Happy Chinese New Year!
Jan. 29th, 2025 12:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanithryudoPosting this now that both US and CN are both on Jan 29th. :p
(Bilibili link for《山鹰和兰花花》)
EDIT1: Found the Spanish lyrics here (seems like different artists have their own version of "El Cóndor Pasa", and this singer Juan Diego Flórez actually has his own version).
And here is the CN lyrics for《兰花花》.
Em...actually, now looking at this, I'm not sure the lyrics go well together at all. XDXD Like, one is talking about love in a hopeful and mysterious way, and from a male POV. The other one is talking about love in a rather pessimistic way, from a female POV, ending in tragedy. The other similarity they have is they're both from folk music tradition, but let's face it, CN has a lot of folk songs, so it's not like this is the only choice. I am wondering if they picked this song more from how well its melody/rhythm can be melded into "El Cóndor Pasa", than how well their underlying messages go together, lol. Then again, in this performance, only the first line of 《兰花花》gets sung, so I guess the rest of its message don't really get into it, except maybe for people who are familiar with the original song. In that respect, I guess there's not that much dissonance.
EDIT2: After some further reading and research, I have been informed that the inspiration for "El Cóndor Pasa" was about rebellion against colonial imperialism. In that respect, it does sorta match with 《兰花花》which is inspired by rebellion against CN's past imperial/feudal traditions.
Also, CCTV released some further behind the scenes information. Basically, the Peruvian song was a solo song + instrument performance, and there was a separate slot for a CN folk performance. But none of the candidates for the CN folk slot satisfied the director team. Then the head of CCTV came up with the idea to merge the folk music of the two countries together. Once that decision was made, the first person the director team called up was our boy Zhou Shen. *wipes tear* So proud. The CN folk song was actually chosen after Zhou Shen was confirmed, and chosen partly because it suited his voice. The whole altered composition was finalized pretty last minute, and it sounds like the Peruvian tenor withheld judgment until arriving in CN around the 25-26th (and presumably listening to Zhou Shen's part). *wipes tear x2*
EDIT3: Found another article from China Daily (CN). Love this bit:
在非遗元素密集呈现的春晚舞台上，周深的表演提供了传统文化“创造性转化”的范本。他并未简单复刻《兰花花》的原生态唱腔，而是通过世界音乐编曲，让黄土高坡的悲欢离合与拉美节奏共振。这种创新既保留了民歌的“魂”——如海外侨胞感慨“听见乡愁”，又赋予其“时代性”——秘鲁网友惊叹“中国音乐竟能如此酷炫”。正如春晚总导演所说：“非遗不是博物馆里的标本，而是流动的江河。”周深用青年一代的审美语言，让古老歌谣在全球化的浪潮中焕发新生。
从《大鱼》的国风意境到《山鹰和兰花花》的跨国交响，周深始终在探索中华文化的当代表达。此次表演中，他既未迎合西方审美将民歌“异域化”，也未陷入民族主义的封闭叙事，而是以平等姿态构建音乐对话场域。这种文化自觉，让秘鲁演奏家鲁丘的排箫不再只是“异国风情点缀”，而是与中国唢呐形成真正的艺术博弈。正如《人民网》曾评：“真正的文化自信，在于从容地让世界走进来，也让自己走出去。”周深用歌声证明：中国青年艺术家既能扎根传统厚土，亦能以开放的胸襟拥抱人类文明瑰宝。
LOL, the timing almost makes me wonder if they're reading all the idiocy from the haters and anti-fans too. Like, the most commonly seen sentiment after the gala completed broadcast has been along the lines of Zhou Shen's 民歌 isn't "authentic" enough/they should've gotten a professional 民歌 artist for this collab/Zhou Shen is "stealing" work from female singers/etc... it's dumb but really annoying.
In more happy news, I'm glad to see this performance has been making waves outside of CN. It helps that being broadcast after midnight CN time is actually mid-morning Peruvian time. I've seen translated clips from both the collab artists (who are famous in their own right), praising Zhou Shen. Clips from multiple news sources have pretty high view counts for Tiktok and other platforms. I mean, obviously, the international community doesn't know nor care about the fandom/anti-fandom kerfluffles in CN. Rather, as normal people, they do know what sounds good to the ears.
As for Zhou Shen's other performances on the provincial stations CNY galas, they're all high standard as fitting his ability of course, but nothing that really jumps out and wows me. So instead, I'll just rec some of his recent (non-CNY) songs that I liked.
《La Danza Del Dios Sol》 - Technically released last year, but putting it up as the foreshadowing of the CCTV performance above. Zhou Shen's spanish is better than what I've forgotten from my high school classes. XD
《好风起》 - Most brainwashing song this year yet. Also very easy to emphasize with, I think.
《敬时光》 - I found it just ok at first, but the song grew on me, especially the climax near the end. The MV is also very heartwarming.
《冰凌花》 - OST to a popular show with a very wow-worthy 苗族民歌 section in the middle. Rather appropriate since Zhou Shen is from 贵州.
Finally, on a non-Zhou Shen tangent, this particular robot dance performance on this year's CCTV CNY gala definitely worth mentioning. I am not sure how to describe it... RL implications aside and just looking at it artistically, I guess it is kind of funny in an eerie sorta way...
