A Bing, formerly known as Hua Yanjun, is a folk musician. Born in the 19th year of Guangxu's reign in the Qing Dynasty (August 17, 1893), he was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu. Later he became blind. 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 died 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 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 Caidi took refuge in their hometowns. Soon he went to Shanghai, where he worked as a pianist in the Xianni Club of the Kunqu Opera Troupe, playing the three-stringed instrument, and 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 enthusiasm of not wanting to be 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 July 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, including "Moon Reflected on Two Springs", "Listening to the Pines" and "Cold Spring Wind". Three pipa songs are "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.
A Bing’s life is like a drama, full of ups and downs. It is said that the only surviving image of his life is a standard photo on the "Good Citizen Certificate" during the Japanese and puppet rule of Wuxi. In the photo, the face of the skinny middle-aged man wearing blind glasses and a broken felt hat reveals the hardship and vicissitudes of life. Perhaps the hardships imposed on A Bing by fate were the reasons for his touching music. This illegitimate son of Hua Yanjun was deprived of the right of family love when he was born. When his biological mother had no choice but to end her own life to resist the discrimination of the world, some hidden parts of the child's character were already visible. A young man who has been fostered outside for several years returns to his biological father Hua Qinghe. Wherever he sees, there may be more incomprehensible doubts. I know from the information that he came to his father, a Taoist priest, by calling him "Master". Hua Qinghe, who calls herself Xuemei, is proficient in various musical instruments. Abing studied hard and practiced hard, and soon he mastered the playing skills of various musical instruments such as erhu, sanxian, pipa and dizi. At this moment, A Bing still thinks that he is just an orphan who is being cared for by kind people. However, when he reached the age of 21, A Bing suddenly understood his life experience before Hua Qinghe died of illness.
The days to come are also sad to say the least. Hua Yanjun, the new Taoist priest of Lei Zun Hall in Dongxu Palace, a Taoist temple in the city of Wuxi, seemed to let himself go, eating, drinking, whoring, gambling and even smoking opium. The absurd life brought absurd results: he became blind due to syphilis and lost control of the Taoist temple.
After living on the streets, his tribe arranged for Dong Caidi, a rural widow from Jiangyin, to take care of him. The world is so contradictory. In pain and despair, A Bing did not break the jar. In the following days, a creative folk artist known as "Blind A Bing" who rapped about current affairs and performed on the streets was reborn. An article recalling a witness at the time said that after the Japanese invaded Wuxi, A Bing and Dong Caidi went out to seek refuge and worked as three-stringed luthiers at Xianni Club, a Kunqu opera troupe in Shanghai. 》Performed a mass role.
A Bing composed his most moving music during this period when he was making a living as an entertainer. There are many stories surrounding the spread of the erhu song "Er Quan Ying Yue". I read one of them by chance. It said that Li Songshou, a professor at Nanjing Normal University, and A Bing were neighbors when he was a child. He liked the erhu when he was a boy, and he often got good results in his playing skills. A Bing’s advice. Later he was admitted to the Folk Music Department of Nanjing University of the Arts. It was getting cold every day. He flexed his fingers outside the teacher's piano room and randomly played a piece of music that A Bing taught him. After the song ended, a man came over and asked him what song he played. The teacher told him that the gentleman who asked him was Professor Yang Yinliu from the Central Conservatory of Music. Li Songshou said that this music was taught by a folk artist in his hometown and had no name. Yang Yinliu said that the music was good, and said that they were collecting folk music and wanted to record such good folk music with a wire recorder just imported from abroad. Li Songshou made an appointment with Professor Yang and returned to his hometown until September. Professors Yang Yinliu and Cao Anhe came to Wuxi. The task they brought this time was to record Wuxi Taoist music. After recording these Taoist music, Li Songshou insisted on asking them to record Abing's music. When A Bing finished playing a piece of music, Professor Yang Yinliu asked softly what the name of the piece was, and A Bing said he had no name. Professor Yang said that it would be impossible if there was no name, and he had to think of one. A Bing then said that it should be called "Er Quan Yinyue". Professor Yang also said that the name "Yingyue" is too similar to Cantonese music. If it were not called Yingyue, would there be Yingshan Lake in Wuxi?
Regarding this matter, Mr. Li Songshou said in his memoir: On September 20, 1950, my wife and I accompanied Yang Yinliu, Cao An and two other gentlemen to find A Bing to record. The recording ended at 7:30 pm. During the recording, A Bing was in poor health and lacked hand strength, so he found a temporary piano, so the preserved recording of "Er Quan Ying Yue" was not the best. Abing's last performance was on September 25, 1950, which was the fifth day after the recording. It seemed to be a theatrical performance at the founding meeting of the Wuxi Dental Association. A Bing supported his sick body and went out. Because he walked slowly, the performance was almost over when he arrived at the venue. I helped A Bing onto the stage and sat in front of the microphone. This is the first time in A Bing's life that he has performed in front of a microphone, and it is also the only time. A Bing played the pipa at first, but then someone in the audience asked him to play the erhu. My wife and I told him to pay attention to his health and stop playing. A Bing said: "I am willing to die playing the piano for the folks in Wuxi." Then he played "Er Quan Ying Yue" which he had played countless times. I remember the place was full of people, even the windows were full of people. At the end of the performance, there was constant applause and applause from the audience. When A Bing heard this, he took off his hat and nodded. A Bing passed away on the third day after that performance.
