More and more grassroots people began to use the door hole of the Xi'an city wall as a stage. Going to listen to songs under the city walls has gradually become a new trend for some citizens and tourists.
From the initial battle of wits and courage with the city management, to the fact that it later became a unique cultural phenomenon in Xi'an, the city wall witnessed the reconciliation and symbiosis between the wild band and the city. It is not easy to accept new things, but Xi'an has done it, "this is a kind of courage and responsibility".
There is a border, only freedom, and the city wall will also actively give back to Xi'an. Today, there are 10 regular performance groups under the city walls, and they have been included in the unified management, arranged the performance date, and performed on time every day, becoming a new business card of the ancient capital.
Reporter Chen Chen, Cai Xinyi, Jiang Chenrong.
2023 is about to pass, and "Brother Bao" is a little nostalgic.
This year, as the captain of the Xi'an South Gate Band, this grassroots ** person who performs under the gate hole of the Xi'an city wall all the year round, finally moved the stage to the city wall, so that the band has a higher visibility - on that midsummer night in June, more than 100,000 listeners ** "watched", listening to the band and the network anchors who went out from Xi'an, singing the Shaanxi version of "Meet", telling the story of Chang'an City.
The ancient city wall that recorded this performance also witnessed that Xi'an was clearly seen by more people this year. In the first half of the year alone, there were 12.4 billion tourists visit the ancient capital, and the citywalk dressed in Hanfu has become a unique scenery. "Unbounded Chang'an", "The Ballad of Yanshui" and other high-quality plays are staged in turn, and the movie "Thirty Thousand Miles of Chang'an" elegantly presents the poetic beauty of the city. The success of the first China-Central Asia Summit has brought this thousand-year-old capital to the attention of the world.
The local "Brother Bao", who was born and raised, feels the mutual achievement between the city and ordinary citizens most intuitively. This year, more people came to Xi'an to enjoy the city wall ** meeting, and sang and swayed with singers. Also because of the glory of Xi'an, the South Gate Band appeared on the stage of many satellite TVs, participated in the recording of the Spring Festival Gala in Silk Road cities, and became the protagonists of several documentaries.
Whether it is the popularity of Xi'an or the popularity of the band, "Brother Bao" is not surprised. In his view, Xi'an's ancient, thick, self-confident and inclusive temperament has given nourishment and warmth to different cultural forms, allowing various cultural forces to flourish in a city, creating a unique charm of Xi'an. It is precisely because of this that this grassroots band was able to survive and write "Roar Qin, dusty;Eight Hundred Miles of Qinchuan, the Prosperous Han and Tang Dynasties", and can always arouse the strongest resonance of the audience when performing.
In 2023, it will be unforgettable. Many people have seen the cultural tolerance of Xi'an through our window. Looking back at the end of the year, "Brother Bao" said indifferently, "I didn't lose my original intention, I persevered for another year, brought happiness to everyone with singing, and let more people understand and fall in love with Xi'an." It's been a worthwhile year. ”
* Meet the city walls, a "reverberation through more than 600 years".
In the dead of winter, the night darkens the sky early. The street lamps under the ancient city wall gradually lit up, and beams of light paved the green bricks that were more than 600 years old. In an instant, Xi'an became the Chang'an in memory.
The members of the South Gate Band flocked from different corners of the city to a sour plum soup shop next to the Yongning Gate on the city wall, which was a small shop opened by "Brother Bao" and a stronghold before the band "came out". After becoming famous, "Brother Bao" still called the performance "out of the stall".
Drinking sour plum soup and talking a few idle words, the team members began to carry the musical instruments onto the second-hand tricycle in front of the store. About half an hour later, they will start singing in the Yongning Gate Cave a few hundred meters away. At this time, there are already enthusiastic fans waiting in the cold wind.
Yongning Gate is the south gate of the Xi'an City Wall, and the South Gate Band is also named after it. Every Thursday and Sunday at 8:30 p.m., the show will be staged here on time, rain or shine.
