Culture and Art Network - Culture and Art Newspaper (Reporter Ni Yao Li Jipu) On the evening of September 9, the "Ordinary World" He Guofeng Concert Xi'an Station performance will be held at the Xi'an Qujiang International Convention Center. He Guofeng, the proposer and advocate of "Loess Folk Songs", will join hands with well-known musicians at home and abroad to interpret classic folk songs with new musical melodies and provide the audience with a folk song concert that is completely different from the public impression. At that time, the audience will not only listen to a revolution from the folk songs of northern Shaanxi, but also witness the collision and integration of Chinese and Western music and art, and witness the new journey of music culture in the Yellow Land.
He Guofeng, who grew up in northern Shaanxi, walks in the mountains and mountains all year round in search of folk songs; the songs are desolate and long; a seat of Chinese simple clothing; all the way to win the "King of Northern Shaanxi Song", "Chinese Oratorio King", "Founder of Loess Folk Songs", etc. or from official evaluation, or from the audience spontaneous praise titles... In the public impression, He Guofeng is the image that "Northern Shaanxi Folk Singer" should have.
However, if we pay a little attention to He Guofeng's artistic path, we will find that he was once a saxophonist, a singer who loved jazz, and an accomplished oil painting creator. In his body, the purity of original folk art, the refinement of palace art, and the freedom of popular culture are integrated. In his own words: "The ideas of art are the same way, and the different arts are not only not contradictory, but complement each other." ”
"Brand new" concerts
"Redesign and upgrade" all works
"The 'ordinary world' is a concert, not a concert."
At the beginning of the interview, He Guofeng was very serious about "justifying the name" of the concert. This concert differed a lot from his previous performances, first abandoning the use of accompaniment tapes and all the songs being accompanied by a live band. All the musicians were carefully selected, especially Quiever Michel Christine from France, bringing many different ideas to the show.
Music is the primary factor that He Guofeng and the band members consider throughout the planning and preparation of the performance. Innovation is the goal they pursue. Since the launch of the first music album "Cang Lang" in 2005, innovation has always been the musical concept that He Guofeng insisted on. This "Ordinary World" concert arranged nearly 20 tracks, and the sources of works are very extensive, in addition to the folk songs of northern Shaanxi, there are "Flowers" excavated by He Guofeng in Gansu and Qinghai, as well as "Huayin Old Cavity", and "Northern Shaanxi Storytelling", which he calls the rock version of storytelling. Whether it is an old song or a new song, all works have been "revised and upgraded", and the traditional folk songs have been "contemporarized" adapted.
"All the performances are not musical elements that everyone remembers." He Guofeng said confidently, "We have put a lot of effort into music. I and the lead guitarist, Cho Wai Man, deliberated in the studio every day to make sure that the song we adapted was both external and intrinsic. There is no deliberate pursuit of fusing a certain kind of music to make it fancy, we just hope that the music can be more infectious, and can make the inner embodiment of the song more full. ”
"I have always felt that music is a very inclusive and broad thing, and if it is divided by administrative regions, it will lose a lot of things, so I often do not want to define many songs as folk songs in northern Shaanxi, etc. In this area of Jin- Shaanxi-Mongolian communication, there are many songs that are integrated with each other." If you have to say where the song is, it is not accurate enough to say anything. Folk songs should be cultural, not territorial. ”
"Gone Away" is dedicated to a deceased friend
"Innovation" has made folk songs go further
At the "Ordinary World" concert, He Guofeng will perform a song called "Gone Away" for the first time to commemorate a deceased friend. The friend's name is Kim Deok-il and he is a Korean musician.
Kim De-il and He Guofeng met in 2015, and the root of the friendship is, of course, music. When they first met, because of the speculation, He Guofeng sent two songs of his cappella cappella. Unexpectedly, After hearing it, Jin De was inspired and quickly added accompaniment to the two songs and sent them back. "These two accompaniment songs directly touched me. Until now, I have not found a musician who can make the harmony of folk songs as advanced, beautiful, and appropriate as he did. He Guofeng sighed.
"There was a song he composed in this concert, 'Gone Away.' Originally, the accompaniment was almost finished, but unfortunately, the person who did not wait for the recording to be pasted was gone. On October 14, 2016, he suddenly died of a heart attack. It can be said that old Jin used his life to tell me about the impermanence of life. ”
"Gone Away" is adapted from Hua'er's "Tears and Flowers Drowned The Heart". Probably out of a wonderful karma, this song that my friend failed to complete, the lyrics of "gone away" are repeated back and forth. Therefore, He Guofeng chose this song title to commemorate his friend Lao Jin.
The road to art is long, and the companions who leave early are far more than old Jin. What particularly touched He Guofeng was the death of those old artists.
