"Instead of the public shouting" - how Nie Er wrote songs

In addition to composing the "March of the Volunteer Army", the people's musician Nie Er also left many popular mass music works. His short life left dazzling achievements, in addition to his personal musical talent, the most important thing is that he went deep into the masses and the lowest level of social life. Nie Er's musical works have a deep mass base.

Nie Er has a heart for the poor and the masses, and especially cares for children. Of the 37 songs that Nie Er composed in his lifetime, 6 were written for children. "Selling Newspaper Songs" was written for a child who sold newspapers. In the winter of 1933, Nie Er, who worked at the Shanghai Lianhua Film Company, often saw a girl selling newspapers on Xiafei Road (now Huaihai Road). The little girl, who was thin and thin, shouted among the pedestrians coming and going: "Sell newspapers!" Sell newspapers! The newspapers of this dynasty are really good! Buy it, buy it! The voice was trembling and childish, but as crisp as a silver bell. Nie Er learned that the ten-year-old girl's surname was Yang, had no name, people called her "Little Hairy Head", and due to her family's difficulties, she could only rely on selling newspapers to make a living. The unfortunate encounter of "Little Hairy Head" aroused Nie Er's sympathy and also inspired his creation. So he said to the "little hairy head": "Just let me help you write a newspaper song." In this way, others shout to sell, you can sing and sell, and you will definitely sell more than others. He told An'e, who later became Lady Tian Han, about the encounter of "Little Maotou" and his own thoughts, and An'e immediately wrote the lyrics, and Nie Er also composed the song in one breath, and taught the song to "Little Maotou" to sing. "Little Hairy Head" was very happy and quickly learned the song. When selling newspapers, she sang extra vigorously, attracting many customers, and newspapers sold more and faster. Later, under nie's introduction, "Little Maotou" played a newsboy in Tian Han's play "The Storm of Yangtze River" and sang "Selling Newspaper Song". After the performance of "The Storm of the Yangtze River" in Shanghai, it was well received by the audience, and "Selling Newspaper Song" also spread quickly. To this day, almost all children in our country sing this song.

Music needs to draw creative sources from the rich struggle life of the masses. Nie Er created in accordance with this principle, which was fully reflected in the creation of "The Great Road Song". In 1934, the film playwright Sun Yu completed a new script "The Great Road" that reflected the struggle life of the workers. The road construction workers in the script worked tirelessly day and night to build military roads against imperialist aggression. When Sun Yu wrote the script of the "Great Road" movie, he conceived and created a rather satisfactory theme song, named "The Great Road Song", who will compose the music? He did not hesitate to find Nie Er. Nie Er asked, "What kind of mood and rhythm should this theme song be written?" Sun Yu thought for a moment and replied: "I hope that "The Great Road Song" will have a bit of a tragic tone like the Russian "Volga Boatman's Song". It was a labor song about a fiber puller. This "Road Song" is a labor song depicting the workers who pull the iron. They are all laborers, struggling on the line of death, all yearning for freedom and liberation. The content and mood of these two songs are somewhat similar. After thinking about it, Nie Er believed that "The Great Road Song" should not only have the tragedy of "Volga Boatman's Song", but also show the enthusiastic passion and victory optimism confidence of the road construction workers. In order to get familiar with the voices of the workers directly from life and understand the lives and emotions of the workers, Nie Er deliberately went to the road construction site in the creation, worked with the workers, listened to them sing the labor trumpet, and experienced their inner feelings.

At the turn of the summer and autumn of 1934, Nie Er accompanied the film crew of "The Great Road" to Wuxi to shoot locations. At that time, a road around the lake was being built near the station. Nie Er wore a straw hat on his head and grass shoes on his feet, and pulled iron rods with the workers on the dusty road, and responded with the workers in unison. Drenched sweat soaked the ground, and sharp stones broke through the heels, but everyone didn't care. In the course of labor, Nie Er felt the iron will and optimism of the workers. He integrated this feeling into the creation of "The Great Road Song", so that the song truly expressed the voice of the working class, especially the trumpet sound interspersed in the song, which added to the shock.

Nie Er sang for the people and sang for the times. As Xian Xinghai put it, Nie Er "composed the strongest voice of this era with his overflowing talent and bold and innovative spirit." At the beginning of 1933, Nie Er was introduced by Tian Han and joined the Communist Party of China. Since then, Nie Er has not only gained a new political life, but also brought into full play his musical talents. Nie Er was deeply angry that the Nationalist government continued to implement the policy of "no resistance" in disregard of the people's suffering and the peril of the country, and he wasted his sleep and forgot to eat and place his heart on the composition. Poor teenagers, the pain of the people in their hometown, the shock of the arrest of their teachers, the girls who pick up cinders run down by trains, the people who fled in fear under the japanese artillery fire... The scene of oppression came to mind. He turned his strong revolutionary enthusiasm into notes and burst out with a sonorous and powerful melody. With the uplifting melody of "Roaring for the War of Resistance": "Rise up, those who do not want to be slaves..." The cry of millions of people was shouted out, and the all-out war of resistance soon began with the song.

In his diary dated June 3, 1933, Nie Er concluded: "Music, like other arts, poetry, novels, and dramas, is a substitute for the shouting of the masses, which will inevitably demand new content and performance of music, and a new attitude of composers." He was very dissatisfied with the popular sound of silence at that time, believing that the new music should "make up revolutionary music while maintaining a high artistic standard" and "replace the shouting of the masses", rather than anesthetizing and corroding the people's hearts with the sound of silence.

Since ancient times, excellent writers and artists must be the spokesmen of the people and the musicians of the times. Sincerely speak for the people, be anxious about the people's anxieties, love the people's love, and tell the people's sorrows and joys. As Nie Er once wrote under the pseudonym "Black Angel", in the "Short Treatise on Chinese Song and Dance": "You will go deep into the masses, and in this you will have fresh materials to create fresh art." feed! endeavor! That is the road of the times! ”

Author: Zhang Xinguang (Deputy Secretary and Vice Dean of the School of Marxism, Ningbo Institute of Technology, Researcher of Ningbo University, Zhejiang Research Center for the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics)

Source: Guangming Network