My favorite ** drama in college was actually seen in the Spring Festival Gala! ”
This sentence 'Esmeralda' awakened the memory of more than 20 years ago, my youth, ah......”
Once again, it interprets ** without borders and shows our mind and voice to the world! ”
*In Radio and Television's "2024 Spring Festival Gala", an excerpt from an exotic French ** drama "Belle" is stunning when it appears, which is unforgettable for a long time after listening to it.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, **Assistant Minister Hua Chunying released the special program of the Spring Festival Gala of the CGTN French Channel of the main station on the X platform, "Dragon Teng Four Seas and Ten Thousand Miles to Welcome Spring", and wrote:An excerpt from "Notre Dame de Paris" "Beauty" is performed by Chinese and foreign artists. This is the highlight moment of China and France in the Spring Festival Gala.
From last year's "A Belt of Flowers and All the Way Song" to this year's "Beauty", the international programs of the Spring Festival Gala of the main station will cause endless ripples in the hearts of the audience every year, which comes from the requirements of Shen Haixiong, the director of the main station, for the Spring Festival Gala:Every year, you must make a "international style".The high-quality program reflects the open-mindedness that this party should have, "This should not be moved, and we must adhere to the inclusiveness of all rivers."
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, the Sino-French Year of Culture and Tourism, and Notre Dame Cathedral will be reopened to the world. As the most representative cultural relics and world cultural heritage in France, Notre Dame Cathedral has inspired countless classic literary and artistic creations. How to choose the most suitable content for the stage performance of the Spring Festival Gala and bring a refreshing audio-visual experience to the audience?
Beauty
There was a surging confession in my heart
From the Louvre, the world's art palace, to literary giants such as Hugo and Maupassant, France has always been famous for its unique romance and art. Bi Bo, the person in charge of the Spring Festival Gala technical program, shared that in the planning stage, the team combined the stage atmosphere of the Spring Festival Gala and the current popular art forms in France, and initially prepared 8 directions of topics, including opera, circus, hand dance, percussion performance, etc. In the process of collecting materials, the director team found that many netizens were very concerned about the current situation of Notre Dame Cathedral, and some netizens called on domestic cultural and museum people to participate in the restoration of cultural relics. What's going on?
After several verifications, it turned out that during the visit of France ** to China in 2019,The Chinese and French heads of state signed and issued the Action Plan for Sino-French Relations, mentioning that "the two sides will implement new cooperation projects such as the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral and the protection of the Terracotta Warriors and Horses in Xi'an". Such an expectation of cherishing each other's civilization and eager for exchanges and mutual learning is exactly in line with the creative concept of the Spring Festival Gala's openness and inclusiveness to international programs.
Action Plan for Sino-French Relations.
At the same time, there was news that Notre Dame Cathedral would reopen in 2024. The director team finally decided to put the excerpt "Beauty" of the same name adapted from the famous novel "Notre Dame de Paris" by the French literary giant Hugo on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, and invited the original cast of the ** drama Masolar, Gian Marco Charetti, Angelo del Vecchio and Chinese singers Liao Changyong, Zhang Yingxi, and Yuan Dai to perform on the same stage, celebrating the happy New Year of the Chinese audience and the beauty of Chinese and French civilization. 
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the birth of the ** drama "Notre Dame de Paris".
Challenges ensued. Considering the cultural background and language habits of the original literary works and the creation of ** dramas, how to keep the style of the original works in place, so that more Chinese audiences can understand and understand them, and try to feel the same romance? Director Shen Haixiong prompted,The singing section should respect the original French content, but we can work on the translation, and use the concise expression, phonological harmony and our oral habits of Chinese while pursuing XindayaIt conveys the romantic tenderness of the French language.
The director team immediately contacted senior French-speaking reporters from CGTN and members of the expert group of the cultural program "National Treasure" of the main station, and made significant adjustments to the Chinese translation. After several revisions by the director, the translation of the lyrics was finally finalized, and the elegant and subtle wording and abundant and frank emotions were praised by many netizens who were "dragon eyebrows and big eyes": "Yang Ma's translation is too good!" When will I turn over the other singing passages?"
"Beauty".
Lyrics:
Beauty, the word seems to come from her
It was her scorching dance like the sun
It's her bird-like light wandering
My gaze wanted to cut through her clothes
There was a surging confession in my heart
What is the use of praying?
The one who threw stones at her
Not worthy of the right to live in the world
And I'm willing to give it up
Just touch the green silk pink once.
Beauty, let me linger
It's beauty that blocks my eyes
It's the Iraqi people who occupy my sight
Beauty is not there
How to end this longing and love
She was treated as a lowly child of the wind
but endure the suffering of all mankind
Please allow me only this once
Pull the knocker of her garden.
Beauty, dark eyes
Whether there is still an innocent throbbing
Infinite tenderness in gestures
There are many styles under the rainbow skirt
Ah, my love
Please forgive me for being so fond of her
Before stepping onto the red carpet
My heart has been rooted in love
Who can take their eyes off her
Even at the risk of turning into rocks
Ah, Sayuri
I confess that I have a crush on her
I'm going to walk into the flowers of love in Esmeralda.
My gaze wanted to cut through her clothes
There was a surging confession in my heart
What is the use of praying?
The one who threw stones at her
Not worthy of the right to live in the world
And I'm willing to give it up
Just touch the green silk pink once.
Swipe up and down to see the translation of the song.