"I often go out to collect wind, and I often hear the news of the death of old folk artists. For example, the elderly Zhu Baoliang, an old artist I have been thinking about, originally planned to visit him when I returned to my hometown for the New Year in 2016, but suddenly saw the news of his death in the circle of friends. And he had been dead for more than a month. In my impression, Zhu Baoliang's health is very good, and his age is only more than 70 years old. An old entertainer is gone, and if no one continues, it means that the voice will never exist. This is not something that a score, a recording can change. ”
How should folk songs be "continued"? In He Guofeng's view, the only way is to modernize it. The language, culture, history, customs and original singing of the old artists condensed by folk songs are very good from an artistic point of view. But from the perspective of public appreciation, it is too rough and rudimentary.
"Transform them into contemporary art, into a state of common appreciation." He Guofeng said, "The rate of loss of folk songs is very fast, and I sincerely hope that I can do something to let these songs pass on and let future generations know that there are many good things left in the ancestors." So for so many years, I have always had a breath, collecting folk songs, reforming folk songs, no matter what difficulties I encounter, it is worth it - this is also my original intention to do this concert. ”
Music that touches people
Covers a huge amount of information
Compared with the saying of "Song King of Northern Shaanxi", people today often use the identity of "the initiator of loess folk songs" when talking about He Guofeng - this is undoubtedly a recognition of He Guofeng's concept of great folk songs. However, for himself, the concept of "loess folk songs" is far from satisfying his pursuit of art.
At that time, because there was no way to classify his singing style, he simply gave it such a name. Now it seems that the concept is not important at all, what is important is the music itself. ”
What is the core of folk songs? In He Guofeng's view, the core is the melody, rhyme, dialect of folk songs, as well as the history and culture behind them, which are inseparable and ineffable. He gave an example: "Some people say that hearing folk songs makes them cry, and they feel very desolate, thinking that this is the core of folk songs. Why do you feel desolate? When I was studying tuning, I heard the theory that the human ear can only receive sounds from 20 hertz to 20,000 hertz, and that sounds below 20 hertz cannot be heard by people. But playing the sound of this band will make people feel sad, crazy, and afraid. It's a physical feeling that comes with a certain frequency, and this physical feeling seems to me like the feeling that art brings to people abstract, indescribable, but makes you really feel. ”
Music needs to be listened to, but it's not just ears, it's about being fully engaged. Because the expression of music is not only the melody and technique, but also precipitates the entire life course of the performer.
"Before I saw a "Summertime" singing video on Weibo, it was the sound quality of the mobile phone, and there was no modification or technique, but it shocked me and I thought how it could be so good! Later, I went to look through all his songs and found that the songs he sang when he was younger did not make me feel this way. So this realm is not overnight, it should cover all his life, and the voice has a huge amount of information, so there is an energy that touches me. I don't know if this energy is currently in my voice, but I really expect that I can make the folk song touch everyone as soon as it is opened without pretense. This concert is to go in this direction, get rid of all your distractions, and let the music be naked in front of the audience. ”
Complementarity of different art disciplines
Creates an artistic attitude of inclusion
He Guofeng is not a primitive folk singer in the traditional sense of "white lamb tripe towel red belt, facing the loess with his back to the sky": when he was in junior high school, his ideal was to be a painter; when he came to the army to like saxophone, he began to make music; after playing saxophone for ten years, he fell in love with folk songs, and since then embarked on the road of folk song protection and innovation.
His favorite painter was the master of abstraction, Mark Rothko: "His paintings are simple and abstract, but they can touch many people, and this mysterious force cannot be said in words, and there seems to be a state of enlightenment and birth, which ordinary people cannot do, and can only do so when the artist reaches a certain state, and I have been pursuing this state." ”
It is probably such a rich experience that has created He Guofeng's sensual, inclusive and pure artistic attitude. For him, all art forms are the same destination.
"Music has occupied a major position in my life, but after arriving at Songzhuang, there are many painters around, once again ignited my original dream of being a painter, I will paint a few strokes, as long as I move the pen will go to compare, I am not willing to do bad, so I look around at the exhibition, discuss with the painter, study, in this process learned a lot of knowledge and ideas, there is the idea of art, just the same as the idea of music." Painting is exquisite, and music is also exquisite. In the end, it was found that these two artistic categories not only did not contradict each other, but complemented each other. ”
On the other side of tolerance is his strict examination of his own artistic standards. In He Guofeng's mind, the people and history are the best judges of art. From ancient times to the present, the best art will be handed down, and the bad ones will naturally die out. "What is something that can enter people's hearts, after watching a concert, you can always remember it, think of it." It is a state of pursuit of art. History and time are cruel, and if your work is really good enough, someone will treasure it. ”
In He Guofeng's view, the unbreakable door to promote folk songs to the world is a "higher artistic standard". "My understanding is very simple, your artistic level can reach the international standard, and you will naturally go out." Engaging in art has never relied on the tactics of the sea of people, but on cutting-edge talents, and on real artists, not pseudo-artists. True art can stand the test of the world. I've been working this path and hope I can do it. ”