When work becomes the greatest hobby
"Although I am from Haimen, I belong to the Wu language area. I can understand pingtan and I haven't heard it before. " When it comes to the initial contact with Pingtan, Zhou Liang said. From 65438 to 0957, I came to work in Suzhou Cultural Bureau. Soon, Zhou Liang began to take charge of opera and pingtan. After the "Cultural Revolution", he returned to the leadership position of the Cultural Bureau, focusing on pingtan. 1983 transferred to the work of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, still focusing on pingtan. After 1989 retired, the research on pingtan did not stop.
Why do you love pingtan so much? "Caring about pingtan begins with the needs of work." Zhou Liang said. "Because in charge of pingtan work, it is natural to deal with pingtan artists and listen to books. Moreover, in the late 1950s, Chen Yun often came to Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou to listen to books and learn about Pingtan, which forced us to learn about the local Pingtan. Otherwise, the head asked me what to do? " In this way, Zhou Liang not only began to listen to books in the library, but also began to collect and sort out materials about pingtan. During the "Cultural Revolution", this accumulation was also carried out quietly. In the postscript of the first edition of his first book, Suzhou Pingtan Old News Banknotes, Zhou Liang vividly recorded the process of the relevant materials being recovered: "It is very accidental that these materials can be preserved during the' ten-year catastrophe'. This bag of information was also reviewed at the beginning and entered the "concentration camp". "On one occasion, I was ordered to clean and clean up the battlefield. I found these materials on the ground and hid them secretly. That's 1967. " 1975, Zhou Liang, who was ill and rested, began to sort out these materials, arranged them in chronological order, and added some notes. At that time, he just hoped that the relevant information could be preserved. 1983, Suzhou Pingtan Old Banknotes was published by Jiangsu People's Publishing House. "This book mainly collects historical materials of Suzhou Pingtan. Although these materials come from hundreds of local historical materials, note novels and so on. I have read at least thousands of related books before and after. " After the Cultural Revolution, there were fewer pingtan artists, fewer bookstores and a serious shortage of bibliographies. 1980, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai jointly established the Pingtan Research Association, calling for attention to the art of Pingtan, launching performances by Pingtan actors, and actively sorting out, creating and adapting bibliographies. 1984 set up a leading group for pingtan in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, with the participation of cultural departments and leaders of Quxie in the three places. The office of the leading group is located in Suzhou, with Zhou Liang as the office director. "This office is still available. It basically meets once a year to do some communication and coordination work in Pingtan."
The lifeline of pingtan lies in the bookstore.
"Suzhou Pingtan has been listed in the national intangible cultural heritage list, and the importance of Pingtan protection has received unprecedented attention. However, from the current situation of Pingtan's protection and development, efforts are still needed. " In Zhou Liang's view, attaching importance to the artistic construction of long bibliographies and bookstores is one of the keys to protect the praise bomb. "The performance of Suzhou Pingtan is mainly in the form of performing a long bibliography in a bookstore. The long bibliography and its performance are the lifeline of Pingtan art."
Zhou Liang said, on the one hand, long-form bibliography reflects the broad social life, complicated historical process and social humanistic mentality through sufficient space and capacity, and shapes many vivid characters, fully embodying its own artistic characteristics; On the other hand, the book fair performance can go deep into the masses, with a broad mass base and strong artistic vitality. Paying attention to the construction of long bibliography and the improvement of calligraphy skills is fundamentally a respect for the law of pingtan art. Only in this way can we protect pingtan well. "
"Now a lot of pingtan performances start with songs, but actually leave the table. How can Pingtan sing more pop songs? " Zhou Liang said that a long story about Pingtan should be performed in the bookstore for 10 and 20 days. It is a test for an actor to come back tomorrow after listening to it today, but it is also conducive to artistic accumulation. "Pingtan is mainly about talking, and singing is for talking. If you just sing, it will be monotonous. As a kind of folk art, it is very important to sing one by one, rather than singing one by one like a song. " Zhou Liang said that the narrative of Pingtan is different. There are first, second and third persons in the narrative, and the perspective changes greatly, which is very different from ordinary novels. The language of storytellers and characters changes freely. In addition, the narrative of Pingtan has three time and space, namely, the past, the present and the future, which is very different from the traditional opera with only one time and space. "This narrative feature can't be reflected in the opening song." Zhou Liang deeply regrets.