On the last "stall" day in November, the weather was extremely cold. As usual, the slender saxophonist "Da Sima" stepped onto the tricycle and loaded the instruments and speakers into the doorway. Drummer "Leather Jacket" is the only female member of the team, and is called "the face of the team" by her teammates. The team flag she held up was swept up by a gust of wind. The lead singer "Brother Jiu" is polite and polite, gently adjusting the microphone. **Director Lu Jinyan is as his name suggests, he doesn't talk much, and he holds the guitar thoughtfully.
Old fans who have followed for many years, new listeners who have come here, tourists who pass by with suitcases and stop just out of curiosity ......There is no charge for the show and there are no seats. No matter who comes from, stand and see, the location is first-come, first-served. In a short time, the audience gathered more and more, and there were one or two hundred people. They rubbed their hands together, stamped their feet, and breathed hot air into their palms from time to time.
At the moment of debugging the equipment, the team members chatted with the audience for a while. "Brother Bao" began to announce "on-site discipline", which has been a rule of the band since its formation: "Please take care of the environmental hygiene of the city wall, and do not litter cigarette butts and drink bottles." You can put them under your feet and we will clean them every hour. ”
* The sound sounded, and the atmosphere gradually became warmer. Accompanied by the classic track "I Really Love You" by the band beyond, the audience began to nod, stomp their feet, and beat the beat. Someone turned on the light on the mobile phone and swayed like a concert. Some people sang loudly, and some children rode on their father's shoulders in order to see the performance.
From nostalgic old songs to national style songs, from folk songs, rock to the band's original "Thirteen Dynasties" ......There are more than 100 songs on the cardboard at the foot of the band, and the audience can order them on the spot. "We now have more than 20 singing groups. Fans want to sing themselves, communicate in advance in the group, and the next time they come, they can sing directly in front of the microphone. "Brother Jiu" said.
The live singing was repeated, and it became more and more hilarious. Although she has long been accustomed to seeing such a scene, in the doorway, Aunt Zhang from the Northeast still put aside her flower stall for the time being, leaned over to listen, and did not forget to introduce to the people around her: "This is the characteristic of Xi'an, there is no other place."
Every time there is a performance, Lao Li, who sells sugar gourds on the side, has a good business. Handing a few strings of sugar gourds to the customer, he patted the other person on the shoulder, "Let's go and listen together, people will become younger."
Xiao Zhong, a passing delivery rider, propped up the battery car, put on a yellow overalls, and began to roar with the band, "The last order is delivered today, and I'm ready to go home, so I'll listen to it on the way." It's very free to deliver takeaways, and it's fun to listen to **".
Gao Xionghui, a college student who has just graduated, made a special trip. Since 2019, the South Gate Band has performed on a non-stop basis. "Compared to the professional festivals and livehouses, the atmosphere here is more natural and relaxed. Come here and listen to the songs, and the fatigue of the day will melt away. He and his girlfriend met because they listened to songs here, and now they are both big fans of the band.
Sing, listen, and enjoy pure pleasure. In the eyes of fans, the fascination of the city wall ** will also be the original intention of "Brother Bao" to form a band.
In 2015, "Brother Bao", who was running in the park around the city of Xi'an, accidentally met two friends who entertained themselves and sang, and had similar interests, so they met together to "play**" One night in 2016, after singing, they passed by the South Gate Door, "Brother Bao" unconsciously knocked on the drum a few times, and the reverberation sound effect was wonderful, which scared himself.
It dawned on me that this was a reverb that had traveled over 600 years. "Brother Bao" had a whim, "Can you play in the cave of the city gate in the future?"”
Just do it. During the day, they have their own jobs, and at night, when they greet each other, they pick up musical instruments and go to the doorway to "stall". Since then, "Brother Bao" and his friends have become the first group in Xi'an to perform under the city walls.
They didn't come from a professional background, they didn't understand music, and they didn't even have the name of a band, but they didn't feel embarrassed.
There are many bars in the alleys of the city wall, and the professional resident singers there pass by and don't even look at us. "Brother Bao" recalled. But this "wild" team has a different "magic": there is no distance between the singer and the listener, and they mingle. After the show, pat each other on the shoulder and we can go for a supper together.
Some fans said: "From strange to familiar, there is often only a song between people." ”
Xi'an is open and tolerant of the streets."
Over the years, the band has gained a group of fans, but overall it is still tepid. In the spring of 2018, the short ** of their performance was posted on Douyin by fans and became popular overnight. The highest one reached 12 million views, and the band's online followers rose by 40,000 in one day.
