It was the spring of 1983, when I was twenty-one years old and a junior at the National Conservatory of Music. Under the arrangement of the college, the students of our department went to the border provinces in groups. The province we are going to in this group of five students is the border Yunnan, a province that sounds very poetic. In addition to me, the classmates were Beijing girls Ye Hena and Song Zhiqiu, as well as Shanghai boy Du Runjian and Nanjing boy Xia Tingquan. None of the five of us had ever been to Yunnan. I only heard that there are many ethnic minorities in that place, but the Han people have become a minority, and I also heard that there are elephants walking on the streets in that place, which sounds really unreliable, in short, we don't know anything about Yunnan, which we are going to arrive in, it is a myth and legend in our hearts. I don't care, I was born in Shenyang, in the north, I followed my parents to Beijing, I am an ethnic minority, and I am not worried about going to a strange place. I can see that Ye Hena and Song Zhiqiu didn't think of Yunnan, Ye Hena chose Yunnan because Du Runjian wanted to go to Yunnan, and Song Zhiqiu chose Yunnan because Xia Tingquan chose Yunnan. I don't care, I follow the organizational arrangement, the teacher arranges for me to be the team leader, and I am the team leader, in fact, I am a dozen miscellaneous conveners, or liaisons.

In 1983, within a few years of the resumption of the college entrance examination, the country that came out of the revolution was full of dreams, and we were also full of dreams when we came out of the toss and confusion. I thought to myself that our nation should have the best and most beautiful music, and that our ancient nation, which has been around since the Book of Poetry, should not have only a few model plays. But that's just my opinion, Ye Hena and Song Zhiqiu are majoring in piano and Latin dance, Du Runjian and Xia Tingquan are majoring in violin and European music theory, and I am the only one in our group who studies ethnic music. Several of them were unimpressed with national music, and even thought that music was only available in Europe. They have to focus on studying abroad after graduation, so they only regard this trip to Yunnan as a relaxing trip. When Ye Hena heard that from Beijing to the provincial capital of Yunnan would have to go from prefecture to county, town to village, she said impatiently: "It is really funny that there can be any music in the poor countryside."

The train to Yunnan staggered through the corridors and darkness, as if it had to cross all of China to reach Yunnan. One city after another was left behind, and in front of it was an endless stream of cities and villages. The carriage was filled with all kinds of pungent smells, and Ye Hena said impatiently: "What Yunnan? It's like going to heaven, and my ass is sitting big. ”

Song Zhiqiu said: "At that time, I said that Tianjin, Shanghai can also be, but some people want to come to Yunnan." After following, some people may not appreciate it. As she spoke, she squinted at Xia Tingquan with her danfeng eyes.

Xia Tingquan said flatteringly: "My little ancestor, thank you for your hard work, or sit in my arms." ”

Song Zhiqiu said softly: "I hate it, you want to be beautiful." ”

Ye Hena said: "Okay, okay, let's flirt and hide from the side, don't make these bourgeois moods in front of our 'revolutionary youth', said a different posture and leaned against Song Runjian, and said: "I just can't stand this smell." ”

I said, "Ye He, I should give you a special train, and the air will be fine." ”

Ye Hena and Song Runjian said in unison: "The team leader can't say that. ”

Song Runjian puffed up the muscles in his arm and said, "I've been in a panic with my fist these days, why don't we practice?" ”

I hurriedly said, "Yes, we 'revolutionary youth' want to fight civilly, not martial." Otherwise, let's play cards, and whoever loses will put a sticker on their face. "Everyone responded, and we started playing poker. I listened to the folk music of the Central People's Radio while playing cards, the blind A Bing's "Erquan Reflecting the Moon", Ye Hena kept inhaling the French perfume on the side of the table, her mother was the cultural counselor of the French embassy in France, and she would go to France to study after graduation. In less than an hour, Yehna's face was covered with notes, and she looked like a wizard who danced a spell.

Yehena said to me, "Can you play your cards?" What is the second spring of the moon? What kind of music is it? You see how many musical geniuses there were after the Italian Renaissance, Schubert, Chopin, Beethoven, Liszt, Tchaikovsky...... Count a bunch, what do we have in China? A blind man, but also two springs and the moon, that is also called music? It's embarrassing! ”

I said to Yehena: "Classmate Yehena, are you from that country, do you have at least national self-esteem?" You said this a few years earlier, you were a counter-revolutionary, you know, no, if you don't say that you will be shot and sentenced, you will have to cut out your tongue. ”

Ye Hena smashed the cards on the table, tore off the note on her face and said, "Classmate Huang Ge, don't you want to tell the truth?" If you give me less on the line, the old lady is not afraid. ”

It was only later that I learned that Ye Hena's grandparents were all beaten as convicts, spies, and foreign countries in the Cultural Revolution and died in Qincheng Prison, so there is a psychological shadow. I said, "Just kidding, as for that?" Just tear the note off your face and tear it up, you're making me feel like a prisoner. What I mean is that we Chinese cannot extinguish our own morale. Can Qu Yuan's "Tianwen" be written by Europeans? Let's just say this Yunnan, Nie Er, a native of Yunnan, writes the national anthem, it's amazing, right?! ”

Yehena said angrily: "I'm too lazy to tell you: "Just love your country."

