20 Monday, October 15, 2018 LIFE CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION CELEBRATING A MEMORABLE SONG
Li Guyi is to perform Homeland Love to mark 40 years of China’s reform and openingup, Chen Nan reports.
n 1980, Chinese singer Li Guyi performed a song, entitled Homeland Love, a mellow love ballad written by Ma Jinghua Iand Zhang Peiji, which made the then 36yearold singer of the Cen China’s reform and tral Symphony Orchestra — now known as China National Symphony openingup not only Orchestra — into a household name in China. brought economic “The song was well received by audiences and I was asked to sing it opportunity for the again and again when I performed across the nation then,” recalls Li, 74, country, but also who once gave 72 performances in 50 days nationwide. offered a change for However, her performance also musicians.” became controversial. Instead of using a solid, wide vocal range Li Guyi, veteran singer while singing, a style which domi nated the music scene in the coun try then, Li sounded sweet, easy and used airbreathing singing, a pop performances singing style that challenged the 72 aesthetics of singing in China at the Li Guyi gave within 50 days time. nationwide in the 1980s when The lyrics of the song were also her song Homeland Love became criticized heavily by critics and some popular audiences as “decadent music”. Disappointed and sad, Li was set to give up singing the song anymore when the turning point came in 1983. and dance art form in Hunan, at That year, she was invited to per the Hunan Art Institute. form six songs at China Central Tele She then worked with the Hunan vision’s first Spring Festival Gala, Huaguxi Opera Theater from 1961 to known as chunwan in Chinese, one 1974 as an actress. of the mostwatched annual shows And after becoming a solo singer in Chinese broadcast on the eve of with the Central Symphony Orches the Lunar New Year. tra in 1974, Li has toured with the But Homeland Love was not orchestra to perform in China and included on the list. abroad, including in France, the Then, a lot of viewers called in, ask United States and Japan. ing for Li to perform the song at the She also received training in West gala. And the gala’s director Huang ern vocal performance and com Yihe made the decision to broadcast bined it with Chinese singing Li’s performance of the song. techniques. Besides, she promotes Since then, Homeland Love has original Chinese songs featuring become a hit, and is one of Li’s most musical elements from Chinese folk popular songs. operas and ethnic groups. “It’s a beautiful song and most “It’s an approach I use when I importantly, audience views about teach young Chinese singers — to art started to change thanks to the learn and sing Chinese folk operas reform and liberation of thought that first,” says Li. went on through the 1980s,” says Li. “There are over 300 forms of Chi “It was during that time that Chi nese operas and different tech na started to develop its own pop niques of singing used by Chinese music, which offered a platform for ethnic groups. Those art forms are songwriters to create original mate unique treasures, which deserve rial.” further study and promotion. As this year marks the 40th anni “When you look back on Chinese versary of the launch of China’s Top: Li Guyi performs at a concert that featured works by Chinese songwriter Yan Su in Beijing on July 26, 2010. LUO XIAOGUANG / XINHUA Above left: Li (center) songs written during the 1980s, you reform and openingup, the veteran performs the song Unforgettable Night at CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala on Feb 18, 2015. Above right: Li takes an interview at a news conference in Beijing, feel that the lyrics are poetic and the singer will hold a concert in Beijing announcing her upcoming concert along with her students on Thursday. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY melodies are inspired by Chinese on Thursday, which will see her per tradition,” says Li. form Homeland Love again. “During the past 40 years, the Li’s students, over 20 professional not only brought economic opportu emerge and songwriters tended to val Gala for 32 years. nese audiences, the gala is not over Chinese music scene has blossomed. Chinese singers, including Fu Dish nity for the country, but also offered a depict personal emotions.” Speaking about Unforgettable until it is performed. It has become a I hope that the new generation of eng, Wang Lida and Zhang Ye, will change for musicians,” says Li. During the concert, Li will per Tonight, Song Guanlin, the general tradition.” musicians, who are often influenced join Li, performing over 30 songs “Before the reform and opening form her bestknown hits, including manager of the China Oriental Per Li, who was born in Kunming, by the West, base their music on written by Chinese songwriters since up, songs performed on TV were Homeland Love, My Motherland forming Arts Group, the organizer of Yunnan province, began her their Chinese roots.” the reform and openingup process similar — grand performances deal and Me and Unforgettable Tonight, a Li’s upcoming concert, says: “It is a music and theater career at the began in 1978. ing with big topics. But after that, a song which has been used as the clos slow, smooth song, which is like a age of 15, when she started study Contact the writer at “China’s reform and openingup diversity of music styles started to ing song for the annual Spring Festi happy ending to the gala. For Chi ing huaguxi opera, a folk music [email protected]
