Text/Jinyang.com reporter Song Yi, correspondent Li Danhong
Photo/He Zhijian
“There are no good guests when people from Fenglou left, and since then, the rich people are lonely and cover the setting sun.” Chen Baoying, a female actor in the Cantonese opera “Purple Phoenix Tower”, sings the words of Chen Baoying, as if she was crying and complaining, and the audience applause was thunderous. On the evening of September 8, nearly a thousand audiences were crowded with Cantonese Opera Cultural Plaza in Guangzhou Babaylan Cultural Park. Everyone was deeply attracted by the teacher-student concert of Li Yueling, a Cantonese opera singer, who was being held here. Teacher Tan Peiyi, the master of Zishu, also visited in person. Li Yueling and his disciples hope to promote Cantonese opera and Cantonese opera culture with their own voices and carry forward Lingnan culture.
For this performance, Li Yueling and her disciples prepared for half a year. Behind this performance is the cultural confidence and totem of Guangdong rhyme flowing in the blood of a Cantonese opera singer. This performance is the spiritual agreement between a Cantonese opera singer and a group of ignorant college students who know nothing about Cantonese opera. What kind of story is behind this performance? Li Yueling retreated and continued to continue her dream of inheriting the Cantonese rhyme?
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Seeking Dreams, the origin of CUHK
In 2009, Guangdong musical Zixia singer Li Yueling retired from the Guangdong Music and Music Art Troupe. That year, the Cantonese Opera and Guangdong Opera Cultural Studio of the Center for Historical Anthropology Research at Sun Yat-sen University was established.
The following year, the studio opened a Cantonese opera workshop for college students. Li Yueling and famous performer Chen Zhongyan served as instructors, aiming to cultivate young students’ interest in Cantonese opera and Cantonese opera and improve their perceptual understanding of Cantonese culture. The workshop hopes that more young people can join the ranks of understanding Cantonese opera and Cantonese opera and Chinese traditional culture. The first session of the workshop was opened, and soon attracted a large group of young people with similar aspirations from major universities. Unlike students majoring in Cantonese opera, almost all of these college students have never been exposed to Cantonese opera, nor have they seen the sequel score, let alone pronunciation or rhyme. From voice lifting to music theory, from demonstration to teaching one by one, the two teachers led this group of students to learn from scratch.
The study class of Komiks has also caused many Cantonese operas and musicThe attention and support of famous artists and enthusiasts. On April 17, 2011, the female teacher of Cantonese opera master Hong Line came to the teaching site in thunderstorm to communicate with the students in the workshop. The female teacher of Red Line not only listened to the students’ famous sings such as “The Feast of the Phoenix Pavilion” and “The Fallen Fellowship in Flower Field”, but also gave suggestions on improving their lyrics, singing style, and emotions, but also sang “Red Candle Tears” on the spot and put forward high expectations.
The 7th (Guangzhou) College Students’ Drama Festival has opened a special session on Cantonese opera, and invited the workshop and Guangdong opera enthusiasts from brother colleges and universities such as Guangzhou University Quyi Club to perform together. This is also the only Cantonese opera special event held so far. This group of students used their superb performances to repay the concern of all sectors of society and sang the dream of spreading and inheritance with Cantonese rhyme.
Continue your dreams, continue your relationship with teachers and students outside the school. Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, students graduate and go to society and start work. Unlike students from Cantonese opera or art majors, students in the seminar leave the original learning platform after graduation and have almost no chance to learn Cantonese opera. With the busy work, they slowly put their Cantonese Opera study aside, and they had never sang a song for several months or even a year. “It is said that ‘The fist does not leave your hand and songs,’ if this continues, the students will definitely forget the things they learned before.” Li Yueling KomiksEvery time she chats with students, she feels moved. She often thought: “How can students always maintain their love for Cantonese opera, persist in learning, and even go to the next level?” After thinking about it, Li Yueling decided to use the resources around her to build a platform for the students and create opportunities for them to continue learning Cantonese opera.