One night, a friend 'Aite' me in the group asked me to hurry over. I'll take a look, good guys, there are a lot of people!The inner and outer three floors are all waiting for us to perform. "Brother Bao's mobile phone, I still have the ** at that time, it's so unforgettable, I even forgot how to play the drum that day."
The gears of fate began to spin at an accelerated pace.
Almost at the same time, Xi'an began to frequently go out of the circle on the short ** platform, and the name of "Internet celebrity city" became more and more popular. Taking advantage of this shareholder trend, the band not only became popular all over the world, but also began to receive official attention: it was invited to receive foreign guests on the city wall, was awarded the title of "Xi'an City Wall Tourism Promotion Ambassador", and participated in the warm-up performance ......of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 14th National Games
Fans come from far and wide. I wanted to know who was going to listen to the song, and the band filmed a **, called "You From**" They were surprised to find that there were fans all over the country, and even overseas fans, "the farthest one was from Malaysia".
The red turned red, and the stress followed. "We can't make it seem like we're messing around. "Brother Bao" said that from now on, singing is not only their casual self-entertainment, but also to convey a happiness to fans from afar, "Rock is a spirit that does not admit defeat, and we hope to share the vitality and excitement in rock and roll with every listener."
Life is like a dream, and the important thing is to find someone to dream with. "Brother Bao" wrote this sentence into the band's introductory words. After some precipitation, some members left, while others stayed. **Teacher "Nine Brothers", professional singer "Da Sima", college student "Leather Jacket" and other fresh blood joined, and the band was re-formed in 2019 and officially named the South Gate Band.
There have been changes in personnel, but they insist on performing under the city gate and have always remained the same.
If it wasn't for performing under the city walls, why would the band be remembered?"Nine Brothers" believes that the city wall has always been the soul of the South Gate Band, "singing here, there is a sense of travel, you seem to be able to hear the laughter and scolding left by the ancients in this city."
From the initial battle of wits and courage with the city management, to the fact that it later became a unique cultural phenomenon in Xi'an, the city wall has also witnessed the reconciliation and symbiosis between wild bands and the city.
first fought guerrilla warfare with the chengguan, and slowly reached a tacit understanding with each other, as long as they did not disturb the people and did not litter. Later, ** presented us with awards and invited us to participate in the event, and the chengguan team members also became our friends. "Da Sima" said that it is not easy to accept new things, but Xi'an has done it, "this is a kind of courage and responsibility."
In addition to them, more and more grassroots ** people began to use the door hole of the city wall as a stage. Going to listen to songs under the city walls has gradually become a new trend for some citizens and tourists.
For the city wall that was "growing savagely" at the other time, Xi'an did not "stop". Li Shengshi, director of the art department of the Xi'an Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, said that we maintain an open and inclusive attitude towards the street, and will regulate it as necessary, but will not let it lose its vitality.
Beilin District of Xi'an City, where the city wall will be located, has formulated relevant rules in a timely manner to clarify the time, place, content and other requirements of street performances, and on the basis of not affecting the normal life order of tourists and citizens, encourage experienced street artists to participate in them, and advocate them to promote the history and culture of Xi'an.
There is a border, only freedom, and the city wall will also actively give back to Xi'an. Today, there are 10 regular performance groups under the city walls, and they have been included in the unified management, arranged the performance date, and performed on time every day, becoming a new business card of the ancient capital.
There are fans who come from far and wide to sing with their favorite singers;Some people listened to the songs under the south gate and walked through their student days, and after graduating and leaving Xi'an for many years, they came back with their wives and children to find their feelings. On Douyin, a comment "The wild ** meeting under the city wall is a kind of soul in Xi'an" has been praised repeatedly.
The city wall will reflect the character of Shaanxi people. Xiao Yunru, a well-known cultural scholar, said that the historical atmosphere under the city wall is completely different from that in the theater. Under the city wall, both the singer and the listener have no sense of restraint in the performance at all, only the blood is boiling, "the unrestrained and desolate life desire of the Shaanxi people is highly consistent with the cathartic space of the city wall."
This sense of interaction and closeness is a kind of happy feedback".
