Nie Er (1912-1935), formerly known as Shou Xin, Zi Yi, and pen name Black Angel, was later renamed Nie Er, a native of Yuxi, Yunnan. In 1922, he attended Qiushi Primary School, then entered Kunming United Middle School, and dropped out of school two years later because of family poverty. In 1929, he was admitted to the Foreign Language Group of Yunnan First Normal School. After graduation, he moved to Shanghai to join the Shanghai Anti-imperialist League. In the following year, he was admitted to the Mingyue Opera Society as the chief violinist. In 1933, he joined the China Communist Party, actively engaged in the propaganda of anti-Japanese patriotism, and created a large number of patriotic songs, such as Graduation Song, March of the Volunteers, Song of the Road, New Women, Pioneers, and Singing Girl under the Iron Shoe. In April 1935, he passed through Japan and went to the Soviet Union to study music art. On July 17, he drowned while swimming in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, at the age of 24. On September 27th, 1949, the first plenary session of China People's Political Consultative Conference decided that March of the Volunteers, whose lyrics were written by Tian Han and whose music was composed by Nie Er, would be the national anthem of the Chinese people and the country, and later the national anthem.

Nie Er's story

His mother's songs fascinated him

Nie Er's father Nie Hongyi opened a Chengchuntang drugstore at 72 Yongdao Street in Kunming. On February 14th, 1912, Nie Er was born on Nie Er's tomb in the building of a drugstore, formerly known as Ziyi. When Nie Er was 4 years old, his father died, the pharmacy was run by his mother, and the well-off Nie family began to fall. In Nie Er's childhood memory, my mother often sat under the lamp, pulling the abacus, sighing and worrying after calculating the account. Nie Er once secretly made a wish: In the future, he must "let his mother live a good life". After he arrived in Shanghai, he repeatedly mentioned the words "remit money" in his letter to his mother. Mother is Nie Er's biggest concern. From the photos, the mother Peng Jikuan is a typical appearance of Dai women. It is admirable that Peng did not go to school for a day, but he was able to read medical books with her husband. After her husband's death, he was able to take a pulse and support his family. Peng's intelligence was obviously passed on to his son. Nie Er is the youngest son in the family, clever and clever, and a simple bamboo flute can play colorful, which is very loved by relatives and friends.

Mother can sing all kinds of folk songs, including Dongjing tune, Lantern tune, dulcimer tune, and so on, which are widely circulated among the people in Kunming and other places. The songs and stories in the songs fascinated Xiao Nier. When Cai E was successful, Nie Er was still a yellow-tongued child, but he knew Cai E from his mother's songs. General Cai's feat of defending Yuan's country in Yunnan left a deep impression on him. Learning martial arts and joining the army was once a great ambition of Nie Er, a young boy. At the age of sixteen, Nie Er finally couldn't hold back, secretly joined the army behind his family's back, and was trained by the Hunan Recruiting Corps of the Sixteenth Army. Later, he failed to enter the Whampoa Military Academy and was dismissed by the army. Only in desperation did he give up the idea of martial arts. As a last resort, I turned to reading, acting and composing, but my heart for great achievements was still unfinished.

In a middle school composition of My Outlook on Life, Nie Er said that if possible, he would not engage in religion, philosophy and science. His ideal is to go to college first, and then travel abroad. It is best to go abroad, study on the road, increase knowledge and make academic achievements. Finally, earn some money from Nie Er's Tomb, find a beautiful place with a few friends who can talk to each other, study, play the piano and spend leisure time. He also specifically stated that the Western Hills in Kunming would be his first choice for seclusion.

When he was a few years older, that is, after graduating from middle school and being admitted to Yunnan Normal School, Nie Er wrote another article "My Outlook on Life". Instead, he hoped to study engineering, study art, be a traveler "not like Robinson's individualistic thoughts", and then "build a new society with the results of practical investigation".

"Desperate Saburo" in the entertainment circle

In the early 193s, Nie Er came to Shanghai without friends, and asked someone to help him find a job as an inspector in the "Shenzhuang" purchasing station. Who knows that the headquarters of "Shenzhuang" in Kunming, Yunfeng Commercial Bank, was seized for tax evasion, and the branch in Shanghai was closed. Nie er lost his job.

Fortunately, God never shuts one door but he opens another. The enrollment notice published in Shenbao by the Music and Dance School of Lianhua Film Company caught Nie Er's attention. It's really attractive to earn ten yuan a month and pay attention to food and shelter. Nie Er went into the examination room in fear and trembling, but he did well because of nervousness, but he was admitted by Li Jinhui, the examiner. The predecessor of Mingyue Song and Dance Troupe was the Chinese Song and Dance Troupe founded by Li Jinhui. This is the earliest professional song and dance troupe in China. Although the lineup is not large, it is famous in Shanghai and even the whole country because of its famous "Four Kings of Song and Dance", such as Wang Renmei, Hu Jia, Bai Lizhu, Lingxian Xue and the best actress Jin Yan. Nie Er is a violin trainee in the starry "bright moon".

