A Bing, whose real name is Hua Yanjun, is a folk musician. Born in the 19th year of Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1893~1950), he was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu. Later he became blind and was known as "Blind A Bing". His father, Hua Qinghe, was the head Taoist priest of Lei Zun Hall, Sanqing Hall Taoist Temple in Wuxi City, and was good at Taoist music. Hua Yanjun lost his mother when he was young and was raised by his aunt of the same clan. At the age of 8, he followed his father as a young Taoist priest in Lei Zun Hall. He studied in a private school for three years, and then learned drums, flutes, erhu, pipa and other musical instruments from his father. At the age of 12, he can already play a variety of musical instruments, and often participates in activities such as worshiping, chanting sutras, and playing music. He studied hard, kept improving, and extensively absorbed folk music tunes to break the constraints of Taoist music. At the age of 18, he was hailed as an expert performer by Wuxi Taoist music circles.
When his father passed away when he was 22 years old, he succeeded him as the head Taoist priest of Lei Zun Temple. Later, due to careless friendships, he fell into the bad habits of prostitution and drug abuse. At the age of 34, he lost his sight in both eyes. In order to make a living, he took to the streets with his pipa and huqin on his back, composed and sang his own songs, rapped about the news, and became a street performer. At the age of 40, he lived with the widow Dong Cuidi (Caidi). Singing every afternoon in the paddock in front of the Sanwanchang Tea House in Chong'an Temple. He dares to hit the mark on current issues, criticize social darkness, and attract audiences with a rap format that people love to hear. After the January 28th Incident, he also composed and sang the news of "The 19th Route Army Heroically Fights against the Enemy Enemies in Shanghai" and played the "March of the Volunteers" on the erhu. During the boycott of Japanese goods, he used passionate words to inspire people's patriotic enthusiasm. Many of his news stories sang the voices of the masses and were deeply loved by ordinary citizens. Every night, he walked through the streets and alleys, playing the erhu while walking, and his tone was touching. "Two Springs Reflect the Moon", which is famous in the international music scene, was created during this period. After the Japanese army invaded Wuxi, A Bing and Dong Cui took refuge in their hometowns. Soon he went to Shanghai and worked as a pianist in the Xianni Club of the Kun Opera Troupe, playing the three-stringed instrument. He also played an extra role as a blind man in the movie "Seven Heavens". At this time, he composed "Listening to the Pine", a heroic and emotional erhu solo, expressing his patriotic passion for not being a slave to the country's subjugation. In the 28th year of the Republic of China, he returned to Xicheng and resumed his old business. He went to the teahouse every morning to collect various news, came back to conceive and create, and sang in front of the Chong'an Temple teahouse in the afternoon; at night he played the erhu on the street and played his composition "Cold Spring Wind". He is very good at playing the lute. He can play the pipa on top of his head, and he can also use the erhu to imitate the sounds of men, women, old and young talking, sighing, laughing, as well as the crowing of cocks and the barking of dogs. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he was banned from rapping news in a fixed place in Chong'an Temple. In the 36th year of the Republic of China, he suffered from lung disease and was bedridden and vomited blood. From then on, he stopped performing on the streets and made a living by repairing huqin at home.
On April 23, 1949, Wuxi was liberated, and A Bing and his music such as "Two Springs Reflect the Moon" were reborn. In the summer of 1950, in order to discover, research and preserve folk music, teachers and students from the Central Conservatory of Music commissioned Professor Yang Yinliu and others to make a special trip to Wuxi to record three erhu pieces for him: "Moon Reflected on Two Springs", "Listening to the Pines" and "Cold Spring Wind". The song is composed of three pipa songs: "Big Waves Washing the Sand", "Dragon Boat" and "Zhaojun Leaving the Fortress".
Abing died of illness on December 4, 1950, at the age of 57.
Anecdotes
People say that A Bing has three qualities: a poor person but a poor ambition (not afraid of power); a poor person but a poor mouth (not freeloading); a poor person but a poor reputation. Poor (upright).
