The F.I.R. Flyer Orchestra has been precipitating for two years and has released its ninth album, Heart of Diamonds, this summer.
Seventeen years into the army, three years to change the lead singer, in the outside world's disapproval and doubts, the Fei'er Orchestra handed over this "diamond heart" that has been carved for two years, which is also an "album that has survived with life".
The three members recently accepted an exclusive interview with the "Entertainment" program of Beijing Youth Daily, telling the experience of creating and producing albums in an extraordinary period, sharing the mental journey of the group for seventeen years and changing lead singers in the past three years, and also hoping that this "diamond heart" music work, as well as each of their future songs, can bring the public full of positive energy, so that everyone can face the tribulations and tests of life, and believe that "the more polished, the brighter." ”
In addition to continuing to release albums in the future, in order to support the ideals of new lead singer Han Rui, the orchestra will also dabble in musical theater. This year is the seventeenth year that the orchestra has become a team, and fans who get strength to hear their music will have a second seventeenth year, a third...
"We always make music until we can't write or sing, which is exactly what we want to pass on, to use music to move and encourage people."
Making an album is like polishing a diamond, and the work is full of positive energy
Two years after the last album and two years in the making of the new album, the three members likened the process to "polishing a diamond", hence the title of the album Heart of Diamonds. "Spreading positive energy is a route we have been adhering to since our debut, so this is an album full of positive energy, which has a lot of works that can encourage or warm and comfort people's hearts."
Feeling that between 2019 and 2021, an epidemic storm disrupted people's habitual lives, "Heart of Diamonds" uses the process of polishing diamonds to compare the tribulations and tests of life, hoping to encourage everyone to stick to their beliefs and finally bloom the most brilliant and dazzling light. Keyboardist Chen Jianning said: "This is an album that has come alive with life. "Admittedly, in the past, the title of the album had to be discussed and modified countless times, but this time it took only 20 minutes to settle down, hoping to record this special period with the new album and record the story of human life with music.
In the process of polishing the album, there are also many difficulties, including from the creation to the production period is the worst time of the epidemic, the three members can not meet, can only communicate and record through the "cloud" way.
"There is no way to communicate face-to-face in music, it's really a bit like 'scratching the itch in the boots', it is difficult to achieve the ideal state, so about the end of last year, we were in Beijing, or face to face, sit down to communicate every note, every singing, when we gather together, it is a bit like a retreat, every day is to eat, record, sleep, but it is stirred up a lot of new ideas, and finally polished this album." 」
Through this extraordinary experience, the three members also wanted to share with the fans: no matter what difficulties they encountered, as long as they worked together to find a way, they could always overcome it.
The new work is integrated into traditional Chinese culture, and the lead singer has a tacit understanding with the highly perceptive team
When the three of them were united in Beijing, they unexpectedly burst out a lot of inspiration, such as the title song "Splendid Dream" was completed in Beijing, "We went to Houhai and met many Peking opera lovers, some playing the moon piano, singing minor tunes, singing opera, seeing them, there are some inspirations bursting out, we decided to integrate the traditional Chinese opera and the beauty of Chinese art into Western rock music and become a new trend." ”
"Splendid Dream" adds guzheng, pipa, erhu and flute, and most of the works of the Fei'er Orchestra in the past have been presented in the rock style, this song is indeed a little different, and it is also a challenge for the three of you. In particular, lead singer Han Rui, the first time he challenged to sing opera, it seemed refreshing, but behind it did not do less homework and hard work.
Although he came from a music class, Han Rui studied musical theater, from bel canto singing to pop to opera, for Han Rui in his twenties, this switch is not so comfortable, and even a little difficult. So the recording did not go well, several times three times re-recorded, almost collapsed.
"When I was a child, I was exposed to opera, and I also liked peking opera, but I was still a little scared in my heart. Because after all, if you want to sing, you still have to present it to everyone very professionally, so that everyone knows that we are thinking about it, not perfunctory, but want to pass something to everyone. ”
For Han Rui's presentation, the other two members are quite satisfied, Chen Jianning also praised Han Rui's high level of understanding, for example, in order to shoot the "Splendid Dream" MV, he specially visited Mei Lanfang's former residence, sent the video he saw and wanted to record to Han Rui, Han Rui saw the video, was deeply inspired, and quickly understood the content that Teacher Jianning wanted to convey to her, and finally internalized it into the performance of the MV.
"The producer also has to do some work to inspire the singer, for example, I will pass on the songs of the seventies and eighties to Han Rui, I said you listen, see if there is a place to learn, learn from, or have some spirit to digest, but you have to internalize into your own things, including this time to learn some of the performances of Master Mei Lanfang, I think Han Rui's understanding is quite strong, we have completed communication in this way, so this is the tacit understanding between the three of us, this is a group." Chen Jianning said.
After changing the lead singer, it was controversial, and he first buried his head in hard work and ignored the doubts
In addition to the inspiration of "Splendid Dream" from traditional Chinese culture, it also integrates the experience of the three people, especially the orchestra, who encountered ups and downs on the way forward and finally grasped the current return to the track, full of positive energy, just as the Fei'er Orchestra has been an army for more than ten years, launched "Lydia", "Our Love", "Your Smile" and many other classic songs that have been sung so far, and later experienced personnel changes, once stagnation, the replacement of the lead singer, and the fans did not accept the controversy, but today the orchestra has become an army for seventeen years, and has once again handed over a work that can be handed over The experiences and stories are inspirational enough.