Many Xi'an people's day is to be awakened by ** and accompanied by music. In the early morning, in the Huancheng Park around the city wall, the old man of the Qinxiang self-music class pulled up a banhu and shouted "the oldest rock";In the city center, the telegraph building sounded "Dongfang Hong" every hour, marking the scale of time with **;After sunset, square dances and street performances can be seen everywhere, dressing up the ordinary night.
From Xu Wei, Zheng Jun, Zhang Chu and other singers who went out of Xi'an to open and close the Northwest cultural imprint, to the new Shaanxi rock to write the meat sandwich bun and the bell and drum tower into the lyrics, and to depict the eyebrows and eyes of the ancient capital with **, and then to the ** under the city wall will be popular all over the Internet, ** City, is another makeup of Xi'an.
In the eyes of professionals, the continuous development of Xi'an ** is not accidental. Liu Xiaoshan, vice president of the Modern College of Xi'an University, said that Xi'an has a large number of literary and art troupes and higher literary and artistic institutions, and has a deep accumulation of talents. The deep and heavy historical nourishment and the confident and inclusive urban temperament also make the art here more tense and creative.
And the city wall gives Xi'an the best background blessing. "When you walk along Shuncheng Lane under the city wall, on one side is the moss crawling all over the wall, and on the other side is the neighborhood that has been renovated by the city, and the sense of vicissitudes of history and the fashion sense of reality are in the blink of an eye. Liu Xiaoshan said that the sense of history is profound, and the fireworks are happy, and the two are perfectly integrated in Xi'an and under the city wall, thus creating a first-class fertile soil.
With this soil, more folk bands will grow wildly. The balcony ** meeting, which is also on the edge of the city wall, will also become popular on the Internet in 2023 and break into the public eye.
Sun Temple Gate Street, a stone's throw away from the Xi'an City Wall, is close to the Vermilion Bird Gate. Two rows of tall sycamores decorate this alley, which is less than 400 meters long, romantic and elegant. Since July this year, every Saturday afternoon, the second-floor balcony of the Take Five bar in the alley will be transformed into an open-air stage. Folk music performances, piano ensembles, string quartets, and many orchestras have appeared successively, and performances of different themes and styles have been staged in turn.
After the "chance encounter" with the balcony, Ma Tai, secretary general of the Popular Professional Committee of the Shaanxi Provincial Home Association, became obsessed with playing here. As a long-established accordionist and ** person, some people once thought that he was a little out of harmony with such a grassroots stage, but Mattei did not think so.
Different from the traditional **meeting, the performance scene of the balcony** meeting made him intoxicated-
Dappled light and shadow shine through the plane trees onto the street, and performers appear on the balcony facing the street in costume. **The sound sounded suddenly, and the passers-by who were in a hurry were suddenly "disturbed", and quickly returned to calm, or slowed down, or stopped to stay, or simply sat on the side of the road, and quietly listened to a song. Not far away, there is a lot of traffic, fireworks in the world, and everything is as usual.
The performance retains full respect for the audience, and also flows smoothly in harmony and order. Before each performance, the performers will post the repertoire and poster on their social media accounts, and then adjust it according to the feedback from fans. Report to the urban management, cultural tourism, traffic police and other departments, the latter make a plan and send staff to maintain order and ensure that traffic and the normal life of citizens are not affected.
Performing in the hall is of high quality, but lacking a temperature, while the performance on the balcony of the market is warm. Although the environment is noisy and there is the sound of horns coming and going, everyone can drink coffee, pat**, and enjoy ** in the most comfortable posture of yourself. "Sometimes I'm playing and there's a crowd that suddenly rushes onto the balcony and beats a V behind me. At the end of the show, I'll sit down with the audience over a cup of coffee and chat. This sense of interaction and closeness is a kind of happy feedback for both the ** and the audience."
Mattei said that playing on the balcony is his happiest thing in 2023.
It's also a two-way street. "We maintain a certain sensitivity to the cultural behaviors that are hot at the moment. Ai Jing, chief of the cultural section of the Culture and Tourism Sports Bureau of Beilin District, Xi'an City, said that at the beginning of the development of the balcony, the competent department of culture and tourism actively intervened, deeply analyzed the relevance and matching of market demand and literary and artistic teams, and matched teams and enterprises to promote cooperative relations.