In the city of Wuxi, a landlord raped a 13-year-old girl in his family. When A Bing found out about it, he immediately made up lyrics and sang about it, exposing the landlord's evil deeds, arousing public outrage and frightening the The landlord fled for several months and did not dare to return home.
Once, the Kuomintang warlord Tang Enbo asked A Bing to sing a birthday party for his thirteenth concubine. A Bing flatly refused and was beaten severely, but A Bing did not give in and made up the lyrics. , played the erhu and scolded them.
During the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese invaders occupied Wuxi, and a man named Zhang Shijun became a traitor. When A Bing found out, he made up words to curse him, and was beaten severely. Later, when the traitor was killed by the Japanese, Abing clapped his hands and applauded him. He also composed a song "The End of the Traitor" and sang it on the street, and everyone in Wuxi applauded.
Musical works
Huishan Spring in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province is known as "the second spring in the world". The author Hua Yanjun named the music "Two Springs Reflect the Moon", which not only introduces people to the artistic conception of quiet night, clear springs and cold moon, but after listening to the whole song, it is like seeing the person himself - a strong and tenacious blind artist pouring out his feelings to people. A rough life.
Following the short introduction, the melody goes up from the Shang sound to the Jiao sound, then stops briefly on the Zheng and Jiao sounds, and ends with the Gong sound, forming a microwave-shaped melody line, just like the author sitting on a fountain. While thinking about the past (clip 1). The second phrase has only two measures and appears six times in the whole song. It starts at the end of the first phrase, an octave higher. It circled up and down around Gongyin, breaking the silence in front of it, and began to be high-spirited, showing the author's infinite emotion (fragment 2). When entering the third sentence, the melody flows in the high-pitched area, and new rhythmic factors appear. The melody is soft yet strong, and the mood is more exciting. The theme gradually changes from calm and deep at the beginning to exciting and high-spirited, profoundly revealing the author's inner life feelings and tenacious and proud will to live. His frequent use of notes in his performance gives the music a slightly sad mood, which is the emotional expression of a blind artist who has experienced the bitterness and pain of the world.
The whole song changes the theme five times. As the music is stated, extended and expanded, the emotions expressed are more fully expressed. Its variation technique mainly expresses the development and circuitous progress of music through the expansion and contraction of sentence length, combined with the rise and fall of the active range of the melody. Its multiple variations are not to express contrasting different musical emotions, but to deepen the theme, so the musical image created by the music is relatively single and concentrated. The speed of the whole song does not change much, but its intensity changes greatly, from pp to ff. Whenever a musical note longer than a quarter note is played, the weight of the bow changes, suddenly strong and sometimes weak, and the music rises and falls, which is exciting.
Hua Yanjun Tomb
Hua Yanjun Tomb (hua yan jun mu) is the tomb of A Bing. It is located beside Yingshan Lake at the east foot of Huishan Mountain in Xihui Park, Wuxi City. Hua Yanjun, also known as "Blind Man Bing", was a folk musician. He died of illness in December 1950 and was buried in the Taoist Tomb of "Yihe Shanfang" at the foot of Canshan Mountain in the western suburbs of Wuxi. In May 1979, the tomb was destroyed, and the bones were collected from the original site by the Wuxi Municipal Museum. In 1983, they were moved to the current location at the east foot of Huishan Mountain and south of Erquan. The cemetery covers an area of ??742 square meters. The main body is composed of tomb walls and wing walls, shaped like a music stand. The old tombstones are now in the Municipal Museum. The colorful tombstones were created by the China Music Research Institute and Wuxi Literary and Art Institute. Yang Yin Liu Shu and the blind man A Bingtong in front of the tomb. Like, sculpture by Qian Shaowu.
In 1986, it was announced as a municipal cultural relic protection unit by the Wuxi Municipal People's Government.