Shaanxi News: (Hou Yuchun, Li Liyuan, Lu Zequn)
In northern Shaanxi, people's joy, anger, sorrow and happiness can be expressed in the form of folk songs. Whether you are standing on the top of a lofty mountain, walking on a winding mountain road, or traveling on the main road of the Ichima Ping river, you can hear the melodious song of the wind everywhere. There is such a singer, his passionate singing style can vividly express the desolate thick and high-pitched excitement of northern Shaanxi folk songs, so that the listener is immediately immersed in the heart and unforgettable. He conquered the music scene with his most primitive voice and was known as the "King of Western Singers". He is a famous folk singer in northern Shaanxi, a representative inheritor of folk songs in northern Shaanxi, a member of the Chinese Musicians Association, and a vice chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Musicians Association.
Mr. Wang Xiangrong, who is 69 years old, is still radiant in the interview, his eyes are sincere and clear, and his voice is loud and beautiful. When it comes to music, his eyes shine brightly, and we can clearly feel his dedication to artistic pursuits.
"Women cry their noses in sorrow, men sing songs in sorrow." In northern Shaanxi, both men, women and children like folk songs. On the Loess Plateau, there are not only the low-pitched chants of the mother-in-law and aunts who cry like a complaint, but also the high-pitched songs of the descendants who "stop the sheep's throat and echo the cow's voice". Talking about his own music road, Wang Xiangrong said that the older generation in his hometown, grandparents, parents and parents, are his best teachers. He jokingly called himself both "culture" and no "culture." His studies were interrupted due to the times, but for the inheritance of traditional culture in northern Shaanxi, Wang Xiangrong was an extremely qualified student. The land is his music classroom, and the older generation is his music teacher.
His early experiences had a great influence on Wang Xiangrong's musical path, and it was his birth environment that forged his musical path. Some people commented that he "does not need makeup, born with a yellow face", and his appearance is a face in northern Shaanxi. Wang Xiangrong's parents were simple northern Shaanxi people. Growing up in the countryside, he was more able to feel the loess life at close range. When he was a child, his family conditions were very poor, but his family's enthusiasm for life deeply infected him, and the elders' mouths left the seeds of music in his mind.
Later, the teacher taught to sing children's songs, and Wang Xiangrong always learned them quickly and well. His parents often taught him some popular songs of the time, and he could sing folk songs such as "Oriental Red" and "Orchid Flower". However, when he was a teenager, Wang Xiangrong experienced ups and downs, his father died early, and he had to take up the burden of life from the age of 13, doing farm work, doing small work, digging coal and digging charcoal, working as a bricklayer, running outside the mouth, etc., and doing all the hard work. It is this turbulent and displaced life that makes him experience life and enrich his feelings. The 18-year-old Wang Xiangrong became a private teacher in the village with excellent grades, allowing him to go out of the mountains during the winter and summer vacations and learn from Sun Bin, Liu Erluo, and Li Youshi of Shanxi. He visited nearly 100 folk singers and learned the popular mountain songs, minor keys, Jin opera, Qin cavity, mountain climbing tunes, Xintianyou, Duorentai and Manhan tunes popular in several surrounding provinces. In 1975, the agricultural dazhai publicity campaign began, the commune set up a youth entrepreneurship team, Wang Xiangrong stepped on the official stage, won numerous awards. In 1980, after representing Shaanxi Province to perform in Beijing, he was selected to perform in the Great Hall of the People and Huairen Hall for debriefing performances, and was received and feasted by state leaders.
Wang Xiangrong has many famous musical works, his interpretation of each song contains his own understanding, more integrated his own thoughts, and some songs are adapted and processed, making the song tune more beautiful and the lyrics more meaningful. For example, his singing of "Pulling Camels" is a collection of local strengths. In order to truly appreciate the emotions in the songs, he visited countless real porters to listen to their stories. The song sings about the road traveled, the scenery seen, the grass and trees of thousands of mountains and rivers, and the touching true feelings of homesickness.
