Bai Ju Rong
Bai Ju Rong
Bai Ju Rong (1892-1974) was the founder of the Bai School of Cantonese opera. Chen Rong, formerly known as Chen Rong, was born in Shunde County, Guangzhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province (now Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province). His father Chen Houying is a Cantonese Opera actor.
In 1958, he was transferred to the art director of Guangdong opera academy, and the next year he was the president of Guangdong opera school, cultivating a large number of successors. Bai Ju Rong was a deputy to Guangdong Provincial People's Congress and chairman of Guangzhou Branch of China Dramatists Association.
Life of the characters
Youth
Bai Ju Rong lost his father at the age of nine and was raised by his eldest mother, Wei Shi, for four years. He dropped out of school at the age of 14. Before the age of 19, he worked as an apprentice in his hometown Leliu Yiyi paper shop and as a clerk in Guangzhou Yingfang shoe shop.
Youth
In 1912, at the age of 20, Bai Ju Rong became the second student in the class of minshounian. He was a teacher of the famous male Huadan zhajiaowen. They co performed Shilin Jita, boudoir studying abroad and so on. They won wide acclaim and were soon promoted as Zhengyin students. Wu Youshan, the leader and master of the class, asked him to change his stage name to Baiju Rong, because "Huadan Qianli Ju is the most popular nowadays. If you name yourself" Ju ", it will attract the attention of the audience.". In addition, he produced four series of drama Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, in which Bai Ju Rong played one of the main roles. In 1913, Bai Ju Rong was transferred to the "Han Tianle" class as Zhengyin Xiaosheng. He studied and practiced the singing skills of Xiaosheng, erhuamian and Gongjiao from famous actors such as Zhou Yulin, Jin Shanzhen, xinqizai and snake king Rong. In the second half of 1913, Bai Ju Rong joined the "guofengnian" class, one of the four famous classes of Baochang company, as the second young student. He sang the new tune he designed when he performed "Chaisang diaoxiao" and changed the libretto when he performed "Diqing three take the Pearl flag". Especially when he performed "Jinsheng pick box", Bai Ju Rong created to sing "pinghou" (true voice) in Guangzhou dialect, which was very popular with the audience . Since then, he has been transferred to huatianle class as Zhengyin Xiaosheng and performed in major cinemas in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
From 1917 to 1925, it was the golden age of Baiju Rong's Cantonese opera. First, he was promoted to "Zhou Fengnian" of the provincial and Hong Kong troupe as Zhengyin Xiaosheng. He played the role of emperor when he performed the serial opera "rebirth fate". Because of his meticulous performance and novel and rich singing style, he made the audience refreshing and caused a sensation in Macao and Hong Kong. When "Huadan king" QianLiJu joined the "Zhou Fengnian" class, they performed the first plays "boating", "she Zi Feng Gu", "night send cold clothes" and Bai's first plays "Jinsheng pick box" and "rebirth fate", etc., which were perfectly matched and made the art garden prosperous. Bai Ju Rong is known as the "king of Cantonese Opera" by the audience and the troupe because of his excellent performing skills and artistic attainments.
Middle age
From 1926 to 1937, Bai Ju Rong performed abroad twice. First, in 1926, he was hired by the Greater China theater in San Francisco, USA. He cooperated with Xinzhu, zihouqi and Xiaodingxiang to perform such dramas as weeping Jinghua and autumn hate on the journey, which were very popular with Chinese audiences. Later, he performed in Vietnam's coastal defense, Saigon, Singapore, Malaya and the Philippines in 1936. The Cantonese Opera "Xiao Sheng Wang" is well-known overseas. In the past ten years, Bai Ju Rong, unwilling to be controlled by the boss of Baochang company, once suspended stage performance and specialized in recording. His main films include Jinsheng pick box, rebirth, weeping Jinghua, etc.
In 1937, Baiju Rong began to suffer from eye disease, which affected his stage performance.