A small dormitory with seven or eight people had to stand in the corner when practicing the piano, but Nie Er felt the luxury of life. Shortly after his arrival, he helped friends Zhang Genghou and Liao Bomin from his hometown in Kunming to rent movie copies in Shanghai and got a reward of 1 yuan. One hundred yuan, he has never had so much money since he left his big family, and Nie Er's heart jumped wildly. The first thing to do is to run to the post office and mail half to my mother. The other half bought a violin and two music books. This ordinary violin has added gorgeous colors to Nie Er's life since then. Wang Renmei's second brother Wang Renyi is Nie Er's full-time violin teacher. As a result, people often see that the master and the apprentice seriously corrected their fingering, which was "wrong" and "wrong again", and dvorak's "Humor" was intermittent. The "little teacher" is the same age as Nie Er. He is usually very easygoing, but he is not careless in teaching piano. Nie Er, a 19-year-old, has just touched the piano and can't even read the music. Where can he understand counterpoint and harmony? The "little teacher" is a little anxious. But Nie Er is not stupid. He knows that he has met a good teacher. "I will learn," he said to himself. After dinner, everyone went to the "Four Roads" and the "Great World" to watch acrobatics, but Nie Er kept silent and hid in his room to practice the piano. He wants to complete his business target: at least "catch up" on the piano for seven hours a day.

"Desperate Saburo" Nie Er quickly became famous. At that time, movies and plays were often intertwined. A cast of actors, a drama on the stage, and a gathering of mercury lamps. In doing so, although it is out of the producer's cost-saving strategy, it objectively trains the cast. For example, in the movie "Children of the Storm", Wang Renmei not only plays the heroine, but also sings theme songs. Nie Er, who plays the violin, should also play the role of a peddler selling fried stinky tofu from time to time. Or painted in black ink and dressed as a black miner. His ability to imitate is well known. In 1959, when Zhao Dan played Nie Er in the film Nie Er, he talked about the past more than once.

All the people who go in and out of the "Bright Moon" are well-known figures in the entertainment industry in Shanghai, such as Cai Chusheng, Sun Yu, Wancang Bu, Jin Yan, Zheng Qianli, Wang Renmei, Li Lili, Bai Lizhu, Zhao Dan, Zhou Xuan, Ruan Lingyu and so on. Close look at celebrities, Nie Er realized what "the limelight is healthy". Under the starlight, Nie Er, who first devoted himself to making a living here, suddenly broadened his horizons.

"Mr. Ear" and "Mr. Tian"

Lively and naive, Nie Er, who is 19 years old, is a king of the children, always surrounded by the little actors of the opera club. Playing games, losing, the children booed, and Nie Erle stirred up his ears. Everyone is not satisfied, "Mr. Ear, one more!" Nie er "shows" again.

Nie Er likes watching movies best, and he always cries whenever he is emotional, which is famous among his friends. This habit of his is often regarded as a joke by his friends, but he feels natural. What's wrong with being affectionate? At that time, Nie Er had frequent contacts with his fellow countryman, Li Shengxuan, a teacher of Shanghai Quanzhang Middle School, who was later the famous philosopher Ai Siqi, so Nie Er had a strong interest and yearning for philosophy.

After the "November 28th" incident, the white terror in Shanghai was serious, and China proposed to develop party member in the literary and art circles and strengthen the left-wing forces. Young and active Nie Er was listed as the first batch of training objects. The training and contact person was Tian Han, the head of Shanghai Left-wing Troupe Alliance, and it was Tian Han who later introduced Nie Er to the Party. However, in Nie Er's diaries, articles and letters with more than 1, words, there are few descriptions about Tian Han, and even if there are, most of them are journal records, which can be expressed in general terms with the word "very good" at most. Nie Er, who writes diaries and letters diligently, why should he be cautious about avoiding Nie Er's tomb when he meets the "field"? It is unknown. Of course, in Tian Han's eyes, Nie Er was just a poor student who pursued revolution with extraordinary experience at first, and there were great differences between them in experience, qualifications and personality. But this does not hinder the tacit cooperation between Tian and Nie in music creation.

During the two years from p>1933 to 1935, Tian Han wrote lyrics and Nie Er composed music, and together they created Mining Song, Road Song, Graduation Song, Dock Worker, Coolie Song, Bricklaying Song, Piling Song, Farewell to Nanyang, Spring is Back, and Nie Er's debut novel "Mining Song" is the beginning of their cooperation. March of the Volunteers, which was later regarded as the national anthem of the Chinese people, was the peak of their cooperation.

