In recent years, urban folk songs are quite popular, Song Dongye, Wan Xiaoli, Chen Grain and other singers have been sought after, but when it comes to urban folk songs, these are the descendants, as early as 20 years ago, a singer named Ai Jing has played this style, her "My 1997", "The Story of Yan Pink Street" were very popular that year, she wrote her personal experience and intuitive feelings into the song, plus simple guitar accompaniment, isn't the current urban folk still this set?
Ai Jing
The song "My 1997", released in 1992, is about Ai Jing's personal experience. She was born in Yanfan Street, Tiexi District, Shenyang, where her parents worked in a state-owned factory. His father was an ordinary worker, but he loved folk music and was proficient in 6 traditional musical instruments, his mother was originally a commentator in the propaganda team, Ai Jing was well educated from childhood, he was admitted to the art school at the age of 12, and then entered the Shenyang Song and Dance Troupe, and became a colleague with Na Ying.
Not long after staying in the song and dance troupe, Ai Jing left Shenyang, as she sang in the song "Because there is no dream there", as an old industrial city, Shenyang is too lacking in vitality, and the economy is also sluggish, at that time some state-owned factories could not pay wages, they gave bearings to workers.
Ai Jing came to Beijing and was admitted to the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe under the leadership of Wang Kun, when she was only 17 years old. Na Ying, who was two years older than her, also came to Beijing, because Na Ying's voice was particularly similar to that of Taiwanese singer Su Rui, so at that time, there were audio and video companies that asked her to record tapes, specifically covering Su Rui's songs, and then the cover of the tape was printed with Na Ying's stage name "Su Ran" or "Su Bing" to achieve the effect of fish eyes mixing beads. At that time, some people also looked for Ai Jinglu tapes, which were also cover songs from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Na Ying sang Su Rui's songs, and the shape was also exemplary
Ai Jing stayed in the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe for more than half a year, and found that the troupe in Beijing was not much better than Shenyang, and the units in the system were all the same, all of which were the same set - the personnel department, the canteen, the dormitory, the teacher, the director, etc., just as dead. In contrast, at that time, the south was much more active in the acting field, so Ai Jing resigned, first went to Shanghai for a short stay, and then came to Guangzhou.
At the end of the 80s, Guangzhou's entertainment industry is very developed, in addition to various record companies, there are dance halls everywhere, a large number of northeast singers come here to pan for gold, Li Chunbo, Jin Xuefeng, Huofeng, Mao Ning are all northeasterners, Na Ying is the "little sister" of Huofeng, under his introduction, also came to Guangzhou, Jin Xuefeng is Na Ying brought over, and Ai Jing is also Na Ying's sister, everyone is Shenyang "old iron".
Fire wind
Jin Xuefeng
Li Chunbo
Mao Ning
Many of the singers in the northeast are stationed in the "Bu tong 100" dance hall of the Dongshan Hotel in Guangzhou. There are also people who rush to perform in multiple venues, and they can earn 1,000 yuan a night. Na Ying and Huo Feng, including Cheng Qian, all lived in the guest house of pacific video companies. In addition to the resident singer, the singer also recorded cover tapes for the record company, which Na Ying, Mao Ning, and Ai Jing all recorded, and sold dozens of millions of boxes at every turn.
Later, na Ying became famous after participating in the Qingge Competition, left Guangzhou, and Mao Ning signed a contract with Yang Yuying for the new era and became a popular "golden boy and jade girl". One of the important reasons why Ai Jing stayed in Guangzhou at that time was that he met the Hong Kong musician Liu Zhuohui, that is, the song "that he". Liu Zhuohui is beyond the royal lyricist, and he wrote the lyrics of "Lover", "The Earth", "Lost Days", "Gray Track" and "The Great Wall". In 1988, Beyond held their first concert in beijing, and Liu Zhuohui also came.