From 1937 to 1947, Baiju Rong's stage career was at a low stage. In 1938, when Japanese planes bombed Guangzhou, he and Xue juexian went to Hong Kong to join the Jue Xiansheng troupe. Xue played the part of Dan, while Bai still played the role of life and work. They played their respective roles in the plays of thirteen younger sisters, daughter fragrance, Su Xiaomei's three difficulties and the bridegroom, which were still popular with the audience. After the Japanese invaders occupied Hong Kong, in order to maintain the life of their fellow artists, he took the risk of organizing classes to perform such plays as Lu Wenlong with two guns and lone duck in sunset. Later, he organized a temporary class to perform in four townships of Guangzhou to avoid the persecution of Japanese invaders. In 1946, when he returned to Guangzhou dongle theater to perform in the Spring Festival, his eye disease became more serious, so he had to spread white cloth on the stage and the entrance to help his eyesight identify and reluctantly perform. Later, he became blind and had to leave the stage of Cantonese opera. At the invitation of friends from the art circle, he took part in the performance.
Old age
In 1951, Bai Ju Rong took part in the Guangzhou quyi troupe, served as the team leader, and donated planes and cannons for the charity performance of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea. In 1955, the quyi troupe performed the Cantonese Opera "heavy injustice leads to snow and red sun". He acted as the blind grandfather, which was very popular with the audience. At the beginning of 1953, Guangzhou Cantonese Opera Troupe was established, and Bai Ju Rong, as the head of the troupe, still insisted on performing such dramas as the legend of the White Snake, the Baolian lantern, the selection of son-in-law, and the second story of the red chamber, instead of playing Laosheng and ugly Sheng. Before the performance, the staff put several long bamboo strips under the stage carpet. He could distinguish the front and back of the stage and the entrance and exit by his touch, and communicate with the co performers by his hearing. In the second story of the red chamber, Jia Lian, who he plays, has a large range of actions, but he overcomes the difficulties that people with clear eyes can't imagine. With the help and cooperation of the actors on the same stage, he plays very vividly, which makes people forget that he is a blind old man. Tian Han, a great dramatist, praised him as "Paul Kochakin of Chinese literary and art circles". Baiju Rong joined the Communist Party of China in 1955, and is the first member of the entertainer party in Cantonese opera. In 1956, he went to Beijing to participate in the National Congress of advanced producers (workers), and performed the short play "Er Tang Fang Zi" in Huairen Hall of Zhongnanhai. Together with other actors, he was received by Premier Zhou Enlai. In 1958, he was transferred to the art director of Guangdong opera academy, and the next year he was the president of Guangdong opera school, cultivating a large number of successors. Bai Ju Rong was a deputy to Guangdong Provincial People's Congress and chairman of Guangzhou Branch of China Dramatists Association.
On February 13, 1974, Bai Ju Rong died at the first people's Hospital of Guangzhou at the age of 83.
Performance works
Bai Ju Rong performed a lot of plays before liberation, mainly including "golden peach box", "rebirth fate", "Weeping Jinghua" and so on; he also recorded many records, such as "Ke Tu Qiu hen", "Luo Xia Gu Ji", "men Shao Yi", "Cape seeking fragrance", and so on, which are still popular today. After liberation, there were Pipa on the road, Ertang Fangzi, xuanzizi, Guishan Qichao and so on.
artistic characteristics
In the Cantonese Opera circle, he changed the stage Mandarin which is difficult for the audience to understand into vernacular (Guangzhou dialect). His recitation, with sound and taste, is full of musical sense. His singing is exquisite, solid, delicate, simple and fluent, and full of ups and downs. After repeated practice, he developed Jin shanbing's "flat throat" (that is, Xiaosheng's singing changed from false voice to real voice), which became a main singing method of Cantonese Opera and contributed to the development of Cantonese Opera's singing art.
Character evaluation
When I was young, I didn't learn Dan from my father. Now I feel sorry when I am old. I want to go back and learn from my father's singing, but I find it hard. My father's skills are really hard to pass on. (comments by Bai Xuemei)
With Zhu Cibo, Jin shanbing and others, he took the lead in singing in Cantonese vernacular, which is difficult to understand in the old Cantonese opera. His innovation in singing is also very outstanding. He created the original "white tune". His recitation has sound and flavor, full of musical sense, and his singing is exquisite, firm, delicate, simple and smooth, with ups and downs and endless charm. (Phoenix Online Review)
Chinese PinYin : Bai Ju Rong
Bai Ju Rong
