Plum blossom drum performance artist Hua Wubao, whose real name is Zhang Shujun, was born in 1923 and is 98 years old this year. She learned art from Qiu Yushan at an early age, took the stage at the age of 13, taught under the string master Lu Chengke at the age of 18, and became famous in the Beijing-Tianjin ququ at the age of 20, and was known as the "Plum Blossom Treasures" with Hua Sibao, Hua Xiaobao (Shi Wenxiu), Hua Yunbao (Qi Yuying), Zhou Wenru, Hualien Bao (Liu Shuyi), etc.
The plum blossom drum is from Beijing, and the old artist Jin Wanchang processes and innovates, sings beautifully, and carries it forward. Plum blossom drums generally add four, six, and eight sentences of book gossip in front of the head, followed by a slow board, after singing a few paragraphs, the beat is accelerated, and then turn the allegro, and then sing a few sentences at the end of the book after closing the cavity, that is, it is counted as a hammer.
Hua Wubao was born in poverty, and since childhood, he was raised by his widowed aunt, who also had an adopted daughter named Zhang Shuwen, who sang plum blossom drums in the bookstore in Nanshi very early to earn money to support his family, and his stage name was Hua Sibao. Hua Sibao is young and beautiful, born with a golden voice, pure and beautiful timbre, and the teacher Lu Chengke opened up the plum blossom drum and high cavity, founded the "flower pie", singing famous in his teens, rich income, was rated by the newspaper as "plum blossom song queen". In the 40s, she was favored by an officer, the two married, and Hua Sibao quit the stage, but her married life was not happy and she died very early.
Spend five treasures
Hua Wubao did not like to do art when he was a child, went to private school for a year, and also went to the theater with the fourth sister Hua Sibao to listen to music and art, often watching the performances of Liu Baoquan, Bai Yunpeng, Zhang Xiaoxuan, Rong Jianchen and other old actors. After Hua Sibao got married, the economic resources of her adoptive mother's family were cut off, and in order to maintain her livelihood, Hua Wubao went to the sea to sell art, when she was 13 years old.
At that time, there were many juggling gardens and performing arts theaters in Tianjin, and the cinema played movies in the middle of the break, and also added a song art, which can be said to be full of music art. Hua Wubao signed a contract with Renchang Radio, which broadcasts music and art programs for up to ten hours a day, and the actors perform live, she goes to the radio station every day to record programs, and catches five theaters at the same time, and sings almost nine paragraphs a day.
At first, Hua Wubao sang the mountain tune, and later changed to singing plum blossom drums. Mr. Qiu Yushan is her enlightenment teacher, he admires the "Golden School" plum blossom art, basically according to the "Golden School" path. Hua Wubao followed Hua Sibao's master Lu Cheng's scientific art, and his art continued to improve.
At that time, drum songs were sung in the theater, and the audience under the stage could sing at will, take out a few copper plates, and let the female artists sing a paragraph of "Wang Erjie Sifu" and sing a paragraph of "Exploring the Qingshui River". During those days, the streets were full of wounded soldiers, juggling gardens broke into the garden at will, and as soon as the five treasures were sung, the wounded soldiers began to coax, and she was so angry that she did not sing, and several wounded soldiers came up to beat her with belts. No one could afford to hurt the soldiers, because of this, Hua Wubao didn't want to do it.
In the 1950s, the status of the music artist was changed dramatically, and Hua Wubao was full of enthusiasm and improved and created several pieces of repertoire, of which "Silly Leak" is a representative. "Silly Leak" depicts the plot of Lin Daiyu learning through Silly Sister that Jia Fu was dating Baoyu and Baochao, and was therefore heartbroken. Hua Wubao applied the number singing of the Allegro book to the dialogue part of "Silly Leak", speeding up the speed, enriching the dramatic conflict, making people hear more clearly, and it can be said that it was a great success. She also designed a number of songs to sing, with emotional people, with a unique charm.
While practicing stage singing, in 1986, Hua Wubao taught at the Northern China Quyi School. Her first batch of apprentices were Ji Wei, An Ying, and Yang Yun, and later an Bing, Wang Zhe, Yang Fei and other disciples. Hua Wubao Chuanyi does not sell art, does not sell Guanzi, only hopes to carry forward the art of plum blossoms and drums, and pass it on from generation to generation. She inherited the Four Treasures of Flowers, which is the first generation of the Flower Sect, her apprentice is the second generation, Yang Fei has received many teenage primary school students, and the Flower Sect has a third generation.
In 2015, the Tianjin Quyi Troupe held a performance for Hua Wubao's 80th anniversary of congyi at the China Grand Theatre. At that time, Hua Wubao's legs hurt so much that she couldn't walk, the performance went to the hospital for closed injections, when the performance was opened, the audience was full, her legs didn't seem to hurt, to the stage a drum, sing a good sentence under the stage, and sing a good sentence, and sing a good pass, the sound can run through to the last row. There was an interview at the end asking her why so many people like you? Hua Wubao said, "Hello audience! ”
Hua Wubao, who is nearly 100 years old, likes to do activities, massage themselves at night, rub their faces, do eye exercises, and prick their ears. She loves zongzi the most, and eats two zongzi every day at noon. Nowadays, she is still inseparable from the plum blossom drum, from time to time to her daughter and apprentice to point out a few singing voices, show a few drum beats, and have fun in it.
Records of the Five Treasures of Flowers