The first time Ah Xi felt his song "fire" was when he heard an unknown aunt humming the melody of "Remembering Guangzhou" on the road. The Cantonese song written by Ah Xi himself, once released in 2016, triggered millions of hits on the Internet: in the lyrics, from Xiguan, Qilou, Beijing Road, to the Pearl River View, the city village, the old bus... Born in 1996, Guangzhou girl Ah Xie, in the wandering summer of 20 years old, sang every Guangzhou people's nostalgia for the old time with a small love song for Guangzhou, and also sang his own musical road.
Two years later, Ah Xi officially became a music singer-songwriter with a million fans, and her audience is mostly post-90s and post-00s. In the latest inspirational Cantonese song "Fine Boundary", she wrote, "Don't give me too much cause and effect, everything is against my dream of living through the blood, who has a disaster." ”
A new album
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > text, photo/Guangzhou Daily all-media reporter Cheng Yilun</h1>
From "Memories of Guangzhou" to "Fine Boundary", Ah Xi said: "In my bones, I actually have two characteristics of old Cantonese and new Cantonese, on the one hand, I am very nostalgic, Cantonese is always my mother tongue; on the other hand, I also want to express more young people's thoughts and emotions through songs." ”
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > from cover to original</h1>
Ah Xi is only 22 years old this year, but she is already a singer-songwriter with 6 years of "seniority". At the age of 16, Ah Xi, who was still in high school, liked to cover some Cantonese songs in addition to reading. There are many songs that Ah Xie has sung, from Zhang Guorong's "Blame You for Being Too Beautiful" to Chen Huilin's "Heart Too Soft". Among the many cover singers, Ah Xie's voice line is a rare soprano, and the unique and soft singing voice sounds very healing.
Ashio loves to cover old songs. In the memories of her generation after the 90s, the Cantonese music scene in the 1980s and 1990s was a star-studded star, not only local singers like Zhang Guorong and Chen Huilin, but also many inland singers, such as Mao Ning and Yang Yuying, who also chose to debut in Guangzhou. Ah Xi grew up in such an environment. But after decades have passed, the water of The Xiangjiang River is still the same, but the Guangdong music scene is not what it used to be, there are few superstars, "the golden age is living in memory", and this is also the reason why Ah Xi likes to cover old songs.
But compared to the cover, Ah Xi is more prominent in her lyrics ability. Ah Xi is known as a "post-90s creative talented woman". So far, Ah Xi has adapted a number of familiar Chinese songs, from the network song "Good to Miss You", to the film and television track "Light Chaser", and then these adapted tracks have hundreds of millions of hits on the Internet, and they were once popular vibrato.
Ah Xie's adaptation is not a copy of the original words, but will add some lili and his own emotional experience. "Lyric adaptations have always been part of Cantonese music culture. Many songs have the same melody, but after refilling the Cantonese words, the taste will be completely different. Ah Xie said. But Cantonese filler words also have a difficulty, that is, to ensure that the tone of the words before and after each lyric is consistent with the tone of the musical melody, only in this way will the sense of rhythm be stronger, "so many Cantonese songs are more rhyming than Chinese songs, some sentences do not even have to be sung, just read out in the vernacular is already like a song." ”
Ah fine
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > local singers who grow up after 00 and 90s</h1>
I met Ah Xi at the signing party of her first EP on December 9. The signing party was set on the first floor of Tianyu Plaza, where Ah Xie stood in the middle of a small stage wearing a white sweater and white gauze skirt, and the atrium of the square, from the first floor to the fourth floor, along the railing three floors outside the three floors, densely packed with people.
It was the winter season in Guangzhou, Ah Xie was dressed a little thinly, she muttered a word on the stage "a little cold", and a few boys under the stage stood up and pretended to take off their coats and hand them to her, which made the audience laugh.
Ah Xi is 22 years old this year, and the fans who listen to her songs are about the same age. Zhou Lixin is a fan of Ah Xi, a native of Guangzhou. She listened to Ah Xi's songs from the cover of those old songs. She said that Ah Xie's cover song is like drinking old wine with a new bottle: "Why do many old brands and old brands like to take the 'high-value' new packaging route now, but also to fit young people." This is also true of Ah Xi's cover songs, the singing voice and melody are new, but the music theory and lyrics are familiar. ”
Zhou Lixin believes that in today's Cantonese music scene, it is becoming more and more difficult for newcomers to break through. "In the past, Guangzhou's music can be said to be the leader in China, but now, when everyone talks about Guangzhou singers in recent years, they may only know Zhang Jingxuan and Young Master Dongshan. Unfortunately, Zhang Jingxuan has not produced many new songs now, and the songs written by Young Master Dongshan are many nursery rhymes that reflect the lives of locals, such as "Dian Du De", "Stone Room Sacred Poems", and "Xinghua Street". Ah Xi's songs reflect the thoughts and emotions of those of us post-90s. Zhou Lixin said that she began to listen to Ah Xi's songs from high school, from the first song "It's Good to Have You" to "Memories of Guangzhou" to "Fine Boundary", of which her favorite is "Remembering Guangzhou".
Post-90s Guangzhou girl Ah Xie
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > "old Cantonese" like "Xinguangren"</h1>
"'Memories of Guangzhou' was a turning point in my musical journey." Ah Said. Before composing "Memories of Guangzhou", Ah Xi was a student majoring in international economics and trade, and the song was composed by her near graduation, when she was in a difficult situation of employment: whether to choose a stable job or continue the road of music. In order to understand the happy knot, she often carries a guitar through the streets of the city, "It was also during that time that I found that Guangzhou, which has accompanied me for so long, has actually undergone many changes." ”
In "Remembering Guangzhou", there is a lyric that is "I must let go of seeing you are excellent", this lyric also pokes at many young "old Cantonese", Ah Xie explained her feelings for Guangzhou: "In fact, for many young Guangzhounese, our feelings about the changes in Guangzhou are very complicated: in the face of the gradually disappearing Old Cantonese culture, we will be more regretful and unwilling, but we are also more willing to accept the diversified cultural development of Guangzhou. In this state of mind, Ah Xi wrote the song "Remembering Guangzhou", in which she missed the disappearing "urban village" and lamented the rapid development of Guangzhou.
But as an old Cantonese, Ah Xi believes that he has the two qualities of Lao Guang and Xin Guang, "On the one hand, I am very nostalgic for the old, and Cantonese has always been my mother tongue; on the other hand, I also want to express more young people's thoughts and emotions through songs." Therefore, in the new song, Ah Xi composed an inspirational Cantonese song "Fine Boundary" for the young people who chased their dreams, "Don't give me too much cause and effect / Everything is against me / Dreams have lived through blood / Who has a disaster." She wrote in the lyrics.
Ah Xie said that in the future, she may write another song about Guangzhou, but she wants to write some new elements, such as humanistic relations, "like your "Blessing Guangzhou", there are people from all walks of life, especially the rap part, the content is very kind. I think there are already a lot of songs written in old Guangzhou, Guangzhou's food, landscapes, old places... But people are very wonderful, Guangzhou, as a city with heritage and vitality, deserves to sing the emotions and stories of the people here with Cantonese songs. ”
Produced by guangzhou daily mobile reporter department
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