More than 80 years ago, the sky above the streets of Wuxi was often filled with the sound of the piano played by Abing while performing arts and begging. His improvisation not only created the self-narrative tragic song "Er Fountain Reflects the Moon", but more importantly, it got rid of the appreciation mentality and rose to a sense of ultimate destiny that is with me. His concern for the world, his thinking about himself, and the suffering he suffered made some people easily compare him to Beethoven. It's not about how difficult life is, or what the ancients said about "God sends great orders to people," but it's about your own behavior. A great work is a history of the soul, which reflects the reason why people stand. What I often feel in Abing's music is that in that moment, I can distinguish a lot of right from wrong. There is a paragraph in my memory that introduces the Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa. He said that when he heard the piece "Er Spring Reflects the Moon" for the first time, he shed tears and told others: "Music like this should be knelt down to listen to it." ."
Abing retained six pieces of music he composed because of the recording in 1950: the erhu pieces "Er Quan Ying Yue", "Listening to the Pines" and "Cold Spring Wind" that are now well-known to the world. ", pipa songs "Big Waves Washing the Sand", "Dragon Boat" and "Zhaojun Leaving the Fortress". This is a blessing. As a folk artist, his difficult life may be just one of countless lives of blood and tears in history.
Fortunately, he had an opportunity to not only use his own hands and musical notes to express himself, but also to use music as a tool to infect other hearts.
[Edit this paragraph] Anecdotes
People say that Abing has three qualities: a poor person with a strong ambition (not afraid of power); a poor person with a mouth that is not poor (not freeloading) ; A poor person has a good reputation (integrity).
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.
[Edit this paragraph] Musical works
Huishan Spring in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province is known as "the second spring in the world". Naming the music after "Two Springs Reflect the Moon" not only leads people into the artistic conception of the quiet night, the clear springs and the cold moon, but after listening to the whole song, it is like seeing the person himself - a blind artist who is upright and tenacious, telling people about his troubled 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 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’s tomb Hua Yanjun’s tomb 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 damaged 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.
[Edit this paragraph] Two Springs Reflect the Moon
"Two Springs Reflect the Moon" is Abing's masterpiece. A Bing often played the piano by the Erquan in Wuxi. He was blind when he composed this song. According to the memories of his relatives, friends and neighbors, A Bing still had no food and clothing after performing for a whole day. When he returned to the alley late at night, he often played this song. The sadness and sadness are particularly moving.
A Bing’s friend Lu Xu once described the scene when A Bing played “Two Springs Reflecting the Moon”: “Heavy snow fell like goose feathers, and the park opposite was covered with rubble and jade. The pile was beyond recognition. The sad and plaintive sound of the erhu came from the street... I saw an unkempt old woman leading a blind man on the park road from east to west on a small bamboo pole. Under the dim light, I vaguely recognized it. It's A Bing and his wife.
A Bing holds a small bamboo pole under his right side, carries a pipa on his back, and hangs his erhu on his left shoulder. He pulls it, making a shrill and shrill sound in the crazy flying snow. "
This piece of music had no title at first. Abing often played it casually while walking in the streets and alleys. He did not play this piece when performing. Abing once called it "Zilai Tune". His neighbors called it "Song of the Heart". Later, when Yang Yinliu and Cao Anhe were recording, they thought of the famous scenic spot "Er Spring" in Wuxi and named it "Two Springs Reflecting the Moon" (Huishan Spring in Wuxi, Jiangsu, known as "Two Springs in the World"). "Second Fountain"), then the score was decided. He Luting once said: "The elegant name "Second Fountain Reflects the Moon" is actually contradictory to his music. Rather than saying that the music describes the scenery of the moon reflected in two springs, it is better to say that it profoundly expresses the painful life experience of the blind man A Bing. ”
In the late autumn of 1950, at a concert held in Wuxi, Abing played this song for the first and last time, winning endless applause from the audience; in 1951, Tianjin People’s Broadcasting Station played this song for the first time On the occasion of the 10th National Day in 1959, the my country International Cultural Association presented this song to international friends as one of the representatives of our country’s national music. Since then, this song has been widely circulated at home and abroad and received high praise. It was made into a record in the United States and ranked first among the eleven popular Chinese tunes in the United States.
