化 境 神 似
2005年 01月01日
The Godfather Returns
BeautIsland by Luo Dayou (罗大佑，《美丽岛》)
THE END OF 2005 has certainly made my ears happy. First, there was the new U2 CD I was able to pick up (the CD database IDs it as "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb: Chinese Version"
. And then, courtesy of an interview translated at the fine ESWN site, I discovered that the "Godfather of Chinese Music" has released a new album after a decade-long absence.
I picked up BeautIsland (美丽岛, Měilìdǎo, the Chinese translation of the Portuguese Formosa) by Luó Dàyòu (罗大佑, also rendered as Lo Ta-Yu) from the music shop on campus in what is quite likely my first purchase of a legit, authorized CD in my years in China (after being burned buying a knockoff tape compilation from a Xinhua bookstore, I figured if I couldn't buy genuine, I should at least try to avoid rewarding the more sophisticated counterfeit efforts).
Comparing this album to Luo's previous work is made difficult by the fact that I have little concept of his musical chronology. CDs that I have bought here on the mainland are either "greatest hits" collections or mp3 discs covering his entire library, ordered alphabetically. But the elements making up this CD are still those that he was successful with in the past - catchy folk melodies, interesting orchestration, intellectual-leaning lyrics, deep emotion, and a good dose of political satire. While present in the club scene, this last element is hard to find among Chinese artists with decent exposure. Luo may have received criticism recently for some of his more outlandish paranoid fantasies (at a Singapore concert he went on at length about the suspicious circumstances surrounding Anita Mui's death from cervical cancer), but it is things like this that make rock stars captivating - why pretty-boy Nicolas Tse's motorcycle driving, guitar breaking, hooliganish thuggery makes him more interesting than wholesome pretty-boy Wang Lee-Hom, for example.
If you have had much exposure to Chinese pop music, you have probably heard Luo Dayou's music even if you don't realize it. Songs like 《东方之珠》 (Pearl of the Orient), 《恋曲1990》 (Love Song 1990), and 《童年》 (Childhood) are staples of the Karaoke circuit, and 《你的样子》 (Your Face) and 《爱人同志》 (Lover-Comrade) appeared on movie soundtracks - the first in Chow Yun-fat's 《阿郎的故事》 (The Story of Ah-Lang) and the second in Tsui Hark's 《棋王》 (King of Chess), based on novels of the same name by the mainland's A Cheng (阿成) and Taiwan's Zhang Xiguo (张系国). Throughout his career he has written songs for many other artists, from 1981's 《爱的箴言》 made famous by Deng Lijun (邓丽君), to the countless songs flowing out of his Music Factory (音乐工厂) in Hong Kong.
In the mainland, his particular flavor of guitar-based folk rock captivated a generation of college students and is credited with forming the foundation for the later development of the "campus song" (校园歌曲). The band 水木年华, formed in Tsinghua University, have said repeatedly that they see Luo Dayou as a model for their music. In Taiwan, current rap superstar Jay Zhou (周杰伦, Zhōu Jiélùn) claims Luo as his idol, the kind of "spokesman for his generation" that he wants to become (Luo himself vacillates between knocking Zhou's talent and gently encouraging him to spend more time on his lyrics).
By the time he released his first album, 1982's 《之乎者也》, Luo had already been in the music business for quite a few years, writing songs for movie soundtracks. The title track of that album mocks advocates of an archaized national language, while simultaneously poking fun at the generation gap: "很久以前我们的祖先都曾经这么说 / 现在看看我们的青年他们在讲什么?" (Our ancestors long ago used to talk like this, / Look at the youth today—what are they saying?). To emphasize the point, Luo uses those ancient grammatical particles to end one verse with rock music's ubiquitous "Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" (也也也也也).
He spent time in New York, at one point gaining US citizenship (which he has since renounced because of what he sees as US interference in Taiwan's politics), but returned to write songs even more closely connected to Taiwanese affairs. He had always been outspoken against the Taiwanese governing authority, and he became known as a writer of protest songs, having his albums suppressed occasionally. While many of his more political songs were excised from the mainland releases of his albums, several of them are often included on those greatest hits compilations I mentioned at the top. 1988's album 《爱人同志》 (Lover-Comrade) includes the title track, which uses political slogans in the context of a love song. In 1990's Cantonese release《皇后大道东》 (Queen's Road East), Luo aims his satire at the upcoming handover, wondering why there is no palace on Queen's Road, and commenting "冷暖气候同样影响这都市 / 但是换季可能靠特异人士" (Cold and warm climates both affect this city / But when the season changes we may have to rely on a vastly different person). If you can find it (on a KTV release, perhaps), there is a fun video for this song, culminating in a protest march. Also dealing with the Hong Kong issue is 《首都》 (Capital), which takes its inspiration from the dual meaning of the English word to satirize the transformation of the ancient capital of Beijing into a capitalist metropolis like Hong Kong. The video for this song, again worth watching, was shot in Beijing, and the song had the participation of a mainland Chinese choir.
