenous', I see the movement of the entire population – how to come from the mainland, in fact, everyone is one." Hu Defu said it was about the ancestors, "We can't just say the word 'Taiwanese.' ”

<h3>"There should also be the weight of the times</h3>."

In October 2015, Du Xinmao, the producer of Weiyang Song, watched Hu Defu's live performance for the first time, and the latter went to Beijing to participate in the 20th anniversary concert of the Band Wild Children. Hu Defu often comes to the mainland to give concerts, and has friendly relations with mainland musicians such as Su Yang, Wan Xiaoli, and Zhou Yunpeng.

Beijing folk singer Ma Wei, who became popular because of the song "Nanshan South", called Hu Defu "Daddy". Hu Defu felt that Ma Wei looked very much like his second son, "that is, to be taller and speak more 'curly'."

"I come to the mainland a lot of time, sometimes more than going home, I am in contact with young people, I can sit with young people at my age and talk about things, listen to their ideas, this is the biggest gain." Hoodev told Southern Weekend.

In Hudev's view, "Weiyang Song" means "a song that cannot be sung all the time." Producer Du Xinmao believes that the fundamental purpose of making a show is to adhere to the tradition of folk songs or folk songs, "our voice is not floating in mid-air, it has a deep power."

In December 2017, Khudev will release a new album, mostly from the past. "There are some poems that I wrote, there are Li Taixiang's last works, and there are also poems by poets such as Zhou Mengdi, and I compose them into songs." He called that period "a return to the previous part of the folk song: the stage of the creation of the combination of poetry and song". The keen attention to social issues at the time was one of the reasons why his work was not widely circulated.

In the 1970s, folk songwriters Yang Xian and Li Shuangze tried to adapt modern Chinese poetry into songs, proposing to "sing their own songs" in the context of european and American music popularity. "Poetry into song" has become a popular trend, and in the context of the relatively vague difference between "folk songs" and "folk songs", Yang Xian, Li Shuangze and Hu Defu have jointly promoted the development of Chinese pop music.

But in the Internet age, folk songs seem out of place. "Very few people write with a pen, they write with their fingers. Folk songs appeared at this time, and the content was still the original tea, drinking, and talking. Hoodev described, "Technology has changed the logical relationship of the original people." He is flexible enough, in addition to being active on websites such as Zhihu and Douban, he is not exclusive to releasing new albums on the Internet. At the heart of these changes is still maintaining the spirit of folk songs and ballads.

"Miss Dong", "Nanshan South", "Chengdu" and other public songs have been widely circulated in recent years, but in Hu Defu's view, the form is not important: "Folk songs have many aspects, not only are they all public ballads, but also should have the weight of the times, and the way of dissemination is only a kind of packaging." ”