“非遗”档案：温州莲花

阮爱兰：悠悠莲花情Ruan Ailan: A Passion to Wenzhou Lotus Flower Art

阮爱兰，女，1964年生，浙江省瑞安市安阳镇人，以表演情感丰富、动作自然、道白流畅、唱腔妩媚闻名。曾任浙江省曲艺家会员，瑞安市曲艺家协会理事，2014年被命名为市级非物质文化遗产代表传承人。代表曲目有《高机卖绡》等。莲花与鼓词双修，同为国家级“非遗”文化“阮派”温州鼓词传承人。

Ruan Ailan, female, is a member of the former Zhejiang Ballad Singers Association and the director of the Ruian Ballad Singers Association. Born in 1964 in Anyang Town, Ruian City, Zhejiang Province, Ruan Ailan is famous for her rich emotion, natural presence, and charming aria both in Lotus and Drum Ballad. In 2014, she was honored as city-level intangible cultural inheritor of Wenzhou Lotus Art and national-level inheritor of “Ruan School” Wenzhou Guci (Drum Ballad).Her representative track:Gaoji Selling Gauze,etc.

悠悠莲花情

口述：阮爱兰 整理：郑淑瑶

痴情筑梦音乐里

我1964年出生，算是出生在新时代。我的父亲是国家级的非物质文化遗产——温州鼓词的传承人。因此，父亲的鼓词调调伴随着我的童年，那时家中来往的皆是文人，大伙儿皆吟诗。虽然吟诵已经随着私塾教育的消亡而消亡，但在充满文艺气息的瑞安还是有一拨人常聚在一起吟诗和唱的。1972年的六一儿童节，学校的老师让我父亲编一段《赤脚医生》给我唱，那是我第一次登台演出，也是源于曲艺。我的父亲常对我说：你的生长环境很好。可以不用只听师傅口授，学鼓词不仅有词本还有磁带，多好啊。

因为有了父亲这么一位优秀的曲艺家，我收获良多。父亲的表演任务重，但他在四处表演时总会带上我。无数次表演，父亲在台上唱，我就在台下跟，耳濡目染间感悟到鼓词的真谛。后来功勋队进驻学校，进工厂和化肥厂宣传，老师总会带我一起去表演。中学时我参加了学校的文宣队，老师带我到各地宣传。有一次我在温州会演，是在一个容纳万人的灯光球场，热闹非常。14岁我参加了瑞安县曲艺队，到处宣传表演。计划生育、环保、禁毒等等，什么主题都可以唱一段。正赶上那几年人们的生活逐渐走向富裕，对文化精神生活的要求越来越高。那时我的演出天天爆满，天天赶场。观看的座位时常不够，只得另外添加。

流浪的乡音

家里有一段时间破产，迫于生计，我只得到平阳麻布剧团做后台。在此期间，我也得到了很多老师的经验之谈，也为后来表演莲花打下了坚实的基础。然而，实际意义上，我并没有真正拜师学莲花，而只是自学莲花。事逢我因家庭的贫困而在乐清卖鼓词和莲花的磁带，所以我便利用磁带学习莲花的演绎。然而，学习莲花是一个很苦很累的活，在没有老师的口授下，这一切显得更加困难。每天，不论刮风还是下雨，除了外出卖碟，我每天必须花上很多时间一句一句反复听莲花表演的录音。然而我又怕自己忘记，不敢马上睡觉，一遍一遍复习到12点，第二天4点多醒来又得接着张嘴练习。

这样的日子持续了两年之久，我才逐渐掌握了莲花表演的技巧。以前乐清的老人在老了以后都是依靠表演鼓词和莲花来谋生的，而我也在乐清遇到了一群和我一样对曲艺热爱执着的人。就这样，每当有表演的时候我们一群人就去表演，有时候唱莲花，有时候表演鼓词。没有表演的时候，就自学莲花，听莲花的磁带。我尤其喜欢听戴春兰先生的《高机卖绡》，每天听，一直听。说来有缘，在后来的日子里，我有幸认识戴先生，并且和她一起表演了一段《高机卖绡》节选，现在还能在各个网站上搜到。戴先生对我来说可以说是一个亦师亦友的人，在莲花的学习上也给了我很多中肯的意见。我就这样到处表演，在外漂泊了6年，在一次又一次的表演过程中走上了艺术之路。

