Zheng Yi: Let the "sister flowers" of Fuzhou Quyi shine with new colors

Zheng Yi (front) in the performance. Courtesy of respondents

Fuzhou, July 29 (Peng Lifang) Fuzhou Lingyi and Fuzhou Commentary are known as the two "sister flowers" of Fuzhou's music and art circles, both of which originate from the ancient Tang and Song dynasty rap art, and pass positive energy to the audience in a way of elegant and popular appreciation, which is very popular with Fuzhou people.

Although it still exudes classic charm today, due to the acceleration of the urbanization process and the lack of dialect inheritance, the development of Fuzhou's folk art and commentary has faced a stagnant dilemma for many years.

In 2006, Fuzhou's artistry and commentary were selected into the list of national intangible cultural heritage. As the only inheritance protection unit, Fuzhou Commentary and Art Transmission Institute has always been committed to protecting and inheriting the two wonderful flowers of Fuzhou Quyi. Zheng Yi, a 41-year-old non-hereditary inheritor of Fuzhou Ling Singing, is the backbone of today's institute. In recent years, the qu artists represented by her are working together to bring Fuzhou's folk art and commentaries back to the vision of Fuzhou people with one performance after another, so that Quyi will shine with new brilliance in the new era.

Zheng Yi said in an interview with reporters on the 29th that as a Fuzhou person, as an inheritor, she has the responsibility and obligation to let more Fuzhou people and outsiders understand Fuzhou's folk arts and commentaries, "They are not only dramas, but also the accumulation and inheritance of Fuzhou culture."

"Halfway Home" has won awards continuously

In 2003, Zheng Yi, who was "halfway out of the house", began to systematically study the commentary with Chen Ruyan, a national non-hereditary inheritor of Fuzhou Commentary. After 3 years of professional training in commentary, Zheng Yi learned the whole book of counterpart commentaries "Strange Female Marriage" and "Shi Sande".

Fuzhou Commentary is narrated in the Fuzhou dialect, and is interspersed with chanting in a unique traditional storytelling form, which is known as a "living fossil" in the Chinese music and art circles.

A beat of waking wood, a sound of cymbals, a long gap of sounds, multiple roles with the change of actor's tone of voice in turn... Different from other commentaries, fuzhou commentaries in addition to folding fans, spotted fingers, waking wood, silk spar, bamboo basket, but also use a piece of cymbals, actors have to play multiple roles alone.

"For example, from a little girl to an uncle, it is necessary to change the voice and change color, and the use of breath should be four or two thousand pounds." Zheng Yi now often instructs the younger generations, and one person plays a variety of roles in the commentary performance, which is very helpful for learning to sing.

In 2006, Zheng Yi passed the recruitment examination of Fuzhou Quyi Troupe (the predecessor of Fuzhou Critics and Servants Art Transmission Institute) and studied singing with Qiang Shuru, a national non-hereditary heir of Fuzhou Lingsheng. The following year, she began to perform on stage and sang, and successively won the first prize of the Third Fujian Provincial Literary and Art Newcomer Competition, the Gold Medal for Performance and the Gold Award for Actors in the Third Fujian Provincial Quyi Festival Competition. In 2012, her art "Qin Louyue Chunhuifang Lane" won the silver medal of the National Quyi Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Achievements Academic Exchange Exhibition, and her singing "Xianglin Sister-in-law" won the first prize of the Fourth Quyi Performance in Fujian Province.

Sheng Jingcheng reminisced

Gongzhi notation is one of the traditional Chinese notation methods, named after the use of labor, ruler and other characters to write roll names. Zheng Yi listened to the elders in the group say that Fuzhou Lingyi was sung according to the ancient local ruler notation. Over the years, Fuzhou people have added people next to the ruler characters to create the "伬" character exclusive to Fuzhou qu artists. For a long time, however, it could not be found in the dictionary.

Zheng Yi remembers that about seven or eight years ago, the leaders of the regiment accidentally found that this new word created according to Fuzhou's characteristic music art can be typed out on the computer, and everyone has some feelings, "Finally there is this word" and "acknowledging us."

These few words more or less explain the embarrassing development situation of Fuzhou's folk art.

From the earliest entry and exit of the court and the residences of dignitaries and nobles, and then to the later prosperity of ordinary people's homes, when it was most popular, Fuzhou old qu artists often performed three times a day, singing here, and the commentary was next door.

At the end of the 1980s, the development of Fuzhou Singing stagnated. After the reform and opening up, with the development of the city, many audiences in Fuzhou who listened to the songs were dispersed due to relocation. The development of popular songs and the increasing abundance of entertainment methods have left listeners who once had at least a few hundred people per show, and at one time there were only a few dozen people left. The performers saw that the people in the audience were getting older and smaller.

Fuzhou Commentary is facing a similar crisis. Fuzhou dialect inherits the ancient characters in Chinese and is a unique local cultural rich mine. "Today's young people can't even speak Fuzhou dialect, let alone understand the baggage in the commentary." Zheng Yi was a little helpless.

The problem of the actors and actresses is equally tricky. Zheng Yi took herself as an example: when she entered the art school in 2003 to study opera, there were 22 brothers and sisters in the same batch, and now only three or four are still insisting in the industry. Nowadays, the institute is still facing the embarrassment of "aging" of qu art practitioners, and the injection of fresh blood is imminent.

"As long as someone is willing to learn, we will teach." In the institute, "passing on the commentary and singing" has become a heavy responsibility in the hearts of music artists including Zheng Yi.

To this end, quyi actors have insisted on entering communities and schools for many years, using one performance after another and one work after another to integrate the "shrimp oil flavor" full of quyi into the ordinary life of Fuzhou people.

Integrate traditional music into ordinary life

As early as 2012, the then head of the institute took the lead and called on all staff, as long as they have skills in their hands, to step out of the unit and perform free of charge in the community and school for public welfare promotion. Zheng Yi also followed the teacher Fu "in the wind and rain" to run.

Zheng Yi felt incredible at that time, "Why is my teacher insisting on these things?"

The number of times I went, the street side of the Yibo, Yimu (Fuzhou dialect, meaning old men, old women) all know them, see each other, will also say, "Sing again."

"Year after year, over time, we all have feelings. Through the music melody and performance to keep everyone together, as long as you open your voice and sound the cymbal, everyone's emotions will come up. Now, the master with Zheng Yi has retired, and some of the Yibo and Yimu who he knows have also left, but Zheng Yi feels that "the maintenance of nostalgia still exists."

Recently, in preparation for the 44th World Heritage Conference held in Fuzhou, the Fuzhou Critics and Artists Institute launched a number of special performances of "Welcoming world heritage". Zheng Yi had to be as busy as a gyroscope, in addition to special performances, she also needed to perform and teach, and rushed to cooperate with the promotion of qu art.

"Long stone benches, small pavilions, Iberim sat on a chair listening to the play, holding jasmine tea in one hand and a fan in the other." In a live radio broadcast that she attended a few days ago, Zheng Yi and her listeners shared a glimpse of a scene when they entered the community performance.

Zheng Yi said slowly, his voice hoarse due to heat stroke was full of laughter, "This is the ancient taste of Fuzhou." (End)

Source: China News Network