"What's a dike?" The group's friend, who grew up in the north, asked.
Ah, in some places it's called chasing hustle and bustle, which means that people in the southern countryside go to the town's free bazaar on an agreed-upon trading day to commute, as well as to visit friends and run errands.
"Then catch dike return ah mile mile and what is it?" Someone asked again.
It's a Guangxi folk song, a traditional Yunnan nursery rhyme, a Yi mountain song ...... The people who answered were all over the place, but none of the answers were accurate. "The song is not a mountain song of any ethnic minority, let alone a nursery rhyme, but a song that incorporates elements of Yi folk songs, with lyrics by Guangxi Zhuang poet Gu Di and music by composer Huang Youyi, the first draft of which took shape in 1979.
This song is suddenly being talked about here and now, and it always makes me feel that there is some destiny, because the composer, Mr. Huang Youyi, happens to be a Hakka from Liantang Township, Hezhou.
The birth of each excellent track has its own specific historical background, are the echoes of the times. 1979, the spring breeze of reform and opening up in the land of China just blew. The glacier thawed, everything recovered, nine million six hundred thousand square kilometers of every inch of land are flourishing in the field of hope. One billion Chinese people sang a toast, and every corner of their lives was sprinkled with sunshine. The great changes in society have brought about an unprecedented boom in artistic and literary creation, with new works constantly emerging like a hundred flowers competing for color, and the average level is quite high. In the music world alone, Mr. Gu Jianfen's masterpiece "Country Love" triggered a heated debate and eventually won the competition, marking the important point that the single, "hard, strong, high, loud" style of music has become a thing of the past, and that musicians, with the aesthetic aspirations of the new era and the expectations of the public, have become more and more distinctive in their creative personalities, rapidly moving towards a healthy tone, positive content, gentle and melodic.
Musicians were able to create more and more distinctive compositions, rapidly shifting to a lyrical style with a healthy tone, positive content, and gentle, beautiful melodies.
At that time, some of the more widely circulated works, the content of the city to reflect the city, most of the city people, related to the rural areas, not to mention the expression of the Southwest countryside. In the winter of 1979, the Guangxi Song and Dance Troupe's composer Huang Youyi and lyricist Gu Di were given the task of creating some new programs, especially dances, to show the economic recovery of the rural areas in the ethnic minority regions. Mr. Huang Youyi and his team went to Longlin De'e Township to experience life for this purpose, and one day they bumped into a dike day. In the pueblo, which was reopened after being banned for many years, the lusheng was blown again, the mountain songs were sung again, and people came and went in the town in a joyous and thriving manner.
"What is the most conspicuous person in a crowded place? Of course is the maiden! So what are rural maidens happiest doing on the pike? The same as today's teenage girls and the city's teenage girls, buy buy buy ah! Shopping for fabrics, picking out a few small pieces of jewelry and handicrafts, that's when they are happiest. How do we show them this joy? When it comes to the pike, they have to go before the surely happy, in the pike is also happy, but the most happy is certainly still to buy things back," Huang Youyi teacher sitting across from me, detailing the process of creation of the year.
So they chose the Yi girls as the protagonists, and locked the time and situation of their return home after the pike was dispersed, and Mr. Gudi quickly wrote the first draft of the lyrics for "Returning from the Pike": "The pike was dispersed at sunset, and we went home happily. A good life like honey, a Yi woman like a flower. Silver necklaces and gold rings make the girls even more beautiful. Birds sing along with them, and the evening sun follows them." With a very simple and concise approach, the scene describes the young girls all the way to laugh all the way to the song of the mood, the word style rhyme has been excited, brisk rhythm.
Next, it was time to compose the music. Mr. Huang was asked to make the dancers dance when they heard the music. It may not be so difficult for a composer to write a good song. But to compose a piece of music under the constraints of lyrics, theme, style, form, use and so on, and to make it sound good, is not easy. Especially dance arrangements, must have throughout the scene, the rhythm of clear "points" in addition to the meaning of the lyrics and dance movements to take into account the combination of "points". Comprehensive requirements, Huang decided to draw on the rhythm of the "Turkish March", seized the Yi folk song melody as the basis for the material, with the traditional plumage mode, and add the liner notes "ah li li", repeatedly emphasize the girls return to the company, playful laughter of the dynamic.
The refrain "ah li li" is the most colorful, catchy, and vivid creation in the piece. Later, some people interpreted the combination of these three onomatopoeia as "the meaning of ok in the Yi language" or "the pronunciation of the word 'girl' in the Longlin dialect of Baise, Guangxi", which is actually an appendage. Mr. Huang explains with a smile. Mr. Huang explained with a smile, "It's not that complicated. Ethnic minorities are very simple. At night, villagers gather around the fire, chat and sing, and when they get excited, they shout 'li li li li ......' or 'oo.... ...ah......', a monosyllable that can carry far in the night sky. I've just replaced their shouts with words that are easier to vocalize."
Thus was born the dance accompaniment to "Catch the Pike and Return, Ah Miles and Miles". Two-part structure, 4/4 beat, with sixteenth note rhythms throughout, the music together is full of bright, jumping joy: "The sun sets on the west mountain, ah li li, the polder is dispersed, ah li li, happy ah li li, home to go (lo) ah li li. The first thing you need to do is to get back to your home, and then you'll be able to go back to your home. ......"
