Master Yu Qian, Master Shi Fukuan, and Gao Fengshan, a famous cross-talk artist, narrated themselves: The vicissitudes of the art world (4)

Fourth, explore new paths

　　Artistically, I have an eye to focus on the new. What I've been after for decades is the hope of breaking new ground.

　　To stand and act

　　In the past, artists singing the number of Nobles were kneeling on the ground and singing, singing with their heads down, unable to look up at the audience, no expression on their faces, and naturally they could not talk about experiencing the content of singing and the feelings of the characters. After singing, he knelt down to ask for money, and shouted "Uncle, uncle, grandpa", which is selling art, similar to begging. That's how I learned it when I was apprenticed with my master Cao Dekui. The master has his own reason, kneeling and singing, the actor's body crouches, the audience's eyes are down, people will squeeze together, they can hold the group, and it is convenient to ask for money after singing. Artists have an old saying: "Don't fight over art, but fight over money." "The purpose is to make money, not to study art. This is because the artist is forced by life to do so.

　　Although I also learned this way, and I acted like this at the beginning, I always felt awkward, and I also felt that the reasoning taught by the master was not completely correct. Because I usually love to watch plays, as soon as I have time, I will go to the small drama shed of the overpass, as well as the small auspicious, Dangui stage, etc., and what to see: Beijing opera, commentary, Zizi, Shengdan net and ugly, all love to watch. As I watched, I wondered, can I learn to act? For example, when talking about Wu Song's paragraph, can you add a few actions to bring out your feelings on your face? I told the master about this idea and asked if I could change the singing style? Naturally, the master did not agree. But I was not dead-hearted, and I practiced in private. I watched people practice martial arts and kicks myself; I listened to the hanging voice of singing, and I also learned to practice my voice. I also love to make friends with opera actors, such as Peking Opera actors Zhang Baohua and Liang Yiming, all of whom are my close friends. I learned a lot of opera moves from them, such as "Cloud Hand", "Qiba", "Mountain Shoulder" and so on.

　　The master saw that I was really working hard, and listened to me repeat the chanting, and he was also moved. The master promised me to change from singing on my knees to sitting on the bench. This change can lift the head up, you can sing with your face up, and you can also draw a few movements on your hands, but the kung fu of the lower body is still not used, and the skills learned cannot be played. I consulted with the master again, can I stand up and sing? There happened to be an artist named Haifeng who also said that he was counting Noble, and he stood and said when he said "Wu Ten Times", but there was no movement, very dull, not flexible.

　　However, this strengthened my confidence even more. When I decided to say "WuSong Da Dian" myself, I stood up and opened up the posture, adding a lot of opera and commentary, and suddenly expressed my feelings and portrayed the characters. Singing in this way caused a strong response in the audience, and they felt very fresh. Someone said: "Gao Fengshan sings really lively, how beautiful is the posture!" Fellow artists also said: "Gao Fengshan really dares to do it!" Of course, some people are not accustomed to it and say, "This change is the same as that of storytellers." ”

　　Anyway, I broke new ground in terms of counting Noble's singing. It was a bold innovation, from kneeling to sitting, and from sitting to standing up, these two steps were very successful. Now it has become a habit to stand and perform, and I feel that there is nothing left, and it was not easy to change it at that time! Later, some artists of the same generation or later, feeling that this path was the right way, no longer knelt or squatted and sang. It can be said that this is a great liberation in the singing art of Shulaibao.

　　Civilization Noble

　　My number Noble is singing red every day. Many people in the Beijing-Tianjin area know my name, men, women and children, and many people love to listen to my singing. Someone once sent me a plaque with the words "Civilization Noble Gao Fengshan" seven words. This captures an important feature of my performance.

　　Counting the treasures of this song is a folk art native to the country, and has a fairly wide influence in the north of China. This form is called Shunkou in some places, and it is called Shunkou in some places, and later it is called Laibao in the Beijing-Tianjin area, called Allegro after liberation, and later the Allegro Book appears. The biggest feature of this form of music and art is that it rhymes in a rut, and it can be changed at any time, and the form is free; in terms of content, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, it is easy to pick up, some have stories and characters, and some are choreographed at any time according to real life; especially those artists who "sing shops" can sing along with what they saw and heard at that time, and can be made up in their eyes and singing out of their mouths. Due to the free form of the number of treasures, the wide range of content, and the ability to sing with the editor, many artists do not process and refine when singing, often mixing low-level and obscene things into it, and love to use dirty words (called "meat mouth") when singing to meet the tastes of low-level interests. This, on the contrary, limits the reluctance of some audiences, especially women, to accept this form. When I sang, I noticed this problem, without swear words, and I didn't sing those low-level and obscene content. Sometimes when I learn other people's passages, I also have to process myself and remove low-level things, so there are many listeners, and I also attract many female listeners.