This performance
It should be a blend of resonance
In Notre Dame de Paris, the bell striker Quasimodo, the vicar Frollo, and the captain of the guard, Phoebus, are the three male protagonists who fall for the gypsy girl Esmeralda, but Quasimodo has low self-esteem because of his ugly appearance, Frollo struggles because of his religious beliefs, and Phoebus struggles because he has a marriage contract. The singing section of "Beauty" is the three characters taking turns to appear on the stage, interpreting their inner struggles and entanglements. On the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, a Chinese and foreign singer plays two sides of the same role, and it is not easy to fit the interpretation of the original ** drama as much as possible and achieve the state of being one person.
At the beginning of the creation, the producer of the French ** drama put forward strict requirements: the singer's voice conditions and age image should fit the role, and fit the actors of the original ** play, Quasimodo's voice should have a rough beauty, Frollo's image and voice should be in line with his status, and Phoebus should perform the character of the prodigal son of the character itself. After considering the performance experience, French familiarity and other factors, the director team finally invited three Chinese singers who are accustomed to bel canto singing. However, their popular singing style was quite different from that of French-speaking singers, so the results of the first rehearsal did not meet expectations.
But what moved the director team was that after the initial rehearsal, the French singer took the initiative to communicate with Hong Bing, the director of the Spring Festival Gala, saying that he had canceled all the schedules for the next day, in order to increase the time for joint training with Chinese singers. They wanted the show to be more than just a showIt is a resonant blend that truly realizes the exchange and mutual learning of Chinese and French cultures. Whether it is the pronunciation carving of Chinese and French bilingual, the control of the characters' emotions, or the double-sided interpretation of the characters' psychological activities, they are all getting better in the joint practice over and over again.
Every year, China and France hold many cultural exchange activities, and the Spring Festival Gala has become one of the most important activities because of its unique atmosphere and sense of ceremony. Behind this program, which seems to be a few minutes for the audience, it actually requires different cultures to have an attitude of mutual respect and mutual learning, and to run in repeatedly. Cultural exchanges and mutual learning are not far away from the height of temples, but in the joint creation and creation of literary and artistic works, in a smile and eye contact.
In the original ** play, the singing section ends with the three protagonists sighing with a low chant "Esmeralda". In this interpretation, the director team hopes to strengthen the singing of the ending to make it more in line with the atmosphere of the Spring Festival Gala, which has received strong support from the other party. The six singers finally extended the afterglow of "Esmeralda" with one harmony after another, leaving a strong finish for this beauty.
Where is the "beauty"?
This beauty is not another beauty
Humans tried to climb to the heights of the stars, carving their deeds on stained glass and stones. The description of this building in the play "Notre Dame de Paris" became the core inspiration for the director's presentation of stage art. Yu Lei, the chief director of the Spring Festival Gala, proposed that these wonderful images mentioned in the original work should be brilliantly presented on the stage, and the style and characteristics of the Gothic architecture of Notre Dame Cathedral should be shown to the greatest extent, and it is best for people to know at a glance.
Built in the 12th century, Notre-Dame Cathedral is the first completely Gothic church in European history, with pointed arches, carved cornices, and giant round windows being its most colorful architectural passages. The director team extracted the lines of these elements to outline the outline of the building, and used an 11-meter-high reversible screen to represent the tall columns of the Gothic building, and combined with glasses-free 3D technology to bring a "panoramic perspective" version of the set presentation, bringing a sense of depth to the perspective experience.
After each character finishes singing, the flipping screen slowly opens the "church door", leading the audience into another view of Notre Dame Cathedral. When the audience wanders in such a visual atmosphere and is moved by Notre Dame Cathedral, they can understand why so many artistic crystallizations are born under its inspiration.
Classic works are like bright stars, which can cut through time and space, and deeply move all viewers. Netizens felt these intentions of the program team one by one, but some netizens still asked: Why didn't I see the gypsy beauty in the red dress swaying on the stage?
The director team explained that the so-called "beauty" is a noun in French, and it can also be a verb in Chinese. Whether it is the admiration of the three men for Esmeralda in the original book, or the interpretation of the ** drama by the six singers on the spot, or the cherishing of the artistic treasure of Notre Dame Cathedral by the people of the world, it is the expression of "the beauty of beauty", which is the original intention of the creation of the show.
After the program was released on the multilingual platform of the main station, it quickly received praise from many overseas netizens. While expressing his appreciation for the show, netizen Fabi Fabia left a Spring Festival blessing, saying: "Wonderful and wonderful performance, may peace, health and love fill the whole world, Happy Spring Festival!" ”
Algerian netizen Titus Sheri left a message: "Great! Kudos to this wonderful performance! ”
Netizen Sam Yaniso Kayb left a message: "The cover version of "Beauty" is worthy of praise, keep up the good work! ”
Algerian netizens commented: "The Chinese are fantastic, Happy New Year." ”
Gala. Like 626
We are like a big family, working together to make the beginning of the new year better and more ritualistic. On Chinese New Year's Eve, the singers backstage expressed their excitement about the trip. All three French-speaking singers had been to China before, but it was their first time on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala and they were very proud and honored to participate in such an important evening for Chinese as European artists. They also spoiled that the show was "an innovation that no one had ever done before."
Some netizens found that in the last part of the singing segment, three foreign singers sang two lyrics with Chinese, and many netizens who didn't hear it commented "I didn't hear this Chinese at all, I thought I was singing in French hahahaha" "The lip pronunciation is right, Chinese and French can be so similar" ......Good wishes and common expectations have made this Sino-French chorus a new work of "You have me, I have you". And cultural exchanges and mutual learning will continue the next time we desire to resonate.