Is there only one "Mohe Ballroom" in this world? Does it only exist in distant places?
In the past few days, the small border city of Mohe has been paid attention to, first, because of the sudden epidemic, and more importantly, the song that has spread all over the Internet - "Mohe Ballroom".
This is a song written and released by independent musician Liu Shuang in June 2020. A year later, the song was a big hit on the internet platform, and then it was widely circulated, becoming the background music used by many short videos, and also set off a wave of "two creations".
"Mohe Ballroom" is originally a niche song, originating from Liu Shuang's visit to Mohe to collect wind and meet an old man named Zhang Dequan (homophonous). More than thirty years ago, his wife Kang Shi was killed in the fire of Daxing'anling, and since then he has been alone and often dances in the dance hall near the scene of the incident, remembering his deceased wife who loved to dance. Based on this touching story, Liu Shuang wrote this song, saying that "I would like to dedicate this song to the elderly Zhang Dequan and his deceased beloved wife."
↑ In March 2020, Liu Shuang posted on the WeChat public account that the old man in the picture who danced alone in the middle of the dance hall was the archetypal character Zhang Dequan (homophonous) old man in the background story of "Mohe Dance Hall". Screenshot of the image source WeChat public account
With the fire of "Mohe Ballroom", Liu Shuang's first-person letter to Kang's "Goodbye Evening Star" in March 2020 was also rediscovered and forwarded by netizens, which made the emotions in "Mohe Ballroom" more concrete, more real, and more relevant.
It is not difficult to see that the attraction of "Mohe Ballroom" is not only in the lyrics of "The evening star is like your eyes, killing and setting fire" and "you didn't say anything, the wild wind disturbed me", but also the story behind it. It is reminiscent of a past, to see the trauma of a fire. That kind of loneliness and poignancy, loyalty to love, is a common emotion of human beings, and it is also people's high-level imagination of sorrow and love. Therefore, such a song, such a story, can instantly make people "break the defense" and open the hearts wrapped in layers one by one.
However, there are also some fans of Liu Shuang, and even Liu Shuang himself is not very comfortable with this sudden "fire". Liu Shuang posted that after a short period of excitement and pleasure, he transitioned to later discomfort. He and the team hope that the promotion of this song by netizens will be moderate, and they do not want to match a mournful song with an inappropriate picture. He also said that everything is too late, sloppy and empty things will not be left by time, but emotional content should not be consumed in a "carnival" manner.
Liu Shuang's hope for "moderate stops" is, in a sense, a rebellion against the song being "copied" uncontrollably, and it is also his sobriety. According to past experience, when a song is on fire, it is very likely to become a brainwashing divine comedy because it is abused, and even cause people to abandon or even get bored because of the high frequency. This process of constant replication is the process of meaning dissolution. Obviously, Liu Shuang does not want this song and the emotion conveyed by this story to be swallowed up by the Internet. I can understand this feeling, they don't want to see this song become a catalyst in the flow pool of others, use it up and throw it away, and they don't want their cherished musical works and emotions expressed to be tampered with and generalized at will.
As I write this, I've been thinking about a question, is there only one "Mohe Ballroom" in the world? Does it only exist in distant places? Can we only imitate the copy based on this story?
Listening to the song, I remembered the writer Chi Zijian's short story "Fairy Tale of the Arctic Village", the story also happened in Mohe, a child who was sent to the grandmother's house in the Arctic Village because of "many words", met the old man who was isolated and snubbed by the village, and the two lonely lives became a year-old friendship; I also remembered the movie "The Piano of Steel" directed by Zhang Meng, after a northeast steel mill worker was laid off, in order to keep the child, he could not afford to buy a piano He built a steel piano... In fact, the emotions in these works are the same as in "Mohe Ballroom", which directly hit people's hearts, but some were seen, and some were not seen.
The story is always there, and the elderly Zhang Dequan has also been dancing alone on the street and in the dance hall. Those touching and romantic things are not only in Mohe, but also around us. Therefore, I always feel that we must not only be moved in the distant "Mohe Ballroom", but also be able to see such a story and discover this emotion like Liu Shuang, so that the creation has vitality and our hearts are more full.
Red Star News commentator Huang Jing
Edited by Wang Yaotao
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