Liu Chen, a native of Xi'an, believes that in people's traditional impression, Xi'an people are reserved and introverted, and the city's temperament is relatively calm and cautious. However, the avant-garde and fashionable art form of street ** has become popular in Xi'an, and many cultural landmarks have also become new public cultural spaces, which is the embodiment of Xi'an's increasingly open, confident, atmospheric and tolerant.
The ** that grows in the soil has to be sung in the soil to have a taste".
In the past few years after becoming famous, the South Gate Band began to develop in the direction of originality, and the creative themes have become more and more diverse. There is "One Man's Room" that reminisces about youth, "Bai Lu's Thoughts" that is grateful for family affection, and "I Rest Tomorrow" which praises Hao Shiling, the most beautiful community policeman in Xi'an. The band will also go out of Xi'an to collect styles from all over the world, experience different cultural atmospheres, and find creative inspiration.
But among their original songs, the most are still eulogies of the heroic style and national spirit of the Han and Tang Dynasties, and the pursuit of national style and rock.
The gods in the sky got drunk and crumpled the white clouds into a ball;Swing the tree and fly to the sky, pick a few stars and walk in the dust", the unrestrained and chic lyrics in "A Dream of Chang'an" sing the stubbornness and wildness of the old Qin people;
3,000 years of civilization compose every symbol, and the oil and spicy are your mark", the song "biangbiang noodles" is full of pride in traditional food;
Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor waved his hand, the ancestor of humanity;Feng out of Qishan to destroy Yin Xuan, inheriting the ...... of Zhou WuOpen the city gate to continue to write the love of the Silk Road, and the ancient city of Chang'an inherits the ...... Chinese civilization"The original song "Thirteen Dynasties" is the representative work of the South Gate Band, which took five years to create. The lyrics are full of heavy ink and have been widely circulated.
This song is precipitated with cultural thinking, we have sung it countless times, and each time we sing it, we will have a different feeling, and the audience will never get tired of listening to it. "Brother Bao" said that Xi'an has both historical relics and the breath of modern life, which is not found in many cities, giving them endless creative inspiration, "Xi'an is like a glass of wine, the older the more mellow and fragrant."
With its repeated excellent works, the South Gate Band stood out in the first season of the "Xi'an Pomegranate Original ** Season" held in 2022 and appeared on the stage of the 2023 Xi'an Radio and Television Silk Road City Spring Festival Gala, becoming a guest performer at the ** Festival in many places.
It's not just the Southgate band. In Xi'an, the continuous collision and mutual enlightenment of history and reality have given birth to another upsurge of local originality in recent years.
Pop ** is a very natural form of urban culture, which is naturally grown by the folk. A good song can quickly set a city on fire. Song Dongfeng, director of broadcasting at Xi'an Radio and Television Station, said, "We do it every day, why can't we invite grassroots people into the live broadcast room and leave the stage to them?"”
Song Dongfeng said that from history and culture to poetry and songs, from market life to urban changes, Xi'an's original ** and Xi'an people's emotional expression is very close, "it is grown out of life".
Brother Bao's mobile phone treasures the messages and ** sent to him by many fans, even if the mobile phone storage is full, he can't bear to delete it. There was once a fan who traveled around the country by bicycle came to Xi'an and accidentally saw the ** meeting under the city wall, and felt that this kind of cultural tolerance was rare in other places, and he instantly liked Xi'an.
Some fans said that he used to have ** dreams, but later gave up for various reasons. When I see us, it's like seeing myself when I was younger. "Brother Bao" said that he was moved by these encouragements, "so no matter how cold the weather is, the band is still insisting on performing, just don't want to disappoint the people who like us."
When there are no performances, "Brother Bao" will sit in his small shop, serve customers his hand-boiled sour plum soup, and chat and greet the occasional fans. Over the years, the South Gate Band has appeared on the big stage of CCTV and many satellite TVs across the country, but in the eyes of "Brother Bao", no stage is as good as the door hole of the city wall”
Next year, I hope that the band can make four or five more original songs, so that more people can love ** and love Xi'an. With that, he picked up his guitar and plucked the strings a few times.
*: Xinhua Daily Telegraph.