旧词新声唱岁月

回到家乡后，我也渐渐在莲花领域上有所成就。我1986年参加浙江省曲艺新曲书目表演比赛，演唱《牢骚婆送产妇》获得温州莲花二等奖。1990年，获得浙江省第三届曲艺会演青年演唱表演奖。而且1986年，我与戴春兰合唱的省会演节目《牢骚婆》，也增加了大提琴与牛筋琴。此后，我俩搭档的合唱，我用琵琶托腔已成为大小莲花的常态。

在我看来，温州莲花之所以深受民众欢迎，是因为它自身有着显著特点。其一是莲花艺人二人就能唱一台戏的“生、旦、主、仆”，这就决定了艺人应该具备戏剧表演的多种技能。并能用文学、音乐、动作、表情等塑造人物形象，有着自己的独特个性。我通常在莲花表演中充当“旦”这个角色，常要唱哭腔，而我的声音婉转流长十分适合。二是温州莲花传承历史久远，至少从有记载的东瓯王时起一直流传至今，历时2000余载。三是词文内容丰富，涉及风俗民情诸多领域。四是乐器简单，唯一支道情筒，一副阴阳板而已。

相传，以前在浙南农村，莲花历来深受百姓的青睐。凡是有祭祀、庆典等活动，“咚、咚”莲花伴奏声处处可闻。乡政府、村委会召开大会，往往把演唱莲花作为“开路先锋”以渲染气氛，召集群众。配合党和政府的中心工作开展宣传时，温州莲花更是发挥了不可或缺的“文艺轻骑兵”作用。新中国成立以来，在浙南开展的路线教育、文化下乡、计划生育等宣传活动中，莲花也是必选的演出项目。而今，虽然国家开始重视非物质文化遗产保护，但“街头巷尾摆香案，道情莲花唱词文”的场景却已经离我们很远很远了。

自改革开放后，社会经济飞速发展，各种娱乐犹雨后春笋蓬勃发展起来，这给莲花带来了很大的冲击，因此莲花渐渐地淡出视野。现在很多的青年都不知道什么是莲花，没听过莲花，这是可怕的。先辈留下的文化遗产，不应当在我们这一代消失。我自从退休之后也有应邀走进各大中小学甚至是大学里传授有关莲花和鼓词的知识，也鼓励民间艺术协会会员参加培训班，学习艺术，但却力不从心，大家都表示学不好，很难学。以前我们学习莲花全凭记忆，词文、唱腔都没书面记载，但是现在，各种条件好起来，我们更不能放弃这一艺术瑰宝。不久前，我走进温州大学开展了一次温州莲花和鼓词的培训，讲述曲艺的来源，并教授唱法。我希望通过这样的方式，让更多的人能参与。而在此之前，我也有开设了民间艺术免费培训班。如今，我县正创建文化大县，发展旅游。我相信将这类民间艺术的挖掘和保护相结合，会给民间艺术传承带来更多、更好的展示平台和机遇。

A Passion to Wenzhou Lotus Flower Art

Narrator: Ruan Ailan Compiled by: Zheng Shuyao

My Dream of Lotus Art Music

I was born in 1964, a new era. My father is an inheritor of the national-level intangible cultural heritage of Wenzhou Drum Ballad. Thus, the Drum Ballad tunes of my father accompanied my childhood, and at that time my family was frequented by literati who were fond of chanting poems. While chanting died out with the decline of old-style private schools, in Ruian there was still a group of people full of vigor tending to get together and chant poems.

It was Children's Day in 1972, a school teacher asked my father to write a“barefoot doctor” tale-sing for me. It was my first stage performance, and my folk art career started then. My father always said to me:“You really enjoy a good learning environment as you can learn folk art not only by means of words but by magnetic tape, too. How nice that is!”

Because my father was such an outstanding folk art artist, I got a lot from him. Father's performance schedule was really busy during weekdays which made him unable to have enough time to take care of me, but he always took me along. Countless times, my father was singing on the stage while I imitated him in the audience. Gradually I grasped the true meaning of folk art. Later, a meritorious team came to school with the task of publicizing new ideas and policies to people in factories and chemical fertilizer plants. The teacher always took me to give these performances. In high school, I joined the propaganda team of the school. I once performed in Wenzhou. It was in a 10,000-seat stadium with shining stage lights. At the age of fourteen, I took part in the county Folk Art Group and did the work rigorously. The performance pieces included family planning, environmental protection, drug awareness and so on. Just in time ordinary people were appealing for a higher cultural life with their incomes rising, so my audiences were very full every day, and the seats were not even enough.

