In Wu Xi, its opera is Xi Ju - 锡剧
Xi Ju is one of AC's most loved opera genres.
I like the Xi Ju's singing and the tunes are very melodious and delicate.
I have a new DVD added to my treasury collection. This opera artiste is Li Gui Ying. Perhaps only AC is familiar with her as AC watches quite a few Xi Ju.
There are several excerpts in the DVD and to my pleasant surprise, Li not only sings Xi Ju but also tries Yueju, Jingju, Hu Ju and Suzhou Ping Tan. During her introduction, she mentioned that from other genres she could learn something in them which I think she is very right and positive. Not many people think in this way...I have come across people who are so damn proud of their opera genre that they tend to belittle other genres. I hate this kind of narrow-minded people and when you see them in action, they can't even perform up to an acceptable standard.
Put up a video clip of Li in "Shuang Yu Chan". I can only intro u the beginning part of the excerpt as the whole excerpt is rather long.
Fang Mei was bethroned to a toddler and Fang was 17 years old. The toddler's family met with a mishap and the boy was sent to Fang's house. Fang was ordered to take care of her hubby boy.
This scene depicts that Meng Xia, the boy, won himself the title of the Top Imperial Scholar. He was later told of the truth that Fang was his wife not his sister. Meng couldn't accept the truth because he was deeply in love with a young and fair maiden.
Realising that she had grown old while looking at a mirror...Fang fell ill and when Fang wanted to hand over the phoenix crown to Meng's young wife, both of them couldn't bear the thought to receive from Fang's hands.
Poor Fang died later of an illness.
This is a yueju version that I have watched many years back. The Xiju Version is slightly different as Fang gave her jade to the young wife and left home in distress.
A very sad story but I think this is a very challenging story for dans.
I ever suggested to XJ and WMY to try a snippet of this show but WMY isn't agreeable. I think basically because WMY just can't picture herself to be "younger" than the dan...(LOL)
4 comments:
I had 2 of her shows, one is "Shuang Yu Chan" (not this version), and one is "Long Quan Qing".. I like her, but then she has the "disadvantage" of not having the ex-factor. It's a pity that some other slightly less outstanding actresses than her are more popular than her.
*sigh* Talking of Xiju makes me want to go to Jiangsu again! There're many places I've yet to visit in my last visit to Suzhou..
U can onli get Xi Ju in Su Zhou...
Even in Shanghai, you may not able to find the ones that you want.
How's the shuang yu chan and the long quan qing? Nice?
I think I recognise that Peng Fei in the clip. He acted Xu Xian in the qingchun ban green snake.
Hmm... quality of those shows were so so, but I feel Shuang Yu Chan is better. Probably because Long Quan Qing is supposed to be a fairytale story, so there're parts of the plot which seemed a bit silly for me. Xiju is not only popular is Suzhou, but in southern and middle Jiangsu province, where Wuxi and Suzhou are located. Shanghai certainly is hard to find, because afterall, Shanghai is too "modernised". Just like it's harder to find Xiangju shows in Xiamen compared to Zhangzhou. And anyway, the "plight" of Xiju is that only Jiangsu Provincial Xiju Company (new version of Zhen Zhu Ta which I got) and Wuxi Xiju Troupe (the troupe Li Guiying is in, I supposed, and also "Prince of Xiju" Zhou Dongliang) are famous, the rest of the troupes are not well-known at all!
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