(Bilibili link for《山鹰和兰花花》)
EDIT1: Found the Spanish lyrics here (seems like different artists have their own version of "El Cóndor Pasa", and this singer Juan Diego Flórez actually has his own version).
And here is the CN lyrics for《兰花花》.
Em...actually, now looking at this, I'm not sure the lyrics go well together at all. XDXD Like, one is talking about love in a hopeful and mysterious way, and from a male POV. The other one is talking about love in a rather pessimistic way, from a female POV, ending in tragedy. The other similarity they have is they're both from folk music tradition, but let's face it, CN has a lot of folk songs, so it's not like this is the only choice. I am wondering if they picked this song more from how well its melody/rhythm can be melded into "El Cóndor Pasa", than how well their underlying messages go together, lol. Then again, in this performance, only the first line of 《兰花花》gets sung, so I guess the rest of its message don't really get into it, except maybe for people who are familiar with the original song. In that respect, I guess there's not that much dissonance.
EDIT2: After some further reading and research, I have been informed that the inspiration for "El Cóndor Pasa" was about rebellion against colonial imperialism. In that respect, it does sorta match with 《兰花花》which is inspired by rebellion against CN's past imperial/feudal traditions.
Also, CCTV released some further behind the scenes information. Basically, the Peruvian song was a solo song + instrument performance, and there was a separate slot for a CN folk performance. But none of the candidates for the CN folk slot satisfied the director team. Then the head of CCTV came up with the idea to merge the folk music of the two countries together. Once that decision was made, the first person the director team called up was our boy Zhou Shen. *wipes tear* So proud. The CN folk song was actually chosen after Zhou Shen was confirmed, and chosen partly because it suited his voice. The whole altered composition was finalized pretty last minute, and it sounds like the Peruvian tenor withheld judgment until arriving in CN around the 25-26th (and presumably listening to Zhou Shen's part). *wipes tear x2*
EDIT3: Found another article from China Daily (CN). Love this bit:
在非遗元素密集呈现的春晚舞台上，周深的表演提供了传统文化“创造性转化”的范本。他并未简单复刻《兰花花》的原生态唱腔，而是通过世界音乐编曲，让黄土高坡的悲欢离合与拉美节奏共振。这种创新既保留了民歌的“魂”——如海外侨胞感慨“听见乡愁”，又赋予其“时代性”——秘鲁网友惊叹“中国音乐竟能如此酷炫”。正如春晚总导演所说：“非遗不是博物馆里的标本，而是流动的江河。”周深用青年一代的审美语言，让古老歌谣在全球化的浪潮中焕发新生。
从《大鱼》的国风意境到《山鹰和兰花花》的跨国交响，周深始终在探索中华文化的当代表达。此次表演中，他既未迎合西方审美将民歌“异域化”，也未陷入民族主义的封闭叙事，而是以平等姿态构建音乐对话场域。这种文化自觉，让秘鲁演奏家鲁丘的排箫不再只是“异国风情点缀”，而是与中国唢呐形成真正的艺术博弈。正如《人民网》曾评：“真正的文化自信，在于从容地让世界走进来，也让自己走出去。”周深用歌声证明：中国青年艺术家既能扎根传统厚土，亦能以开放的胸襟拥抱人类文明瑰宝。
LOL, the timing almost makes me wonder if they're reading all the idiocy from the haters and anti-fans too. Like, the most commonly seen sentiment after the gala completed broadcast has been along the lines of Zhou Shen's 民歌 isn't "authentic" enough/they should've gotten a professional 民歌 artist for this collab/Zhou Shen is "stealing" work from female singers/etc... it's dumb but really annoying.
In more happy news, I'm glad to see this performance has been making waves outside of CN. It helps that being broadcast after midnight CN time is actually mid-morning Peruvian time. I've seen translated clips from both the collab artists (who are famous in their own right), praising Zhou Shen. Clips from multiple news sources have pretty high view counts for Tiktok and other platforms. I mean, obviously, the international community doesn't know nor care about the fandom/anti-fandom kerfluffles in CN. Rather, as normal people, they do know what sounds good to the ears.
As for Zhou Shen's other performances on the provincial stations CNY galas, they're all high standard as fitting his ability of course, but nothing that really jumps out and wows me. So instead, I'll just rec some of his recent (non-CNY) songs that I liked.
《La Danza Del Dios Sol》 - Technically released last year, but putting it up as the foreshadowing of the CCTV performance above. Zhou Shen's spanish is better than what I've forgotten from my high school classes. XD
《好风起》 - Most brainwashing song this year yet. Also very easy to emphasize with, I think.
《敬时光》 - I found it just ok at first, but the song grew on me, especially the climax near the end. The MV is also very heartwarming.
《冰凌花》 - OST to a popular show with a very wow-worthy 苗族民歌 section in the middle. Rather appropriate since Zhou Shen is from 贵州.
Finally, on a non-Zhou Shen tangent, this particular robot dance performance on this year's CCTV CNY gala definitely worth mentioning. I am not sure how to describe it... RL implications aside and just looking at it artistically, I guess it is kind of funny in an eerie sorta way...