Just after the script of the movie "Children of the Storm" was finished, the screenwriter Tian Han was arrested. Nie Er's first sentence when he met director Xia Yan was: "Who will compose" Children of the Storm "?" The second sentence is: "I'll write it, and Tian Han will agree." Self-confidence and certainty are beyond words. Tian Han in prison really agreed to Nie Er's request. Soon, Nie Er took out the first draft, which was finalized after Nie Er arrived in Japan.

On July 17th, 1935, Nie Er drowned while swimming in the Shoal of Kunuma near Tokyo, Japan, at the age of 23. At that time, the poet Guo Moruo wrote a poem in Japan to commemorate it; In 1954, Nie Er's tomb was rebuilt in Yunnan Province, and Guo Moruo wrote an inscription. In the same year, Nie Er Monument was built in Fujisawa, Japan, and the inscription was also inscribed by Guo Moruo. We don't know whether Nie Er had contact with Guo Moruo before his death, but as a close friend of Tian Han, it is natural for Guo Moruo to pay attention to Nie Er because of Tian Han. Just, why not Tian Han? It can be inferred that although Nie Er and Tian Han have had many successful cooperations, between "friends" and "partners", the author prefers to consider the relationship between them from the perspective of the latter. When Nie Er mentioned Tian Han, he always respectfully called "Tian Lao Da". 1934: "My Year of Music" On April 1, 1934, Nie Er joined the Oriental EMI Records Company run by the British. EMI was very famous in Shanghai at that time. When he first entered EMI, Nie Er was only the recording assistant of musician Ren Guang, but he was soon appointed as the deputy director of the music department, which was because Nie Er knew it at a glance. "EMI" boss angrily said to Nie Er: No matter who you are, whatever you do, as long as you can do it, you can do it with influence and benefit. Nie Er's spirit of "Desperate Saburo" has come up again, copying music, composing music, performing and holding research meetings without stopping for a moment. He was so excited and busy that he didn't even have time to keep a diary. It was only at the end of the seven-month "EMI period" that he roughly wrote a "summary". In this diary marked "April 4th", Nie Er, who was excited, repeatedly used hot words such as "unanimous approval" and "excellent criticism" to describe his musical works for the films "Yu Guang Qu", "The Robbery of Peach Blossoms" and "The Road". In the busy time, Nie Er's most diligent is the Chinese band, which is also called the "Music Club" in amateur performances. The band is very small, with only a few basic seats. The members are all close peers, and they work at night twice a week. Because of their peer nature, everyone's interest is very high. The band carried out a series of reform experiments in the form of folk music accompaniment and ensemble. Nie Er completed four pieces of folk music, such as "The Couple in the Mountain Country" and "Zhao Jun He Fan", based on the folk music of Yunnan and other places, all of which were premiered by the music club. The response from the scene and newspapers excited him and his friends. Today, the word "Nie Er" in the dictionary is usually followed by "Composer of the National Anthem" with the phrase "Founder of China New Music". EMI is the laboratory of Nie Er's "new music". The value of life is often achieved in a moment and a stage. In 1935, Nie Er created March of the Volunteers for the film "Children of the Storm", which later became Nie Er's iconic work as a musician. However, his rich and varied musical practice was roughly formed in 1934. He himself said, "1934 was my year of music." That year, when I met a familiar friend, Nie Er always made a few half-truths and half-truths: Busy! How busy! There is no time to fall in love. As soon as the words were finished, he turned around and was as busy as a top, from the band to the chorus, from the chorus to the studio-because he was planning the opera "The Storm on the Yangtze River". Several years later, when Xia Yan recalled the scene, he sighed that there was no one who could "rob" the director like Nie Er. In 1934, Nie Er was really happy, and his life and mental state changed completely. In the celebrity-like Shanghai literary circle, Nie Er was once very depressed. But this year, he regained his usual self-confidence. More than 6 years later, in the first Spring Festival of the new century, the China Broadcasting National Orchestra performed in the "Golden Hall" in Vienna, Austria. Many local celebrities dressed up to come. The atmosphere in the concert hall was unexpectedly good, and there was always warm applause at the end of each song. Nie Er's Dance of the Golden Snake, which was edited and created in the "EMI Period", began to play. The hall is very quiet, and abundant personalized melodies flow along the Danube. Suddenly, the deafening applause sounded ahead of time. For a time, as an audience, the author had mixed feelings and thought of many things, including Nie Er. In this concert, Nie Er also performed another new folk music "Spring Dawn in Cuihu" adapted during the "Hundred Generations" period, which also touched the audience in foreign countries with its beauty full of national personality. Today, "Dance of the Golden Snake" and "Spring Dawn on the Green Lake" have been regarded as the classic works of Chinese folk music by the international music community, and the soul has already ascended to Nie Er in heaven. Do you have any new feelings?