She and Chen Zhongyan first found a few private games to let the students start the game from time to time to practice. Later Cinema, Li Yueling, in order to ensure that students can start games once a month and achieve the goal of practicing all the time. She went to the Beijing Street Cultural Station to find Webmaster Zhao Yuhua and talked to Webmaster Zhao that she was deeply worried about the loss of skills of this group of students. Webmaster Zhao Yuhua was very moved when he heard that there were such a group of young people who loved Guangdong opera. He immediately arranged for Li Yueling to meet with Chen Jinglin, the head of the Folk Art Troupe of the Guangzhou Cultural Hall of Beijing Street to discuss the students’ practice music.
In order to facilitate everyone to practice music, the Cultural Association has changed the starting time from Monday to Friday and closed on weekends. It is specially arranged to bring the accompaniment master back on Saturday afternoon to work overtime, and Babaylan to start the game for the students. After Li Yueling implemented the venue of the opening bureau every month, she assigned the task of each student to learn a song, hoping to use pressure to drive students to take the time to learn the song. Every time the student starts, no matter how busy Li Yueling will come to the scene and listen carefully to the singing of every student. After listening to it, she will help them analyze and improve word by word.
In addition, Li Yueling also invited her master, “Zi Du Wang”, to attend the students’ private bureau. Teacher Tan Peiyi not only shared the creation process of her first famous song “Cai Wenji Returns to Han” with the students, but also taught everyone to sing “Jinjiang Poetry Couple” word by word, which gave the students great encouragement.
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They became the messengers of Cantonese opera and Cantonese opera communication
In addition to teaching students to sing, Li Yueling also paid great attention to tapping students’ potential. For students with artistic talent, she will encourage them to learn Cantonese music accompaniment instruments and playing the palm of the board. She hopes that after learning, they can form their own accompaniment band, which can integrate singing and accompaniment; for those with writing skillsstudents, she encouraged them to write lyrics. Under her earnest teaching, many students have made breakthroughs, stepped onto different art stages and gained recognition.
Li Yueling often said to her classmates: “I taught you to sing Cantonese opera, turning you into a die-hard fan of Cantonese opera Komiks, but in terms of inheritance and communication, I hope you can one day take the initiative to shoulder the important task of spreading Cantonese opera culture. Let more people know Cantonese opera and like Cantonese opera.”
Li Yueling’s Cantonese students back then, now some of them have stepped on the podium and become teachers. They will use Cantonese opera as class material in a timely manner, so that children can accept Cantonese opera in a subtle way. Some people joined the bank and joined the Cantonese opera special show in the bank’s customer activities, giving them the first contact with Cantonese opera Cantonese opera to many customers who never enter the theater and become enthusiasts…Cinema…
Under the words and deeds of Teacher Li Yueling, students consciously regard the spread of Cantonese opera as their obligation. They did not have any great deeds, but they used ordinary practical actions to sow the seeds of Cantonese opera and Cantonese opera into the hearts of more people.
Realize your dreams, they become the messengers of love
Li Yueling often says: “We have received strong support from many groups along the way and the help of enthusiastic people. We must learn to be grateful. In addition to learning Guangdong Opera, in addition to you can entertain yourself, I hope BabaylanYou can use what you have learned to bring joy to more people.”
In recent years, Li Yueling has led students Wu Guanxian and Li Yingtong to participate in the “Belt and Road” charity exhibition on the inheritance of Guangdong folk art. Chen Zhongyan and Li Yueling personally led the students to more than a dozen nursing homes in Guangzhou, Foshan, Jiangmen and other places for condolence performances. In addition, they also gave nearly 20 scenes for free to Foshan, Dongguan, Taishan and other places, allowing Cantonese opera and Cantonese opera to enter people’s daily lives, allowing people to feel the charm of traditional culture, and enrich the cultural life of local residents.
Li Yueling is a folk artist who regards the inheritance and communication of Cantonese opera as his responsibility. Li Yueling’s disciples are the batters who make the Guangdong rhyme reverberate in the new era.