Later, Peng Xiuwen adapted this piece into a national instrumental ensemble; Wu Zuqiang arranged it into a string ensemble. ; Ding Zhinuo and He Zhanhao adapted it into a violin solo; Ding Shande adapted it into a string quartet, etc. The Chinese Record Company made a wire recording of A Bing's performance of this piece in the summer of 1950, which sold well at home and abroad.
This piece of music reveals from beginning to end the thoughts and emotions of a blind artist who has experienced the bitterness and pain of the world. The work displays unique folk performance skills and styles, as well as unparalleled profound artistic conception, showing the unique charm of Chinese erhu art. It broadened the expressive power of Erhu art and won the "20th Century Chinese Music Classic Award"
[Edit this paragraph] The naming process of the music "Er Quan Ying Yue"
1950. Professors Yang Yinliu and Cao Anhe from the Central Conservatory of Music came to Wuxi to record Abing's performance. Mr. Zhu Shikuang also participated in the recording.
Zhu Shikuang once published "Music "Er Quan Ying Yue" in Wuxi News. "The process of naming", he wrote in the article: "After the recording, when Mr. Yang asked A Bing the name of the piece, A Bing said: 'This piece has no name. I just picked it up casually, and over time, it became It looks like this now. ’ Mr. Yang asked again: ‘Where do you often poop? ’ A Bing replied: ‘I often do it on the street and also in Huishan Quanting. ’ Mr. Yang blurted out. ‘Then let’s call it “Two Springs”! ’ I said: ‘‘Two Springs’ doesn’t look like a complete title. There is a song in Cantonese opera called ‘Three Ponds Reflecting the Moon’. Can we call it ‘Two Springs Reflecting the Moon’? ’ Mr. Yang said: ‘The printing is plagiarized and not good enough. We have a Yingshan River in Wuxi, so let’s call it ‘Two Springs Reflect the Moon’. ’ A Bing immediately nodded in agreement. This is how the title of the song "Two Springs Reflect the Moon" was decided.
Wuxi Erquan Pool has buildings such as Yilan Hall and Erquan Pavilion. Every month in the lunar calendar, before and after looking at the sun, the moon falls in love with the water, the water embraces the moon, and the water shines with the same charm. Perfect scenery.
[Edit this paragraph] Appreciation 1
The familiar music seems to bring us into the beautiful scenery of Wuxi, Jiangsu: in front of our eyes, it seems to show Huishan's "No. The beautiful scenery of "Erquan". Accompanied by the surging spring water, this melodious music seems to be telling us an extraordinary story.
Hua Yanjun has a strong interest in folk music and has learned to play drums, flute, erhu and pipa since he was a child. When he was fifteen or sixteen, he had become an outstanding local musician. When he was thirty-four years old, the disease made him blind. Poor and sick, he lived on the streets and lived an extremely difficult life. But he has a strong character and never begs for charity from others. Instead, he makes a living by performing arts. He is the one we are familiar with - Blind Abing. Abing has lived at the bottom of society for a long time and has distinct loves and hates. He has composed and performed many pieces of music. What we just listened to is Abing's representative erhu piece "Er Quan Ying Yue". Since he lived during the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang, he also composed many satirical pieces of music to challenge the evil forces, such as "Listening to the Pines" and "The End of the Traitors", which expressed his great hatred for the Japanese invaders and traitors. He was indignant, and therefore he became a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh of the reactionary authorities.
In 1947, Abing was beaten and became ill by the Kuomintang and was forced to stop his career as an entertainer.
After more than half a century of ups and downs, A Bing finally looked forward to the liberation of the country, and his artistic career entered a new stage. In the summer of 1950, the Central Conservatory of Music interviewed Abing and hurriedly recorded six pieces of music he played, including "The Moon Reflected in Two Springs," "Listening to the Pines," "Big Waves Rushing on the Sand," and "Zhaojun Leaving the Fortress." He also promised to continue recording two to three hundred erhu songs in six months. However, because he had been tortured by the old society for a long time, he vomited blood and died on December 4 of that year. Abing's death and the loss of hundreds of his music cannot but be said to be a great loss that can never be made up in the history of Chinese music.
"Two Springs Reflect the Moon" is one of the few pieces he has preserved, which makes it extremely precious. It is said that when recording it, the staff asked Abing the name of the music. A Bing said, since there is "Three Ponds Reflecting the Moon" in Guangdong, then this piece of music should be called "Two Springs Reflecting the Moon". In this way, "Two Springs Reflecting the Moon" has been passed down, and it is also regarded as the artistic crystallization of the author's lifelong efforts. "Two Springs Reflect the Moon" uses a lyrical musical language to describe to us the scenery of the moon reflecting on the mountain springs and the author's infinitely deep feelings. The whole song is divided into six sections and has gone through five variations.