There are too few people who study pingtan
In the interview, Zhou Liang often mentioned some small past events of Chen Yun. Among them, what impressed him the most was the research attitude of the person in charge of pingtan. "A book that people like is not a good book, but a book that is beneficial to people is a good book", "Pingtan should be like Pingtan" and other wise sayings have always been remembered by Zhou Liang. Opening a brown paper envelope deep in the bookcase, Zhou Liang showed us some letters with his carefully collected heads, including a blank piece of paper with the words "Suzhou Pingtan School" written in pencil. This is the name of the school that Chen Yun re-registered for Suzhou Pingtan School 1979. "Suzhou Pingtan has a long history, but the research as a genre is still in its infancy, and the follow-up team needs to be cultivated." Funny Zhou Liang told reporters that most people who are engaged in Quyi research are "old people" like him, and Suzhou Pingtan research has always hoped that young college students and graduate students will join in.
In 1960s, in order to speed up the collection and research of Pingtan materials, Zhou Liang took the lead in setting up the reference room of the Municipal Qulian Art Troupe, and began to collect materials, historical materials and record long bibliographies, and also formed some Pingtan historical materials and memoirs of old artists. In "On Suzhou Pingtan Art" published by him in February last year, the reporter saw two schedules: one is a catalogue of Pingtan research materials and reference books published after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the other is a catalogue of Pingtan research works published after the founding of the People's Republic of China. The two schedules * * * list 4 1 books on Pingtan, of which 17 was compiled and written by Zhou Liang, reflecting his works from one side. "It is more difficult to do research on pingtan than to do pingtan." Zhou Liang told reporters that in recent years, many people have specially visited him for advice. Some graduate students write papers around Pingtan, and some even come from abroad. However, these researchers didn't sit down and become pingtan researchers like Zhou Liang.
Zhou Liang told reporters that the research work of Pingtan includes the collection and arrangement of historical materials, scripts, reference books, history and art of Pingtan. For example, the Suzhou Pingtan Bibliography Library, which he served as editor-in-chief last year, belongs to the collection and arrangement of Pingtan scripts. At present, the first album has entered the proofreading stage, including four ***9 traditional bibliographies such as The West Chamber. "I'm going to compile the second album this year, and the project is very big. This book can provide written materials for future research. "
In 2006, Zhou Liang won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the 4th China Quyi Peony Award as a Quyi theorist. This award, which represents the affirmation of the industry, has not slowed down Zhou Liang's research on Pingtan. In addition to editing Suzhou Pingtan Bibliography Database, the review of China Quyi Zhi has basically ended, and new works such as Suzhou Pingtan Ci History are also being written. Some people say that Suzhou Pingtan art has been analyzed, summarized and promoted at the academic level because of Zhou Liang.
20 12 10 Zhou Liang, a famous pingtan theorist and leader of the leading group for pingtan work in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai of the Ministry of Culture, recently visited Shanghai Normal University and gave a lecture on "The Historical and Practical Significance of Chen Yun's View on Literature and Art" in the pingtan research room of China Modern Society Research Center, and discussed the experience and lessons of pingtan in Suzhou. After 1957, 87-year-old Zhou Liang successively served as director of Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, chairman of Suzhou Federation of Literary and Art Circles, chairman of Jiangsu Quyi Association and deputy editor-in-chief of China Quyi Zhi. He is an old leader of Suzhou and even Jiangsu Quyi, and has many contacts with Chen Yun. In this lecture, Zhou Liang systematically summarized Chen Yun's literary thoughts, especially the specific guiding ideology of the art of pingtan. For example, he believes that literature and art should have a market concept and be subject to market scrutiny, but it cannot be discussed only by the market; The long story is the bearing of Suzhou Pingtan, and the short story can blossom. Emphasize the preservation and development of traditional bibliography; Wait a minute. In the second part of the report, according to his own experience, Zhou talked about the experience and lessons of bomb evaluation since the founding of New China. He believes that one-sided emphasis on art serving politics and economic egalitarianism in the past are important factors leading to the crisis of pingtan; He talked about the present situation and future of Suzhou Pingtan from a strategic perspective. Professor Tang, director of China Modern Society Research Center of Shanghai Normal University, thinks that the lecture is of great guiding significance. It is reported that the Pingtan Research Office of the center will invite other Pingtan theorists and old artists to give lectures here in the future, so as to deepen the staff's knowledge and understanding of Suzhou Pingtan.