Lyrics, songs and dance presentations, water and milk blend and contrast, this program in the scope of the public performance in Guangxi was widely praised. 1980, as one of the programs sent by the Guangxi Song and Dance Troupe to Beijing to participate in the repertoire, the dance "Catching dikes to return to ah Li Li" lyrics, songs, make the The editorial department of the famous domestic music magazine "Songs" was amazed at first sight, and took it to be published on the back cover of the December issue of the magazine. The following year, "Songs" magazine hosted the "National Excellent Songs" readers to vote on the selection of activities, this song and get the enthusiastic support of the majority of music enthusiasts, a one-stroke on the list of winners. On the awards night, the Beijing Military District Comrades Cultural Workers Troupe will "Catch the Weiwei return ah Li Li" adapted into a chorus, and Gu Jianfen teacher's "young friends to meet" together, **** with the same as the evening's opening track.
From this night onwards, "Catching Weiwei Returning ah Li Li" was not just a dance tune. 1985, Mr. Huang Youyi adapted the original song into a solo song sung by a young singer from Guangxi Song and Dance Troupe, Tang Peizhu, to participate in the first National Minority Vocal Competition, and successfully won the competition's "Silver Sparrow Prize". Tang Peizhu became the first singer from Guangxi to win the "Silver Bird Award" in this competition. Tang Peizhu became the first Zhuang singer in Guangxi to win the National Vocal Award, and the song "Returning from Catching Weiwei" then appeared again and again on TV screens and radio music programs, and was gradually interpreted by more and more singers in different ways. I myself heard the rock version not long ago, and was struck by the aesthetic memory and stupefied by the stirring, electro-acoustic "ah li li" refrain.
The bus was buzzing with the topic of "catching the dike", so that Hezhou's hospitable hosts added an episode of catching the "plum blossom dike" to our original itinerary. Small town, small streets on both sides of a stall. Fluffy ducklings, looking around the little hen; piles and piles of pomelo, baskets and baskets of passion fruit; wild rice, rape, tomatoes ...... feet in front of the eyes of the countryside daily "ah mile mile" of the bounty of food, do not see the novelty, but it is not difficult to make people happy and excited. Not to mention that there is hawthorn, long lost, with the dominant wild flavor of the mountain hawthorn! There are green fresh fruits, there are also pickled dried fruits, pick up a piece of bite, after the sourness is full of "ah li li" sweetness; turn around after the hand carrying a big bag small bags, we are not dressed in colorful clothes of the Yi people, not to mention the young girl, footsteps are also the same "ah li li! "The first thing you need to do is to get your hands dirty.
Until the next day, into the Hezhou "Garden", standing in front of the longevity pavilion of the heights, not yet exhausted group of friends have to ask: "'Catch the Wei returned to the ah Li Li 's next lyrics is what? "
Alas, I do not remember what the next lyrics, only remember "ah li ah li li li, ah li ah li li li, catching pike return ah li li li", repeated catchy, repeated melody once exported, feet can not help but follow the rhythm of moving up. However, "People think 'Returning from Catching Dike' is a nursery rhyme or a folk song, and it's all your fault!" I complained to Mr. Huang. Because he insisted that he would not open a concert, not publish a book, not publicity, and as a result, know this melody, familiar with this melody, although many people, "Catch the dike to return to the ah mile mile" of the true nature of the fuzzy.
The old-timer smiled at the words. He is just a composer who loves music since childhood, and his nature is full of rhythmic enthusiasm and melodic beauty. His understanding of composition was nothing more than the process of creation itself, with no expectations of what and how much to gain after the creation of the work. His works carry not only modes, notes or rhythms, but also reflect his aesthetic experience, his creative attitude and his feelings. Once the work is publicized, whether it is good or bad is left to the public to test and comment, but he still insists on himself. The initial creation of the dike return ah Li Li" is certainly the origin of social needs to him issued a directive, Longlin De'e Township dike scenes and stirred him to respond to the inspiration of this directive, but molded in his pen to the tune is not a scribble of the "proposition to complete", nor is it a simple "depiction of reality "
This is the first time I've ever heard of a song that was written by a musician, and I've never heard of a song that was written by a musician.
"Different music styles are not opposed to each other, nor should they be opposed to each other, they can totally refer to each other and learn from each other and merge with each other," said Mr. Huang. In fact, this is true not only for music, but for any art form. First have a cultural attitude of generosity, tolerance, false self, in order to draw on the strengths of all, to construct a "you have me, I have you", more dynamic, but also more infectious new forms, new styles. Rendering local ethnic characteristics without being rough, inheriting traditional Chinese elements without being rigid, and drawing on foreign nutrients from the West without being flattering, "Catching Wei Wei Returns ah Li Li" has been compiled into the national music colleges and universities, primary and secondary school music teaching materials, and has become a new classic shining in the history of Chinese folk music. Ah Li Li, ah Li Li ......" song of the lingering sound of the place, it may be worthwhile to re-emphasize the ins and outs of this classic song: "Catch the dike return ah Li Li" is a song of creation, the first draft was formed in 1979, sung to this day.