Group photo of beyond when the concert was held in Beijing that year (first from the right Liu Zhuohui)
Liu Zhuohui and Huang Jiaju
During the time when Ai Jing and Liu Zhuohui were in love, Liu Zhuohui could come to Guangzhou to see her, but she could not go to Hong Kong. There were both sweet and lonely times of loss during that time. During the period, in addition to singing, Ai Jing also went to Guangdong TV station to act in a TV series called "Love Demon", Ai Jing gave himself a stage name "Ai Jing", she looks a bit like Yamaguchi Baihui, but also a bit like Gong Li, some people call her "Xiao Gong Li".
Stills from "Love Demon", right Ai Jing
In 1989, at the Oriental Hotel in Guangzhou, Ai Jing, who was looking for the direction of life, met the musician Liang Heping. He recommended the songs of Susan Wigg in the United States to Ai Jing. This so-called folk singer is to take a guitar, play it and sing it by himself, and the lyrics are to talk about some things in life, such as the lyrics of the song "Luka": "My name is Luka, I live on the second floor, if you often hear the noise in my home, don't feel very weird..." Ai Jing listened to his heart and thought: "Emma, I can also rectify this." ”
In 1990, Liu Zhuohui founded Dadi Records, and soon after, he was ready to expand his recording career in the north. At that time, Ai Jing had returned to Beijing to study acting in the central academy of drama. In 1991, Ai Jing's training ended, and producer Huang Xiaomao accepted the commission of Dadi Records to prepare an original music album, because of Ai Jing's relationship with Liu Zhuohui, of course, the first choice singer was her.
At that time, there were very few original singers, and the Tang Dynasty Band and the Black Panther Band did not do underground music for a long time, and they were not yet famous. In the pop singer circle, he can write fewer songs, almost a tape cover, and Ai Jing is a female singer, so this matter is more sensational in the small circle. Friends around her, including Wang Di, He Yong, Sanbao, etc., all came to help her write songs.
One day, everyone was sitting together, playing the guitar and singing, and suddenly someone said, why don't you write a song yourself? How interesting are your experiences. Ai Jing actually had already prepared, and went back to sort out the "My 1997" he had conceived before, which was actually a lyric created according to the style of Susan Wegger, telling his experience in the past 20 years like a running account. At that time Chinese mainland no one had written lyrics like that.
After the lyrics were done, everyone thought it was very interesting, but when they wanted to find someone to compose the music, everyone was confused, and the lyrics written by Ai Jing had more than 10 words in one sentence, all of which were long sentences, and they could not compose music. Wang Di, who arranged the music for Ai Jing, said, "Why don't you try it yourself?"
Ai Jing really went back to write the score, and then began to record and produce, and the whole record took almost two years. The musicians and behind-the-scenes production team invited almost all the elites of the Original Chinese music scene at that time, Huang Xiaomao, Wang Di, Zang Tianshuo, Liu Xiaosong, Gu San'er, Wang Yong, He Yong, Chen Jin, Sanbao and so on. Two of the songs, "Wandering Swallow" and "My 1997", MTV also invited Gu Changwei and Zhang Yuan to direct. It can be said that Liu Zhuohui and Dadi Records also spared no expense in order to make this record.
Because of making records, Ai Jing went to Hong Kong for the first time in 1992, followed the tour group, did a lot of formalities in the neighborhood committee, the street office of various units, stamped a lot of big red seals, and then came to Hong Kong as a tourist.
When she first arrived in Hong Kong, her most intuitive feeling was that it was very bright, their land was not the asphalt road in the north, it was all cement, it was particularly reflective, and the signs on the street at night were also particularly bright. Another feeling is that Hong Kong is too noisy, the sound of cars is muffled by high-rise buildings on the bottom floor of the narrow street, and the sound of air conditioning in the buildings rushes to the street. The noise reminded her of the factory she had spent as a child. Before she went, she thought Hong Kong was particularly quiet. During this time, Ai Jing took a cover photo of the album in Hong Kong.