The Wandering Hometown Voice

There was a time when my family went bankrupt. In order to make a living, I could not help but join the Pingyang Mabu Troupe to work on the backstage. In the meantime, I learned a lot from many teachers, and this laid a solid foundation for my future performance of Lotus. In fact, I never apprenticed, and all my Lotus art learning came from self-study. Because of poor conditions, I had to stay in Yueqing, selling Drum Ballad and Lotus tapes as a living, so I used the tapes to study Lotus. However, learning Lotus was a very bitter and tiring process. Without teacher's instruction, it seemed more difficult. Every day, no matter wind or rain, I had to spend a lot of time repeatedly listening to the tapes, sentence by sentence. Every night, I could not sleep right away, for I was so afraid that I would forget the words. Again and again, I reviewed until midnight. Then, the next day I woke at four in the morning to practice again.

Such days lasted for two years until I had at last gradually mastered the skills of Lotus acting. I was so lucky to meet a group of people who were fond of this art. Whenever there was a performance, our group would go and perform, singing Lotus or playing Drum Ballad. When there was no performance, I continued to study by myself, listening to tapes among which I was obsessed with Ms. Dai Chunlan's performance of Gaoji Selling Gauze,and it became a daily must for learning from the tape.Later by coincidence, I had the opportunity to meet Ms. Dai and performed the play together with her which now can also be found on the Internet. From then on, Ms. Dai became both a friend and a teacher who gave me a lot of advice on the way to study Lotus. Wandering different places for six years, I found myself on the path of art after countless performing experiences.

New Style of Old Words in the New Age

After having returned to my hometown from the outside world, I gradually gained fame in the Lotus field. In 1986, I participated in the Zhejiang Provincial Chinese Folk Art Performance,singing the tale Complaining Woman Sends Lying-in Woman to the Hospital and won the second prize in the Lotus art performance of Wenzhou.In 1990, I won the Performance Award for Young People in the Third Zhejiang Province Folk Art Performance. And from 1986, my cooperation with Ms. Dai Chunlan about the same Complaining Women,featured with the accompaniment of musical instruments. The cello and beef tendon and a Pipa drawl tune have become the norm for the Lotus.

In my opinion, the reason why the Lotus is popular in Wenzhou is because it has its own characteristics. One is that two Lotus artists can sing a whole play with Sheng, Dan, Jing, and Chou roles (male roles, female roles, painted roles and clowns—on stage) which calls for the artist to possess a variety of theatrical performance skills, together with literature, music, movement, and gesture to shape characters. I usually act in the role of Dan in the Lotus show and have to use tearful voice frequently. And luckily my voice is mildly long which is very suitable for Dan. The second reason is that Wenzhou Lotus enjoys a long history, at least 2000 years from the Eastern Wang. The third reason is the rich content of the words, involving many aspects such as customs. The fourth one is that Wenzhou Lotus uses simple instruments, only a branch Daoqingtong and a pair of Yin and Yang boards are enough.

“Lotus Art”: Where Is Your Future

According to the legend, in the rural south of Zhejiang Province, Lotus was popular by people of all ages. With any rituals, celebrations or other activities, the“boom, boom” of the Lotus' accompaniment sound can be heard everywhere. Village and township governments, when having a meeting, used to convene the people by singing the Lotus. Wenzhou Lotus played an indispensable role in carrying out propaganda work, such as policy publicity, cultural activity to the countryside, and family planning. Now, even our government has begun to attach importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage; however, nowadays the scene of streets lined with censer tables, Daoqing Lotus libretto text is a far from us.

