山東琴書 老城新傳，鄉(xiāng)音不改

A More Modern Take on Qinshu

Yao Zhongxian

A national first-class performer of National Folk Art Association of Jinan, the sole inheritor of Beilu school, and winner of the Peony Award , the highest award for folk arts in China.

姚忠賢

濟南市曲藝團國家一級演員，北路鄧派山東琴書唯一傳人，曾獲中國曲藝最高獎——牡丹獎。

Nihao: Why is Qinshu popular among people in Shandong?

Yao: For the local people of Jinan, Qinshu was the major form of entertainment before television came along. At Daming Lake, Baotu Spring and many other popular places, there were teahouses or venues where people went to enjoy Qinshu performances. Back then, the stages were not as big as they are today.The closer distance between the performers and the audience allowed a better interaction during the show. The major venues where we performed were temple fairs, market places, teahouses and bistros. The stages there often bustled with excitement asthe fascinatedaudience would applaud and cheer continuously at the end. Sung in the Shandong dialect, Qinshu is very pleasant to listen to. It also has a great variety of arias and tunes for different story plots, and the performers’ facial expressions would change accordingly too. As few as twoperformers are needed for a Qinshu show. They can perform while playing an instrument, and can flexibly play either according to the script or off script.

Nihao: As more and more forms of entertainment are coming into fruition, has Qinshu undergone any change or innovation?

Yao: Shandong Qinshu has challenges in keeping its audience, which is a problem faced by many other traditional folk arts, too. Younger generations prefer modern entertainment such as movies, and some of them even claim blatantly that it is not fun listening to Qinshu. But in my view, there is no such thing as a boring performance. There are, however, incapable performers. I have been thinking about making Qinshu appealing to young people, and have been experimenting with the idea of playing pop songs and poems in the form of Qinshu. This June, I will take part in the playing of an original opera adapted from Nobel Prize laureate Mo Yan's Sandlewood Death at Shandong Grand Theater. Every act will open with my monologue and my instrument playing, setting the tone for the following play. The collaboration will allow the audience to gain a more thorough understanding of the plot. It is my belief that Qinshu is not an outdated form of art -it just needs to be performed in a style that appeals to the younger generations.

About Shandong Qinshu

Shandong Qinshu is a traditional narrative music usually accompanied by a type of hammered dulcimer. Other instruments used include the Erhuand theZhuihu (both two-stringed bowed instruments) and Kuaiban (bamboo clappers). The Legend of White Snake, Yang Warriors, Cases by Judge Bao Zheng are among the most wellknown shows. Performers may sing to the musical accompaniment or make a short narration, though the singing is the dominant form.

Nihao：山東人為什么喜歡聽琴書？

姚：以前沒有電視的時候，聽琴書是濟南人最主要的娛樂活動之一。大明湖、趵突泉等地都有茶館書場，濟南人專門到這些地方來聽琴書。當(dāng)時的舞臺不像現(xiàn)在這么大，離觀眾很近，互動性很好。我們主要是在廟會集市、茶館酒樓表演，那種舞臺很熱鬧，觀眾聽得很入神，表演完了觀眾會不斷鼓掌大聲叫好。山東琴書用的是山東方言，觀眾聽得親切。琴書的唱腔很有味道，演出時根據(jù)故事情節(jié)激昂起伏，表情也很豐富。山東琴書演出需要的人不多，兩個人就可以演出，既演角色也奏樂器。藝人可以按劇本演奏，也可以演奏曲目，形式多樣。

Nihao：娛樂形式豐富的當(dāng)今，琴書是否有所變革？

姚：和許多傳統(tǒng)藝術(shù)一樣，這些年來，山東琴書的觀眾的確有所流失；年輕人更傾向于電影等其他娛樂方式，甚至有人直白地說琴書不好聽。但我認為，沒有難聽的琴書，只有無能的藝人。我一直在琢磨如何讓年輕人喜歡上琴書，嘗試用琴書演奏流行歌曲和古詩詞。今年6月，我還將在山東省會大劇參與演出以莫言的《檀香刑》為藍本改編的原創(chuàng)歌劇。每一幕都以我單人演奏獨白為開場，為接下來的話劇表演奠下基調(diào)。這種新形式可以讓觀眾更透徹地理解演繹的內(nèi)容。所以我認為，作為一種藝術(shù)形式，琴書并不會過時，我們只是需要用貼近年輕人喜好的方式迎合他們。

山東琴書

主要用揚琴做伴奏的故事說唱表演。伴奏樂器主要有揚琴、二胡、墜胡、快板等。代表節(jié)目有《白蛇傳》《楊家將》《包公案》等。表演者可根據(jù)伴奏演唱，也可以進行小段說書。一般琴書以唱為主，以說為輔。