most wellknown conductor on the international scene, and the Shang Music label marks 120th milestone in imperial style hai Symphony Orchestra also signed with Deutsche Grammophon, becoming the Berlinbased label’s By CHEN NAN Spence, and French baritone, Ludo first Chinese conductor and orches vic Tezier, as well as the Shanghai tra. Their first recording with the Audiences might still remember Spring Children’s Choir. famous yellow label will be released the impressive opera production of Afterward, French pianist, Helene in 2019 to mark the 140th anniversa Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot — con Grimaud, took the stage for Ravel’s The gala concert was ry of the Shanghai Symphony ducted under the baton of Zubin Piano Concerto in G major before Orchestra, the oldest symphony Mehta and directed by Zhang Yimou Norwegian violinist, Mari Samuel unforgettable. The orchestra in China, whose history — that was performed at Beijing’s sen, took the solo lead in November, dates back to 1879 when it was historical Imperial Ancestral Tem a piece from Max Richter’s Memory concert’s historic known as the Shanghai Public Band. ple, which is located just outside the house, a seminal work of contempo Deutsche Grammophon’s Imperi Forbidden City, in September 1998. rary neoclassical composition from nature was enhanced al Ancestral Temple concert marked That same venue — a UNESCO 2002. by its iconic setting ...” the beginning of a series of interna World Heritage Site — was once “The gala concert was unforgetta tional programs, including the again awash with melody on ble,” says Clemens Trautmann, presi Clemens Trautmann, president of release of a collection of newly digi Wednesday, when Universal Music dent of Deutsche Grammophon. Deutsche Grammophon tized rare archive recordings (The Group’s Deutsche Grammophon, “The concert’s historic nature was Shellac Project) and new albums of the world’s oldest classical music enhanced by its iconic setting — in highprofile performances. label, launched its 120thanniversa front of the Imperial Ancestral Tem that I have done before, which was The record label also introduced ry celebrations by hosting a gala ple and the walls of the Forbidden quite amazing.” China to its project, Yellow Lounge concert there. Musicians from City. Those exquisite buildings Trifonov, who began playing — which aims to introduce clubbers around the world shared the stage, echoed to the magnificent sounds of piano at 5 years old, studied under to live classical music — with a per performing for an audience of over the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov performs Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Tatiana Zelikman at Moscow’s formance at Beijing’s Mao Live 1,200. Wiener Singakademie and an inter Concerto at a concert to celebrate Deutsche Grammophon’s 120th anniversary famous Gnessin School of Music. house featuring BritishIrish Under the baton of maestro Yu national cast of soloists under the held at the historical Imperial Ancestral Temple in Beijing on Wednesday. In February 2013, he made his classical violinist, Daniel Hope, Chi Long, the Shanghai Symphony direction of maestro Yu, the first Chi PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY debut at Carnegie Hall in a concert nese clarinetist, Wang Tao, and the Orchestra opened the concert with a nese conductor ever to perform recorded by Deutsche Grammo Zurich Chamber Orchestra back in special arrangement of Chinese there.” nied by Yu and the Shanghai Sym with Yu and the Orchestra.” phon for an album that was released September. The project was born in composer Liu Tianhua’s work, Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov phony Orchestra, which was their “I visited Forbidden City as a tour later that year. In January, Trifonov 2001 in Berlin’s techno clubs, and Enchanted Night. Then, the orches performed Rachmaninov’s Second first collaboration. ist when I performed in Beijing a was awarded the 2018 Grammy since then, Yellow Lounge has orga tra performed German composer Piano Concerto. The 27yearold vir “We had a mutual musical lan couple of years ago, but I have never Award for Best Classical Instrumen nized over 130 club nights, each Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana accom tuoso pianist, a leading member of guage, which made our cooperation performed at such a historic site tal Solo for his album, Transcenden attracting up to 1,000 guests and a panied by Russian soprano Aida Deutsche Grammophon’s younger successful,” says Trifonov. “I was very before,” he recalls. “The perform talComplete Liszt Etudes. massive following through both tra Garifullina, British tenor, Toby generation of artists, was accompa excited, even when I did rehearsal ance cannot be compared to any In June, Yu, arguably China’s ditional channels and social media.