Locke Yusheng was a Peking Rhythm Drum performer.
Locke Yusheng (August 31, 1914 - May 5, 2002), born on August 31, 1914 in Jiangnan, was a Peking Rhythm Drum performer and founder of the "Locke School" of Peking Rhythm Drums.
In 1918, he began to perform in juggling with his adoptive father, and in 1923, he began to study Peking Opera and Peking Rhythm Drums and took the stage name Xiao Caiwu. 1931, he began to sing Peking Rhythm Drums, and in the same year, he changed his stage name to Xiao Caiwu (Little Colorful Dance), and in 1934, he studied under the mastership of Han Yonglu, and on September 3, 1936, he began to perform in the theaters of Tianjin. On September 3, 1936, she began to perform in theaters in Tianjin.
On April 6, 1998, at the invitation of Shanghai Oriental Television, she took part in the special performance of "White Hair and Red Face Reflecting the Qu Tan" in Shanghai Yifu Dance Hall, which was also broadcasted on Shanghai Oriental Television's "Oriental Opera" column; and on April 7, she revisited Shanghai Big World. That night, Shanghai Oriental TV, Shanghai TV and CCTV broadcast the news under the title of "Luo Yusheng returns to his mother's home".
Artistic Characteristics
Locke Yusheng's experience of studying Peking Opera since she was a young girl has enabled her to develop a good voice that is capable of being high and low. Not only can she easily sing soprano passages that ordinary men are unable to sing, but she can also handle some bass melodies in the voice of the old Dan in Peking Opera's "Fishing for a Golden Turtle," which allows her to sing not only in the high register with a controlled tone that is high and bright but not shrill, but also in the low and mid-range with a broad, deep voice.
It is also because of this vocal characteristic that she has the outstanding advantage of being more lyrical than the narrative rap music style sung by male voices, which also makes her more expressive in her singing.
"The Sword Pavilion Winks the Bell" is Luo Yusheng's most famous work, and is also the masterpiece of the Luo School of Jingyun Drums. The repertoire of Jingyun drums before Luo Yusheng's, especially that of the Liu School, was mostly about telling and singing long stories in a narrative musical style, so it was not very melodic.
But "Sword Pavilion Winking Bells" is mainly in lyrical style, with beautiful and touching musical melodies, natural and smooth articulation of the singing voice, and its mournful and bleak tunes, which strongly rendered the desolate silence of the palace in the autumn winds and rains.
When it comes to "My Concubine" and "The Rain That Doesn't Make Beauty", the words "Concubine" and "Rain" are used. When singing the words "My Concubine" and "The Unpleasant Rain", Luo Yusheng used a painful tone and strong vibrato to deal with them, which increased the rich lyrical color of the singing, and made the sincere emotion of the main character in the story suddenly explode, which made people feel the breath of the heart.