Me, Myself & Opera

I am sure everyone who likes opera will know who the 4 great dans of Pekin Opera are. They are very famous and they have became a symbol of chinese opera. It is strange that i don't see any 4 great dans in the other opera type. Like 4 great dans of ge zai xi, 4 great shengs of Cantonese opera etc. It is only in Pekin Opera that they have 4 great dans, 4 great xu sheng. IMO, the most popular and famous dan in the whole chinese history is Mei Lan Fang. He is so good that an university gave him a PHD cert. I forgot which uni it was but since then, Mei Lan Fang was know as Professor Mei. The above pic is one of the nicest pic of Mr Mei I found. He was playing the role of Du Li Niang. Why is he so famous? He started his own style of singing, 'Mei' style. All his students who learnt from him will be categorised under the 'Mei' style. I think there are more dans learning this style than the other styles. People described 'Mei' style singing as 雍容华贵 but until now i ...

I just received news fro CS that Yue Hua like my Si jiu look so much that he want me to do the full length hainanese opera for Si Jiu....... How is that possible? Hahahaha..... I only know apple is ah bu in hainanese. That's all.

I found some photos of YueJu, Liang Zhu. As I have never seen this kind of 'zao xing' before, i will share with you guys.. :) Then i found a picture of Wu feng hua dressed as a dan yo.... look at her dan above, then look at her sheng below: Which is better? :P

I have accidentally found another website which contained information about Liyuanxi and GaoJiaxi in Taiwan. This website is made in taiwan to promote tourism. Here is the article: 台灣的南管是由福建泉州傳入，而「七子班」、「高甲戲」和「白字戲」因為主要都是用南管音樂伴奏，所以常混稱為「南管戲」。「白字戲」是指用當地方言演出 的戲曲，所以泉州流行的梨園戲在泉州就叫做「白字戲」，傳入台灣後也沿用了這個名稱。至於台灣的「七子班」，在泉州就是「梨園戲」。因此台灣所謂南管戲， 除了高甲戲外，其實都是梨園戲。 梨園戲原有大梨園、小梨園之 分，大梨園又分「下南」和「上路」兩 支，「上路」是指從北邊的州、省傳來的戲曲;「下南」是閩南泉、漳一帶對外的自稱，意指本地人所組成的戲班；小梨園的腳色行當是生、旦、淨、丑、貼、外、 末七種，所以稱「七子戲」，又因為由小孩演出，所以俗稱「戲仔」，在台灣又稱為「七腳仔戲」或「囝仔戲」；而大梨園增加老旦和二旦兩種腳色，演員都是成年 人，所以俗稱「老戲」。 梨園戲在台灣的流派主要是小梨園，由於都是文戲，而且唱腔、曲詞、說白主要都用泉州方言，不易聽懂，場面伴奏又以泉州管絃音樂為主，幽雅纏綿，但用在戲曲中，不免有些冗長沈悶，所以儘管在台灣流傳了兩三百年，仍然無法廣泛流行，甚至漸趨沒落。 高甲戲流行於泉州、廈門、台灣等閩南方言地區。孕育於明末清初，清代中葉發展為「合興戲」，清末以後才稱為「高甲戲」，又稱「九甲戲」、「九角戲」、「戈甲戲」、「交加戲」、「狗咬戲」。 其 實原先應該叫「戈甲戲」，因為在「宋 江戲」時期，演武戲執戈披甲，或許因此而得名。改「戈」為「高」，是因為閩南語兩宇同音，而由「高」變成「交」、「九」、「狗」，都是因為「高」的國語發 音和這些字的閩南語發音相同或相近。至於「角」、「加」、「咬」三字的音和「甲」的音，閩南語也很相近。也就是說，「戈甲戲」的各種名稱，都是因為音近訛 變而造成，這種情形在民間很常見。 高 甲戲的劇目很多，連台本戲有四百多 種，折子戲和小...