Wang Xiangrong's interpretation of each song is extremely sincere and moving, and the emotions in the songs have aroused great resonance among countless listeners, which is related to his personal experience. What he sang was his true emotions, and the voice he made with his heart sang the true bittersweet and bittersweet of that generation. Only a voice from reality can truly touch the heart of the listener. Wang Xiangrong said, "No matter when it comes, the audience is the foundation of music singing, and if you lose the audience, you lose the foundation of everything." Whether the singing is good or not, the judges and experts said that it does not matter, only the recognition of the people who listen to the song is the greatest affirmation of a singer. ”
As the inheritor of the existing national folk songs in northern Shaanxi, Wang Xiangrong said that this is the crystallization of the wisdom of the elders, and he must pass on this spirit. For the inheritance of folk song culture, Wang Xiangrong has always had his own views. He believes that if we want to promote and develop art, we must inject new content and new ideas into it, and we cannot stay in the old way in the past. Inheritance does not mean that the script is copied and rigid, but should accept new content and add the spiritual core of the new era. Music without innovation and re-addition is bound to lag behind the times and be abandoned by the listener.
Wang Xiangrong's singing is on the yellow land, and even more he is singing about this yellow land. His songs sing the love of the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation for their homeland and the attachment to their homeland, and every word and sentence is his most sincere feeling for this land. He said that singers are not only performers, but also creators, and only by injecting their own sense of truth can the songs they interpret more powerful. Wang Xiangrong has strong feelings for his hometown, and he has never forgotten that he is a native of northern Shaanxi. He was willing to do his best to promote his hometown and help his homeland. At the same time, he puts his love into action. Whenever the characteristic hometown industry and activities invite Wang Xiangrong to endorse and publicize, he never shirks his resignation, let alone cares about interests, and only wants to do something for his hometown in a real way. "We must keep our original intentions, not forget our duty, and find out who we are." Love this land, love the people of the land, and know who you are for. Wang Xiangrong said and did the same.
In addition to being an excellent singer, Wang Xiangrong is also a good teacher. He deeply knew that the inheritance of folk songs could not be separated from young people and future generations, and he was very willing to pass on his experience over the years to his disciples. He had three important criteria for accepting disciples, one was to have good character; the second was to have good talent; and the third was to love the folk songs of northern Shaanxi from the bottom of his heart. These three seemingly unforgiving requirements may be Wang Xiangrong's most profound experience in decades of art. For the descendants who sing folk songs, Wang Xiangrong hopes that they can be virtuous people, sing excellent songs at the same time, pass on positive energy, bring positive energy to the audience who hear the songs, and inspire people to ignite hope and enthusiasm for life with the spirit of music.
Mr. Wang Xiangrong, who has made great achievements in folk song singing, does not seek fame and fortune, he just wants to sing well and pass on the culture. He said that the most important thing in a person's life is not how much money they make, but how much they have done. From him, he can clearly see the wind and bone and noble spirit of the older generation of artists. Now Mr. Wang has rejected most of the interview publicity, refused many commercial invitations, and put more energy into inheriting folk song culture. Talking about his recent plans, Wang Xiangrong told reporters that he wanted to record 1,000 folk songs in northern Shaanxi as a historical music and cultural material, hoping to leave something to the younger generations.
Folk songs are everywhere, and the styles are different. Folk songs do not have a fixed pattern, and have been passed down from generation to generation according to word of mouth. The tune and singing content of folk songs have a great relationship with the geomorphological environment, one side of the water and soil to support one person, one side of the landform to achieve the other side of the folk song tune rhetoric. Combined with farming culture, nomadic culture, grassland culture, and loess land culture, together they have bred this spiritual wealth of swinging intestines, ups and downs, and magnificent beauty. It is precisely because of the existence of such an outstanding artist as Mr. Wang Xiangrong, who is full of sincere dedication and enthusiasm for music and takes the inheritance of folk song culture as his mission, that the folk song culture of northern Shaanxi can continuously add its color and shine with brilliance in the long river of human spiritual civilization. I sincerely wish Mr. Wang's artistic path to go farther and farther, and hope that the inheritance and promotion of folk song culture will move forward endlessly in the torrent of the times.
Source: People's Perspectives