Respawn Entertainment: Days of Glory

Chapter 1010 Ballad
This is like a godsend. Asking foreign bloggers to comment on this area isn't exactly Little Witch's domain, but it's part of Liang Kuan's plan; they just hadn't chosen the right accounts yet. Now that Guo Sichu's fans are jumping in to do this, it couldn't be better.

Of course, Liang Kuan's arrangement couldn't just involve inviting one foreign blogger for commentary, so after Little Witch Street and Zhao Dezhu communicated, Zhao Dezhu's wife gave him a big reward that very night, so much so that when Lao Zhao took his wife to see Bian Lang the next day, he kept his hand on his waist.

"Bian Lang, you just got back and you're already in the recording studio? Are you busy recording a new song?"

"I'm recording for Teacher Guo. He's going on tour in the US in a few days. You know how fast I release songs. There's no reason for us not to arrange it for Teacher Guo now that we're together, right?"

Hearing this utterly illogical statement, Zhao Dezhu could only give Bian Lang a thumbs up and say, "Only you could say something like that..."

The two had only chatted for a few minutes when Yang Meng and Li Linqing arrived. Seeing Bian Lang and the others smoking downstairs, Yang Meng asked, "Brother Lang, why did you ask us to come over for a backing vocal duet? What song are we singing?"

"Go upstairs and find Teacher Guo, you'll know. I can't quite explain it!" Bian Lang wasn't unable to explain, but it was just that he couldn't say it in front of someone he could protect. The two women didn't ask any more questions and went straight upstairs.

"Aren't you going up and keep an eye on it?"

"Let them get used to it first, we'll wander around for a bit before going up."

He could manage a car rental business run by his own family, and his work was quite flexible, so he didn't refuse Bian Lang's invitation.

After strolling around for a while, Zhao Dezhu pointed to the gym sign and said, "You guys really have all the amenities you need, you even have a gym."

"Absolutely. Playing music is not only a very boring thing, but it also takes a lot of physical strength and energy. How can you do it without exercising? Especially for female singers, if their lung capacity is not high enough, they can't sing many songs."

“Yeah, that’s true!” Zhao Dezhu thought for a moment, then casually asked, “By the way, last night my wife said she wanted to find foreign music bloggers, so I used a VPN to browse the foreign websites, and then I found that Dong Youbian posted a demo. I feel like, how should I put it, her singing is…”

"What do you mean, are you referring to the lyrics or the singing ability?"

"I won't talk about the lyrics, that's your private matter. I just feel that his singing isn't as good as it used to be!"

Since the topic wasn't lyrics, Bian Lang steered the conversation back to the previous one: "The phrasing and breathing in the song 'Flammable and Explosive' are a bit unusual. If a girl's lung capacity isn't 3000, it's really difficult to sing this song in one take. Although the vocal range of 'Flammable and Explosive' is super simple, the breathing is simply too much. The most effective and fundamental solution is to exercise and improve lung capacity!"

Almost every line of this song ends without a breath; you have to take a breath halfway through the next line. Bian Lang didn't tell Dong Youbian about this. When he gave her the song, he planned to discuss it later during the recording, but who knew it would turn out like this.

The two walked for a while longer when Lao Tan called. It was naturally about Lin Geng. When Bian Lang heard it was about "The Love That Cannot Speak," he neither agreed nor refused: "Let's see. If we can run into the scene, we'll go and take a look. If the person is suitable, we'll talk about it then."

When Bian Lang sings Lao Zhou's songs, it does lack a certain something.

In fact, very few people on Earth could properly cover Zhou Xun's songs. Perhaps lacking his unique experiences, it's indeed difficult to empathize with Zhou Xun's state of mind.

"That works! I heard you recorded a new song for Guo Sichu at school?"

"Yes, I wrote a folk song for her..."

"Folk music? Can I take a look?"

Bian Lang knew, of course, that Lao Tan was asking on behalf of a friend. Thinking about it, the person and Lao Tan's fellow students must be from the same generation. Bian Lang wasn't very familiar with the older folk music scene; he only knew Zhou Kun from the older generation. Since Zhou Yunpeng's songs were already being used, he might as well fully explore the folk music genre and learn more about it.

"Come on! I actually have some questions I'd like to ask your buddy..."

Less than half an hour after hanging up the phone, the person arrived. After a brief greeting, Bian Lang led the person into the recording studio.

Right now, Guo Sichu and the other two were discussing something with Su Kan, their only piano accompanist, when Bian Lang casually grabbed a copy of the lyrics and handed it to Lin Geng: "Brother Lin, take a look first!"

"There aren't many people who want to see you but are still waiting, and even if they're all together, it's enough to break your heart like a river..." After reading just two lines, Lin Geng gasped, "Bian Lang, how long did it take you to write this?"

Bian Lang, of course, told the truth about this: "I wrote it on the plane back, about an hour and a half ago!"

"Um... Lao Tan, what energy do you think I have left to keep writing songs?"