　　Another great feature of Shulaibao is that it dares to touch current events. In the old society, you can see slogans everywhere that read, "Don't talk about state affairs," but those who sing about the treasure do not care about these things, and dare to touch unreasonable things, bad people and bad things, often laughing and scolding, without any concern. I remember that I once made up and performed a satire on the irrational phenomenon of oppressing women; after "Nine-One-Eight," although I was young and saw the hateful behavior of the traitors, I was very angry, and I also made up and performed passages that cursed the traitors, as well as paragraphs that cursed the traitors, cursed the warlords, and exposed corrupt officials. Because these contents are speaking for the people, they can grasp the audience when singing.

　　After liberation, Shulaibao became a light cavalry for literary and artistic propaganda, and carried out timely and extensive propaganda for the central work of the party. I have choreographed and acted in many programs, such as "Black Girl", "Top Gun", "Comprehensive Use of Blossoming Red Flowers", "One or Two Meters", etc., which have played a great role in real life; in addition, traditional programs such as "Zhang Yu Boiling Sea", "Zhuge Liang Bet", "WuSong Dadian", "Breaking the King's Cousin" and so on have also had a great impact and have become my reserved programs.

　　According to preliminary statistics, I have sung more than 200 passages in the past few decades, and there are 60 or 70 new songs after liberation, and more than half of them are composed by myself or co-created with others. In the long-term artistic practice, it has formed its own artistic style and genre.

　　A group photo

　　During the ten years of civil unrest, I was beaten into a literary and artistic black line, deprived of the right to perform, and locked up in a cowshed. Almost all of the artistic material accumulated over the decades has been lost, but there is a precious photograph that I managed to preserve, which is my group photo with many famous artists in the theater world. This photo was taken in 1958, and almost all the famous Peking Opera actors in Beijing at that time were present, including Mei Lanfang, Ma Lianliang, Xiao Changhua, Tan Fuying, Zhang Junqiu, Ye Shenglan, Yuan Shihai, Zhao Yanxia and dozens of others. I'm the only one who's a performer. I remember that at that time, these celebrities from the Peking Opera circle went to the Chinese Opera School to observe the teaching situation, and I happened to go too. Everyone was very happy about the unexpected coincidence, and there were several old seniors I knew, some of whom had personally guided me to perform. Everyone took a group photo together, and they all warmly invited me to participate and had lunch together. It was something I will never forget. So this photograph I have kept, in the midst of a decade of civil strife, I transferred it elsewhere, without loss.

　　As the saying goes: "Gold is like gold, and near jade is like jade." "I am particularly willing to ask artists from all walks of life to improve their artistic level. I know very well that Peking Opera has a deep foundation and many famous artists, and I pay attention to absorbing things in Peking Opera, such as the use of eyes, the handling of gestures, the bite and spit out words, etc., all of which are seriously learned from opera actors. When I first learned the passage "Black Girl", I specially asked Mr. Xiao Changhua to read it and asked him to teach him one move at a time. Later, I rehearsed "Breaking the King and Chopping The Cousin", borrowing some of the performance methods in the Peking Opera "Chopping Horse Rumors". I am usually familiar with Ma Lianliang's performing arts.

　　Peach and plum garden

　　Many colleagues and friends in the literary and art circles have given me high praise for my performing arts, and many music workers and amateur music lovers have not been ashamed to ask questions and learn from me. In the more than thirty years since the founding of New China, in addition to creating, performing and doing administrative leadership work, I have also devoted a lot of time and energy to cultivating young actors and tutoring. There are more than a dozen people who have come to me as apprentices, such as the famous music actors Liu Xuezhi, Wang Xueyi, Shi Xueguang (Shi Fukuan), etc., all of whom are my students (stage names are all "xue" characters). Li Xuegui, the son of Li Runjie, a famous actor who sang allegro in Tianjin, also paid homage to me. My students, in addition to those in Beijing, also include Liaoning, Henan, Tianjin, Qinghai and other places, as well as members of the cultural and industrial corps of the army.

　　I also spent some time giving lectures to music lovers. I have been to factories, rural areas, troops, cultural palaces, and sister provinces and cities, and I have also given lectures to Tibetan brothers and Vietnamese.

　　Many of my peers in the literary and artistic circles have come to me to learn my skills. The great dramatist Ouyang Yuqian specifically asked me to introduce him to the experience of biting words and making sounds. Zhang Ruifang learned tongue twisters from me. Ouyang Yuqian once said to Zhang Ruifang: "You can listen to how Gao Fengshan's mouth is so clean, how the bite words are so clear, and the voice is so pure." Elder Ouyang's words were a great encouragement and encouragement to me. Many actors from the Beijing People's Art Theater and students from the Beijing Opera School asked me to give them a lecture. I also collaborated with Gao Yuanjun, Li Runjie, Liu Hongbin, and Liu Xuezhi to publish the book "Allegro, Fast Book Research" to introduce the basic knowledge and performance skills of Digital Noble to a wide range of readers.

　　The thought of this excites me. I am a singing artist of the old society, and today the people have given me such a high honor, so that I can make a contribution to the development of socialist literature and art, how can I not thank the great party and sing the praises of our great socialist era!