This is a really interesting analysis of the excerpt 'You Yuan Jing Meng' in Mudanting. This analysis is done by Mei Lan Fang, the famous jingju dan in the last century. The Analysis is very very long. I will just post up the part where our pretty lady, Du Li Niang, sang 'ZaoLuoPao' in the garden. 〔皂罗袍〕，杜丽娘在花园里有两支曲子，这是第一支，它的内容着重在描写杜的游春伤感。 　　杜唱：“原来姹紫嫣红开遍。” 　　这时杜丽娘刚进花园，首先接触到的是满园春色、万紫千红的景象，应该露出赏春的愉快心情。 　　“原来”、“姹紫”，杜在台中间的大边，左右投袖。从“嫣红”起打开扇子，走到大边台角，春香也转到了上场门角。“遍”字杜、春二人同时蹲下身子，都用扇子平着抖。 　　杜唱：“似这般都付与断井颓垣。” 　　杜丽娘在园内看见断井残垣的残败景象，感到好景不常，联系到自己的心事，她就伤春起来了。“似这般都付与”，二人又变换部位，杜在下场门角，春在小边台角，杜高春低，形成斜对面式的高矮像。“断井”往下指，“颓垣”向上指。 　　杜唱：“良辰美景奈何天。” 　　“良辰美景”，二人转身同归台中间，杜在大边。“奈何天”，同向台口走去，“天”字杜向高指。 　　杜唱：“便赏心乐事谁家院。” 　　“便赏心乐事”，二人并立台口，互相搭肩。“谁家院”，各伸食指互碰三次，同时互对眼光三次。良辰、美景、赏心、乐事，本来都是好事情，但作者在下面加了奈何天、谁家院，就使好事落了空，马上能把杜丽娘伤春的情绪透露出来，足见名家手笔之妙。 　　杜唱：“朝飞暮卷，云霞翠轩。” 　　“朝飞”句，二人对扯圆场，杜从里走到小边，春从外走到大边。“云霞”句，双进门，杜仍在小边，双手拿扇，左右各摇摆一下，再向远处一指。 　　杜唱：“雨丝风片，烟波画船。” “雨丝”句，二人同向后倒一步，各用扇抖着，双手打圈两次，并随着打圈的节奏下蹲。“烟波”句，都用云步斜着向下场门角移动，各把扇子倒拿着，做出摇船的姿...

Yeah......!!!! I love the make up today! It was just fabulous. I was so cute!! I couldn't bear to take out the make up after the show. I felt that it is a a waste to take out the make up so soon... Talking so much, i haven't mention what show i was doing. I was doing Si Jiu for a hainanese opera. It was an excerpt. Very short. 12 minutes. As usual Guo Lai did the make up. And he is getting better and better at it. He told me it's because he is familiar with my face now. oooh.. simply love it. Isn't it lovely! woooooo........ Again: These photos are taken using my phone so they are blur... Blurring is good.... And very surprising, i met a friend there! She knew her through aixin and i havent seen her for a long time.. it's michelle! Hopefully, one day we can act together again!

Last sunday, we had a performance singing for a 90 yrs old monk, next tuesday, we are going to sing for Nan An Hui Guan. I think it's their anniversary or something. Since last week, i have been learning the 2 songs that I will be singing on next tuesday. Fortunately, it is a group singing again. hee hee..... Recently, i have been forced to memorise song lyrics and tunes in short notice. It was quite tough considering that those tunes are quite difficult to remember for Nanyin. Mei-E simply took away the scores and demand that i sing the song myself on the 2nd practice. I was like.. oh no... I can't do it but i eventually got through it with hints from Mei-E when i forgot something. I used to be afraid to stand on stage even if it's a group singing. It just makes me nervous. Now, i think i have more or less reduce my stage fear. I am no long so nervous to sing in group but my heart will still beat very fast when i sing alone. This coming Sunday, i have another performance w...

Yesterday, I had a performance at Suntec Convention. It was a birthday celebration for a 90 years old monk. The event was so grand, there are around 60 tables, a big stage, and tasteful decorations. I wasn't at all nervous but when i saw the grandness, i was quite nervous. Hee hee.. but that nervous lasted for only 5 minutes. Afterall, it was a group singing. You see this is Fei You, meaning 'Fly swim'. I think it is a rather nice name, sounds like freedom. The arrow is pointing the costumes he is carrying for us. I was saying,' wah.. so good boy ah, carry costumes for us.' and he showed me his fourth finger... hahaha This is Susan with Mr Lim's daughter. She is so cute right. Always the star the of the crowd. We waited for so long in the dressing room. Almost an hour of waiting and i was so so bored. So i took photos, the others were bored too, they fooled around, chat...etc.. This Steven imitating those olden days where old men hold bird cages the whole day......

Kinda bored recently cuz there is nothing to blog about! arrgghhh..... I found a website with nice opera pics yo.... So i thought i might show some of the nice pics to you opera fans. (if you are not an opera fan, then you should click away now~) Look at those eyes. She looks like she longs for something.. love maybe.. hee hee.. I also think that this make up was fabulously done up. The little lotus thing on her forehead looks nice. Picture is from Kunqu 'Chang Sheng Dian'. Another shot of her before we move on. Look at her coy look! I love to see the flipping, costume flipping, flags flipping.. It takes alot of good strength from the waist to achieve this flipping effect. This is taken from Yue Ju, Liang Zhu- 18 Xiang Song. I think this picture looks very 'fantasy', very meng huan. Recently there is this trend, to make opera looks like fantasy or fairy tale. It's a nice touch actually. This looks like Qing Chun version or MudanTing but it's not. It's actual...