Lu Wencheng呂文成

Lu Wencheng呂文成 (May 1898-1981), whose real surname was Yang, was changed to Lu because he was adopted into a family with the surname Lu. He was born in Nanxia Township, a suburb of Xiangshan County, Guangdong Province. He was a famous Cantonese music performer and composer, having composed as many as two hundreds of songs. Lu Wencheng experienced hardships in life when he was young. His father was a pastry maker. He himself worked as a child laborer in a silversmith's shop when he was very young. While working as a child laborer, various Cantonese operas and Cantonese operas were often performed in nearby teahouses. Lu Wencheng was so immersed in this that he fell in love with Cantonese opera since he was a child, and thus completed his musical enlightenment. From 1901 to 1932, he lived in Shanghai with his adoptive father. At the age of 11, he entered the Guangzhao Free School organized by the Guangdong Association and was a classmate of Yang Xinlun, who later became a dulcimer master. In the 1920s, Lu Wencheng was the head of the music department of the Jingwu Sports Association founded by Huo Yuanjia. Around 1923, Lu Wencheng, together with the Chinese Music Concert and the Ching Wu Sports Association, toured Tianjin, Beijing, Wuhan and other places. During the breaks in martial arts performances, he inserted Cantonese music. Lu Wencheng sang solo Cantonese opera "Swallow Tower" and "Xiaoxiang Qin Yuan", and led the erhu opera "Liu Yaojin" and so on. In 1925, Lu Wencheng's music creation entered its heyday; in the 1930s, Lu Wencheng replaced the silk outer strings of the erhu with steel wires, and adopted the playing method of holding the piano tube between the legs, successfully making the erhu . In addition to composing, he is good at playing various instruments. His dulcimer playing, such as adding flowers, decorating, rolling bamboo and other techniques, is very expressive. In 1932, Lui Man-cheng moved south to Hong Kong and lived in a house on Caine Road in Hong Kong with Shao Tie-hong. They studied music together and engaged in recording and performance activities with musicians from Guangzhou, Hong Kong and other places. He recorded "Xiaoxiang Qin Yuan" in June 1942, in which he not only sang Ziqin, but also played the dulcimer himself. In addition, he specially studied the Gaohu playing method and invented the "walking fingering method" and "sliding fingering method" for the second and third positions. He is highly respected by the industry and is known as the "King of Gaohu". In 1944, Lu Wencheng returned to Zhongshan for the first time. He performed with Yin Zizhong, He Dasha and Cheng Yuewei. In 1947 and 1951, Lu Wencheng returned to his hometown to perform twice. When the Guangdong Folk Music Troupe was established in 1958, they wanted to invite him back to Guangzhou to work. He originally wanted to come, but in the end he declined because he owed the boss too much money and couldn't give up. In 1973, the 75-year-old Lui Wencheng visited Beijing and Guangzhou with a delegation from the Hong Kong literary and art circles. He also proposed to write several songs for China. In 1981, Lui Wencheng passed away in Hong Kong. In addition to his important contributions to Cantonese music, Lui Wencheng also had outstanding experience in Zihu singing, which influenced future generations to learn Zihu techniques. His singing is pure, his tone is mellow, his words are crisp, his words are sonorous, and his delivery is never artificial. In the 1930s, he recorded many Zihu records in Shanghai, such as "The Drunken Concubine", "Criticizing Yulang", "Swallow Tower", "Xiaoxiang Qin Grudge", "Qiu Juan Grudge Farewell", and "Dream of Western Liaoning" , "Flowers Falling" and so on. He also trained his daughter Lu Hong to become a famous singer. Many famous singers are willing to record with Lu Wencheng, such as Ma Shitsang's "Yu Tang Chun", Bai Jurong's "Quiet Thirst", Bai Yutang's "The Jia Nu Steals Fragrance", Gui Mingyang's "Leifeng Pagoda", Xue Juexian's "Qin Huai" "Yue Zhiyue Tower Visits the United States", Yue'er's "The Chivalrous Girl Joins the Army", Shao Tiehong's "The Harmony of Luan and Phoenix", Zhudinghe's "Flying Frost in June", etc. Now you can listen to it anytime as long as you go online.