The controversy over this latest album stems from what some critics see as a reversal of his politics. In the 1980s, Luo Dayou had been outspoken in his criticism of the KMT, which controlled the government at the time. Following the democratization process, he continued to criticize the economic and international policies of the government, both in song and in the column he wrote for a Hong Kong. Now, however, he is being accused of allowing himself to be made a tool of the Nationalists, primarily because of his song 《绿色恐怖分子》 (Green Terrorists), which accuses the ruling party of faking the assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian last spring to bring out a sympathy vote. Luo's satire on democratic freedom includes the incendiary line "南台湾的水莲枪击骗子" (The lotus fraudsters behind the Southern Taiwan shooting), where the word "lotus" (水莲 shuǐlián) is a combination of characters from the names of the president and vice-president. He also reads "Formosa" as "for谋杀" (mōushā), or assassination. It's hard to know whether to take the song seriously, though, since the melody is played by a bombastic horn section on top of tuba oom-pahs, with record scratches and telephone busy signals added for color.
Another fun song is his jab at former president Lee Tung-hui, 《阿辉饲了一只狗》 (A-hui Raised a Dog), sung in Taiwanese to a blues-rock accompaniment. Given the central government's feelings about Lee's and Chen's politics, it's not surprising that these overtly political songs were allowed to remain on the mainland issue of the album. In singing in Taiwanese on many of the political songs, however, Luo seems to be making a point about the jurisdiction of Taiwan's internal affairs.
In fact, the very title of the album is political and points to its fundamental concern with Taiwanese identity. 美丽岛, the translation of the Portuguese name for the island, Formosa, immediately recalls the 1979 Formosa incident as well as a song of the same written in 1977 by 李双泽 (Lǐ Shuāngzé and banned following the 1979 incident. Whether Luo Dayou is intentionally referencing either of these is unclear; he acknowledges the political nature of this album and decided to release it independently.
But what about the music, you ask. Will this album be considered a classic? Does Luo progress musically, or is he still stuck in the 90s?
The good news is that this album is eminently listenable. His customary piano-based love songs are present, with the songs 《舞女》 (Dancer) and 《啊！停不住的爱人》 (Oh, Unstoppable Lover!) written for particular women who met tragic ends, and the SARS-inspired 《伴侣》 (Partner), which is the perfect antidote to the star-studded sappy SARS anthems produced last year. One misstep, I think, is his decision to replace the simple piano of the version of 《往事2000》 (Past Things 2000) that accompanied his autobiography a few years ago with a more upbeat guitar arrangement. The anthem 《宁静温泉》 (Quiet Hot Springs), with the lines 心灵啊我最初的家 / 告别我们邂逅的巴别塔 / 心灵啊谁都不说话 / 天地一刹那开出一朵花 (O Soul, my first home / Bids farewell to the Babel tower of our encounters / O Soul, no one need speak / Heaven and Earth blooms forth a flower in that instant) and backing chorus, strongly recalls the similar sounding Pearl of the Orient.
Other songs are punchier. The title track has classical-style lyrics, full of the contrasting adjectives Luo often uses, and describes an island in a state of paradox against driving programmed drums, backed in the second half by a powerful choir. 《网路》 (Network), apart from its distorted rock arrangement, ends its depiction of internet pornography with the memorable line 窗口里浪浪也色浪浪也色迷. The album concludes with the rap song 《真的假的》 (Real or Fake), but like his earlier foray into hip-hop, 《表哥》 (Cousin), Luo leaves the rapping to others. Though he is credited with the music, it seems almost as if (award winning) producer/vocalist Zhu Jingran (朱敬然) has merely sampled Luo's symphonic arrangement. If you listen carefully, you can hear Luo's voice high up in the mix at one point, but otherwise he is absent. However, the infectious chorus, "到底你是真是假是真是 到底你是假是真是假是 / 到底你是真是假是真是 到底你是假是真", another contrasting pair, does recall his use in Queen's Road East of the Heart Sutra's "空即是色，色即是空".
Two of the most interesting songs unfortunately do not appear on the mainland version. 《手牵手》 has a crunchy guitars and growling vocals, while 《南台湾的仔共》 features Luo singing in Taiwanese layered over a drum-and-bass track. In fact, on the album as a whole, apart from the title track and 《时光再慢慢消失》 (Time is Slowly Running Out), it is the songs in Taiwanese that are the most interesting. If he continues along these lines in the future, it will be interesting to see what his next album is like. We can only hope, though, that it will not take him another decade.
Related Links
To find mp3 versions of these songs, the Chinese Google clone Baidu has a great mp3 search engine. It is a good idea to use a download manager since most of the servers are a bit flaky and may not support resuming.
All of the songs on the Taiwan version of 《美丽岛》 are available on this lyrics page. Just click on the song titles.
Musical biography of Luo Dayou.
Luo Dayou Homepage/Fanpage. Tons of resources. I stole all of the album art from them.
ontheroadtodeath 发表于 >2005-1-13 14:46:57