In 2018, Zhan Wenting, the former lead singer of the Fei'er Orchestra, left the orchestra, and just when everyone speculated that the Fei'er Orchestra might be unable to escape the fate of disbanding, the orchestra ushered in a new lead singer, Han Rui. The outside world is full of doubts and ridicule for the young Han Rui, believing that she failed to bring vitality to the band, but made the Fei'er Orchestra lose its most important soul. For a long time, the fans of the Fei'er Orchestra thought that the voice did not match the appearance in the memory, and many fans even asked them not to sing it again. In the past three years, the Fei'er Orchestra and the new lead singer Han Rui have been criticized and accused too much, and in a variety show at the beginning of the year, Han Rui was publicly criticized by music critics as "too bad", but this did not stop the Fei'er Orchestra from moving forward, nor did it make Han Rui back down.
When the Fei'er Orchestra became an army, Han Rui was just 8 years old. In middle school, he went to KTV to order songs from the Fei'er Orchestra, and studied musical theater at the School of Music of Zhejiang University of Communications in college, with a career ideal of being a musical theater actor, Han Rui never thought that one day he would be able to approach his idol in such a way. Before his debut, Han Rui participated in many singing competitions and achieved outstanding results, and Ah Qin, guitarist of the Fei'er Orchestra, knew Han Rui through a singing competition before he had the opportunity to invite her to join the orchestra. At that time, Han Rui was just 22 years old, and under his weak appearance, he had a strong heart. For the questioning and ridicule of the outside world, she did not have time to think much, but those doubts and ridicule did not hurt her. Now that I think about it, I am glad that I was "a little silly" at that time, "I just feel so happy, so honored, I don't think of any pressure, I think that I have to sing well, my ability is insufficient, how do I improve myself, how to sing better." And during that time, I automatically blocked out external things, first focused on improving myself, when you work hard, some people may see your efforts, so first bury your head and work hard. It's pretty optimistic to think about it now. ”
To have such a mentality, thanks to the psychological construction done by Chen Jianning, the "mentor of the orchestra", "I told her that you will definitely be unaccustomed at the beginning, and you must slowly prove yourself with strength." Don't focus on the things that don't matter, you have to receive information that will help you develop. Now I think everything is fine, in the future you have a higher place to go, I think to be a singer, is to compete with yourself, as long as today I am better than yesterday, tomorrow I can be more progressive than today. ”
Members share a common vision and look forward to the music being passed on to the world
Many music groups are difficult to go further away from the original lead singer, but the Fei'er Orchestra has been 17 years to this day, and the three members believe that the biggest reason is that they have common goals, common visions, and the music they make can give people strength, which is also the motivation for them to persevere.
Ah Qin admitted that the members of the orchestra have experienced their own creative bottlenecks, for the orchestra, it is equivalent to a setback and challenge, but in the end everyone has successfully passed in their own ways, such as after he became a father, he was inspired in the process of accompanying his children, trying to really "play" music like a child, abandoning skills, techniques and purposefulness, so that music returns to simplicity, and inspiration continues. Each member of the orchestra is an independent individual, everyone has their own ideas and opinions, and many times a balance is needed to hold hands for a longer time.
"The personalities of the three of us are different, like the (Jianning) teacher belongs to the faster kind, and the teacher will come forward to supervise some things." When I need to precipitate or relax, I am relaxed and responsible, Han Rui belongs to the responsibility of life, where there is good food, what takeaway to order today, it is she to get it. In short, when encountering difficulties or bottlenecks, our team will overcome them together. ”
In the future, the Fei'er Orchestra hopes that their music will not only move and encourage people, but also be passed on to the world. Because lead singer Han Rui's original dream was to become a musical theater actor, although he later joined the Fei'er Orchestra, this dream is still there. So making a musical is already on the agenda.
The major of the university is musical theater, Han Rui has been regretting that after joining the Fei'er Orchestra, the basic learning in the university is not used, and it takes a lot of time to switch from bel canto to sing pop, and it takes a lot of classes, and sometimes it is still difficult to change the small habit of singing bel canto. But Teacher Jianning enlightened her:
When the book is used, it is less hated, right? It's just that the time has not come. In fact, what you learn will be used in the future, just like the plays you listened to when you were a child, are you not also using them now? So I think musicians should be very informative, and there will always be a time when what you learn. ”
A depressed fan left a message under the Weibo of the Fei'er Orchestra that he used to be full of negative energy, felt that life was meaningless, and had no motivation to persevere. But after listening to the new song of the Fei'er Orchestra, I felt that I had found hope, so I could "take medicine happily". He said he was worried that the Fei'er Orchestra would no longer make music and begged the orchestra to stick with it.
"So we always make music until we can't write or sing, and that's exactly what we want to pass on, to use music to move and encourage people."
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Shou Penghuan
Photo / Beijing Youth Daily reporter Hao Yi
Editor/Bow Lifang