Album cover shot on the streets of Hong Kong by Ai Jing
In 1992, the album "My 1997" was first released in Taiwan, causing a sensation, selling 100,000 copies in just two weeks. After being released in the mainland, it was more enthusiastically sought after. Although it is not a very mainstream work, it has caused a sensational effect among college students. Because Ai Jing's expression is very personal and very real, it is easier to touch the desire for self-expression in the hearts of college students at that time than those grand themes and painless pop songs. What was even more surprising was that the song also caused a sensation in Japan, and they did not expect that a Chinese could write songs like this and sing like this.
Soon after, CCTV released Ai Jing's MV before the news broadcast, and soon, the record company received letters into sacks every day. The most common thing fans say is "I hear hope from your song".
Ai Jing propaganda photos
Due to the promotion of the record and the second album, Ai Jing later went to Hong Kong, but her music career did not stay much in Hong Kong, nor did she open the concert to the Hung Hom Stadium, and Sony Music, who was very interested in Ai Jing, signed her, and she went directly to Japan. She gave concerts at budokans in Japan, the hall of musicians in Japan and across Asia, where world-class superstars such as the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Pink Floyd have held concerts.
Liu Zhuohui is still Ai Jing's life and musical partner, and the second album "The Story of Yan Pink Street" was also promoted by him, and then Sony's "Chasing the Moon" was produced in Japan, and Liu Zhuohui is still involved in it. Ai Jing's fourth album "Made in China" was arranged by the company to be produced in the United States, and Liu Zhuohui has also been accompanied.
On July 1, 1997, Hong Kong really returned, and Ai Jing witnessed this historical moment in Hong Kong. She participated in a live television broadcast by NHK in Japan on a hotel terrace near the Star Ferry Pier, where she was interviewed by the host and sang "My 1997" live.
In 1998, Ai Jing's new album "Made in China" was recorded, but for various reasons, it was not released, and Ai Jing was a little disappointed. In 1999, with the encouragement of the famous painter Zhang Xiaogang, Ai Jing picked up a paintbrush and began another kind of artistic creation. Ai Jing learned to draw when she was a child, and when she was making records in the United States, she often went to see art exhibitions, and when she went to Zhang Xiaogang's studio to play, she scribbled with graffiti, and Master Zhang told her that you have feelings about painting.
Ai Jing is learning to paint on the one hand, still making music on the other, and she spends most of her time in New York, because of the different concepts of life, she and Liu Zhuohui broke up.
In 2003, Ai Jing returned to China with a fashionable temperament that belonged to New York and released a new album "Is It a Dream". The album took her three years, but there was not much repercussion after its launch, it was the era of Jay Chou, Jolin Tsai and other Taiwanese singers dominating, and her niche style of music was difficult to be accepted by the public.
Ai Jing album "Is it a dream"
Sometimes in order to promote the record, Ai Jing had to participate in some TV shows, and the host often suddenly asked her to sing a live cappella without preparation for accompaniment, and she felt very uncomfortable. She believes: "Singing should be performed in a prepared mood and state, it needs professional lighting and sound, beauty and the right environment. It's impossible to get into the soulful singing of a song right after a period of hilarity and game hilarity, which is too absurd and confusing. In the TV interview, if the host temporarily asked her to sing a cappella, she would be very surprised and had to pretend to be calm to hide her embarrassment.
During that time, she often had tinnitus and even her skin would tingle, and even the doctor did not know what was going on. Later, she understood that when she was doing something she didn't like, her body would have feedback. After that, Ai Jing made up his mind to leave China and settle in New York, completely focusing on painting.
Ai Jing painting creation
Ai Jing has achieved very good results in painting, and has extended to sculpture, installation art, etc., becoming a very well-known contemporary artist in the circle. Art exhibitions were held all over the world, and on March 6, 2015, Ai's work was first sold at Christie's in New York, and "I Love Color #9" was sold for $245,000.
One of Ai Jing's "I Love Color" series
Installation artwork by Ai Jing
Ai Jing in the studio
Ai Jing works
A few years ago, Ai Jing had moved back to China to live, had a large studio in Beijing's Huantie Art District, and she had a family, and she didn't reveal who "that he" was now.