With the Reform and Opening-up and the growth of the economy, all kinds of entertainment have flourished which dwarfs Lotus art, resulting in its dying out. Nowadays a lot of young people do not know what Lotus is, and they do not listen to Lotus, which is terrible. The cultural heritage left by our ancestors should not disappear in our generation. After retirement, I was invited into some primary and middle schools and even universities to teach the knowledge of Lotus, encouraging members of folk arts associations to participate in training courses, to learn the art, but in vain. Everyone said it is too difficult to learn it well. In our previous process of leaning Lotus, what we could rely on is our memory, for there were no texts. No aria was written down. But now, conditions are better. We should not give up this art treasure. Not long ago, I was invited to Wenzhou University to carry out training in Wenzhou Lotus and Drum Ballad, to lecture about its origins and teach them singing. I hope through this way, more and more people can participate in learning Lotus. And before this, I also opened folk art free training courses. Today, our county is promoting Wenzhou into a strong cultural county and featuring tourism. I believe that this kind of folk art, with this protection work, will better display itself and has more chances.

曲艺人家

文：郑淑瑶 指导教师：张振梅

温州莲花，系温州道情演变而成的曲种，2008年被列入国家非物质文化遗产名录。

从前，唱词人受人欺凌，因为曲艺表演是低人一等的工作，任何人都可以欺负你，让你唱就唱，不让你唱就不能唱，情形与在街头卖唱是一样的。后来苦日子总算挨到头，新中国成立后，唱词艺人终于翻身做了主人，莲花市场开始红红火火。然而20世纪50年代末，国家提倡现代词，反对迷信，因此导致老的唱词根本无法“生存”，一些唱词人不得不放弃演唱另谋生路。直到20世纪60年代初期，国家颁布了新政策，规定老词新词都可以唱，曲艺市场重新回暖。20世纪80年代以后，曲艺在浙南民间文艺舞台上唱了几百年的主角以后，终于受到了影视、歌曲等新兴文化娱乐方式的极大冲击。面对挑战，曲艺家们没有选择逃避现实，而是迈进演播室，在录音机、摄像机前，放声高唱，制作出一盘盘精美的磁带、VCD奉献给千家万户。

曲艺家们一次又一次地面临困难，他们没有放弃而是一直坚持。在与老师交流时，我了解到了曲艺家们特别的价值观和人生观，这也让我受益匪浅。有梦想的人生是辉煌的，是彩色的，是充满生机的。他们都有源于艺术的梦，他们有钟爱的艺术事业，为了爱好和梦想，他们努力着，奋斗着。在艺术的殿堂中，他们从没停下他们的脚步。这种精神使我敬佩，也给了我很多鼓舞，给了我很多坚持自己梦想的勇气。还有一种人生态度，那就是阮爱兰老师提倡的“顺其自然”，顺其自然，我们都应该跟随着我们的心走，自然发展，不去强求，每一个梦都不该被束缚，每一种想法都应该得到表达，没有拘束，随心而动，随意而生，多么脱俗与超然。我觉得这些都正是我们这一代年轻人所缺少的。

Those Adorable Folk Art Performers

By Zheng Shuyao Supervised by Zhang Zhenmei

Wenzhou Lotus, a unique folk art form of Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, was ranked on the national-level catalogue of the Representative Items of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008.

In the old days, Chinese folk art performers suffered a lot because their social status were very low, anyone could bully them, and their social positions were no higher than a busker in the street. With the founding of the P. R. China, the folk performers have finally been seen to be masters, and the Lotus performance market began to thrive. However, in the late 1950s, the government advanced to publicize new ideas, which had made old style “survive.” Some folk performers, therefore, had to give up Wenzhou Lotus ballads to earn a living. In the early 1960s, the government issued a new policy, encouraging that both the word and content of the old and new can be sung, so the folk art market began to rebound. Since the 1980s, after being popular for hundreds of years, Wenzhou Lotus was again challenged by the emergence of modern cultural entertainment such as popular songs and music videos. Facing the new difficult situation, the ballad singers did not choose to escape from reality but moved into the studio and performed their art in front of tape recorders and video cameras.

These folk performers have been confronted with difficulties again and again, but they chose to insist and persist instead of giving up. I learned from our casual talk about their special values and outlook to life. I benefited a lot from it. Having a life of dreams is brilliant, colorful, and vibrant. That is them. They bring a passion to their art. In the palace of art, they never stop dreaming. This spirit gave me a lot of inspiration and great courage to stick to my dreams. There is also a kind of life attitude. Ruan Ailan advocates, “Let it be.” Let nature take its course. We should follow our hearts, a natural development. Don't push you so hard. Every dream should not be bound. Each idea should be expressed, and you should go with your heart, born randomly and free of vulgarity and detachment. I think this is just what we, the generation of young people, lack.