Old Tan couldn't respond to that. After Bian Lang was baptized by the Water of Life, he felt that he had reached the level of a celestial being in music, which mortals could not judge!
After a few seconds of silence, Lin Geng continued, "Bian Lang, why don't you come and lead our Chinese folk songs?"

"I feel it's better than rock!" Bian Lang was clear about this. After all, folk music has a natural advantage, and apart from a very small minority, other folk musicians are not subject to the same level of public condemnation as rock musicians.

"It's just a facade. If we keep playing like this, I feel like we're on the verge of collapse!"

Actually, on Earth, folk music has always had a rather awkward status!
Every country in the world has its own folk songs, also known as folk ballads. These works are distilled from life, not only moving and captivating but also timeless and enduring, especially the lyrics, which are concise, simple, and philosophical. It's no exaggeration to say that in folk songs we can sense the spirit of the times and feel the imprint of a nation's civilization. Folk songs have influenced many music genres, such as country music and folk rock.

The "Airs of the States" section of the Book of Songs can be considered the earliest quintessence of Chinese folk songs. Beyond the Book of Songs, there are various folk tunes from different dynasties, some concerning labor, some love, and some current affairs. These folk songs, imbued with rich Chinese characteristics, are still being explored and passed down today. Folk songs in the public consciousness are certainly not these kinds of works, and they are no longer relevant to the present era.

In the 70s, influenced by island rock and Western folk songs, Taiwanese campus folk songs finally began to gain popularity, with the most famous leading figure being Lo Ta-yu.

In the 80s, this trend swept into mainland China. In an era with limited musical resources, campus folk songs, primarily appealing to youth, exploded in popularity and swept across the country in the 90s. Names like Gao Xiaosong, Lao Lang, Shui Mu Nian Hua, and Pu Shu became household names overnight. At that time, Chinese folk music balanced artistic beauty with popular appeal, thus achieving rapid popularity. However, Chinese folk music clearly didn't want to overly indulge in youthful energy, but rather aspired to greater depth and diversity. Therefore, its development accelerated even further after the millennium. With the penetration and popularization of the internet, online music became unstoppable, ushering in the era of independent folk music. Cheng Xi prefers to call this period the era of individualistic folk music.

In the decade or so following 2000, a series of names emerged: Wan Xiaoli, Zhang Weiwei, Zhou Yunpeng, Xiao He, Da Qiao Xiao Qiao, Zuo Xiao Zu Zhou, Zhou Dongye… They wrote about life with their feet on the ground; their songs contained bitterness and hope, their music reflected experience and footprints, and their lyrics were filled with poetry and brilliance. Only sincere creations that are grounded in reality can touch more people and make it possible to achieve artistic independence and individuality.

In those years, the words most often heard in their works were South, North, girl, and loneliness. Although the imagery was relatively simple, it was the true voice of the times, and therefore it remained moving.

Bian Lang has seen many music critics harshly criticize singers from the independent folk era, accusing them of being too obsessed with the style of Western folk music, saying that such a core is not suitable for today's era, and some even say that they should be more mainstream and write songs that young people like.

To be honest, these people have overlooked the fact that, no matter what, their original intentions and works reveal a sense of authenticity. Putting aside other indicators, the works of the independent folk era had not yet reached the point of rampant plagiarism and hypocrisy, right?
This is already quite remarkable.

In recent years, the situation has changed drastically. Traffic has become king; whoever is popular calls the shots, and how to become popular quickly has become the primary issue for singers. On major music platforms, there has been a proliferation of melodramatic "musicians," and songs that feign sorrow with chord progressions have been released in droves. Songs with simple, catchy melodies but no real foundation have become popular, often garnering tens of thousands of comments.

Their lyrics are filled with the South, the North, and girls, but they lack sincerity. Two things that look similar may be completely opposite in essence. Don't forget, form is easy to imitate, but spirit is hard to capture.

A series of songs that resemble folk songs but aren't actually folk songs have become viral hits. Folk songs have truly broken out of their niche and become mainstream. Unfortunately, folk songs have become unrecognizable. Singers call these songs folk songs, some experts scratch their heads and say they should be called pop folk songs, but most people prefer to call them pseudo-folk songs or fake folk songs with a cold laugh.

A friend once said, "I think contemporary folk music is quite good; this can be considered innovation." Bian Lang gave a wry smile, too lazy to explain. Art should always lead the market, not let the market dominate art; otherwise, it will only decline. Good singers struggle to rise to prominence, good works are disappearing, and everyone is thinking about quick success through formulas—what kind of innovation is that?
A new song by a "pop folk" singer was released recently, causing a huge sensation, because he is undoubtedly a top star on the music platform.

To everyone's astonishment, the promotional copy for the new song was discovered to be plagiarized as soon as it was released. Just as people were about to say something, they found out that the lyrics were also plagiarized. It was outrageous. Then someone next to them said that the song cover was also plagiarized... It almost completely copied Hua Chenyu's work. This is the creative attitude of some singers.

When fans saw that their idols' plagiarism had been confirmed, were they angry? Not at all. They said, "I don't understand what plagiarism is. What did they copy? As long as the song is good, that's enough. It's not easy for anyone." In addition, some fans were heartbroken because they couldn't share the pressure with their idols.

The worst thing about bad money isn't that it drives out good money, but that it destroys the generally fair rules and makes it impossible for the public to distinguish which is truly good. While these kinds of popular folk singers are dominating music platforms, those who genuinely create folk music have quietly disappeared because they are simply no match for them. Of the thirty-six stratagems, running away is the best.

I read Lao Zhou's book "Green Train" purely to understand the lives and mental state of folk singers. This book was published many years ago, and I never expected that it would contain the answer to why folk music is in such an awkward position today.

The book basically only covers two things: first, sharing his experiences traveling and performing in various places; and second, conveying his attitude towards the world and music to the readers.

Lao Zhou is a blind folk musician. Some say he is the conscience of Chinese folk music, while others say he possesses the most humanistic qualities. In 2008, he won the "Best Folk Artist" award at the 8th Chinese Media Music Awards. His song "Love That Cannot Speak" won the 2011 People's Literature Award for Poetry.

Lao Zhou was born in Tiexi District, Shenyang in 1970. He lost his sight at the age of nine. He started playing guitar at 15, began writing poetry at 21, and started wandering around at 24.

The word "wandering" often sounds insincere, easily conjuring up phrases like "The world is so big, I want to see it," but when applied to Zhou Yunpeng, it feels very real. From the 90s to the present, he has traveled to many provinces and cities, including Nanjing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Hunan, Shandong, Xinjiang, Yunnan, and Guangxi, and even went to France.

Bian Lang still can't understand how Old Zhou, a blind man, measures the world and is able to do things a hundred times better than them, who are all sighted.

What exactly are those colors in his songs...?

Old Zhou once said, "Many people have a dream of wandering, a feeling of leaving, a feeling of packing their bags and setting off, a feeling of traveling the world with a sword. The train just happens to carry the meaning of leaving and traveling far away. It's as if standing next to the train has already begun the journey. If you stay in one place for too long, you will always think about the distance, or think about when to leave. But now that time has passed, wandering seems to really just be a feeling."

The scenery along the way has turned into a leaf of vicissitudes. Half a lifetime of extraordinary encounters has condensed into a cool and detached smile.

Blind in sight, but with a bright heart!
Don't think that busking is just talk; after all, he's an artist, but Lao Zhou actually finds great joy in it. Rural villages, university auditoriums, music festivals, streets and under bridges… the stage is everywhere, and audiences are readily available.

They traveled and sang along the way. During the Snow Mountain Music Festival, Bian Lang even went to sell music on Qinglong Bridge with Lao Zhou for a few days…

This book features numerous musicians from the independent folk era, including Zhang Quan, Zuo Xiao Zu Zhou, Zhang Weiwei, Wan Xiaoli, and Guo Long. According to Zhou Yunpeng's descriptions, these individuals, who should have become pillars of the music scene, all chose to fade out of the spotlight, either to live a peaceful life, create quietly, or retreat to the countryside.

Regarding their retreat from the world, you can interpret it as a desire to hide away and delve deeper into art, or as a self-righteous escapism, or even as a disdain for conforming to so-called popular trends. In short, "Green Train" is just a small window, but through it, you can understand many unsolved mysteries of Chinese folk songs.

The book says, "Being outdated is also a style. As long as you persist long enough, the aesthetics of the times will turn back. We can wait patiently. Happiness can come slowly, as long as it is real."

These people may have different personalities and styles, but they all share a common trait: they dislike routines, cannot be hypocritical, and do not want to compromise or be bound. The spirit of rock and roll is so clear in this group. They glance back at the world's hustle and bustle, then board the old green train without hesitation, returning to authentic life. Living inside the green train are hardened souls forever bound to art.

After reading this book, you will find that Zhou Yunpeng did not intend to write about the green train he rode, but rather that he himself is a green train, forever traveling on the clanging tracks, slowly plunging into the unknown yet bright distance, and at the same time, entering your heart.

"Always be passionate and never listen to advice. Don't believe in predetermined directions, only be willing to adapt to changing circumstances, so that you won't be held hostage by anything, including yourself."

Returning to the previous question, what is true folk music? Its foundation lies in its cultural heritage, its enduring appeal lies in its timeless and captivating qualities, its charm lies in its quiet contemplation, and its meaning lies in its authenticity and profundity.

It's obvious that the currently popular "folk" songs on major music platforms are the exact opposite of this standard, because the people who wrote them don't care about sincerity at all, and they never thought about making the songs last a long time; being popular for a short time is enough.

So, according to Lao Tan's introduction, Lin Geng should be one of the most precious musicians in the music industry right now!

Having thought of all this, Bian Lang said to Lin Geng, "Brother Lin, you should have mastered 'Love That Cannot Speak,' right? Why don't you go in and give it a try?"

(End of this chapter)