The words were not speculative, and everyone was silent. Arriving in Yunnan has become a kind of waiting, and because of waiting, Yunnan has become more and more distant.

After getting off the train at Kunming South Railway Station, the provincial capital, we didn't have time to see if there were elephants on the streets of Kunming, so we got on the bus of the Honghe Prefecture Federation of Literary and Art Circles to pick us up. The man who picked us up was a black-faced man, who felt that he couldn't speak Chinese, as if there was something wrong with his tongue, so he introduced himself and said: "I am the director of the office of the Honghe Prefecture Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and several teachers can call me Asuo." The leaders of the state attached great importance to the arrival of several teachers in Chang Fei, and specially asked me to receive several teachers, and said that the teachers of the National Conservatory of Music are all future musicians of our country, so they should be received at the highest standard. I don't know how many teachers can understand my Mandarin? "I can't speak Chinese clearly, and I still speak Mandarin, but this Director A is indeed kind, humble, and enthusiastic. I said to Director A, "Thank you, Director A, we are not teachers, we are students." ”

Director A said: "My Han name is Soruma, the name of a mountain, Abba's taking, my Abba said that our hometown mountain is small, standing on the mountain and the eyes are far away, so I was named the mountain, Soruma." ”

I said to him, "That, Director Suo. Still humble, Asso said, "Call me Aso." ”

On the way, we were already tired, and Asso was still babbling, "I'm a Yiche man." My father ran business in Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam, but the leaders of the state said that I sang well and insisted that I work, so when I arrived at this What is the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the state received the teachers and leaders from above, and I led the female children of the state song and dance troupe to sing a song, but I still like to do business, take care of myself, and be free. ”

I said to him, "Then ask Director Asso to sing us a song." ”

Director Ah stubbornly and humbly said, "Let's call Ah Suo." The leaders of the state said that it was the teacher in Beijing who wrote "Ashima" when he arrived in Dali, so Dali became famous all over the world. The state leaders said that our Honghe is no worse than Dali, the women are more handsome than Dali, and the songs are better than Dali, but it is because there is no teacher to write it. Oh, we have to change trains, get on the train, the little train, this road is called the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, which leads directly to Vietnam, the earliest meter-gauge railway in China, you haven't taken it. ”

And just like that, we got on the train again. Ye Hena and Song Zhiqiu's tired appearance seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

Xia Tingquan said to Asso: "The train is not as fast as the car, which means this small train."

Asso said, "Yes, yes, yes. Originally, there was a special car in the state, but the state leader said that it was not easy for a few teachers to come once, maybe only once in a lifetime, so let a few teachers experience it. ”

I said to Aso, "Can you sing us a song?" A few of them are looking forward to it. "Actually, I don't want to talk because of the long journey.

Asso was a little shy and said, "So, then I'll sing one." Asso took out a small iron kettle from his pocket, opened the lid, and gurgled as if he had drunk half a bottle.

At this point I closed my eyes.

What kind of singing voice awaits Asso? What kind of singing will it be.

Suddenly, a desolate voice seemed to pierce the sky, like a dragon and a snake swimming, and like a sharp knife piercing the soul, I didn't even dare to open my eyes, I couldn't believe that the voice came from the black-faced man named Aso in front of me. The voice was sometimes like praying to the gods, sometimes it was whispering, sometimes it was high-pitched, sometimes it was lingering, but one thing I was sure was that it was beyond my comprehension. Accompanied by the sound of cuckoos, thrushes, sparrows, and even the sound of seeds sprouting, I felt like I was in the symphony of the earth, as if I was above the clouds, in the wind, in the rain, and in the glow embracing me, holding me with warm hands, I knew that he was not singing Chinese, because of my obsession with language, I learned some national languages from my linguistics teacher, and finally understood a few words at this time, he sang:

God, do you hear me?

We are longing for this spring

You have to shelter us

We are your people

We're going to plant the seed this spring,

Did you hear that?

Oh! We thank you with the most intoxicating wine

Oh! We give thanks to you with the most intoxicating wine

We hope you will grow abundantly and fully

……

It seems to be similar to saying: it is similar to singing, it is similar to chanting, in short, it is difficult to define it in terms of the conventional theory of music. But it tore my soul apart in an instant.

We were all shocked, I opened my eyes, and we all looked at this car-man in front of us with strange eyes. Aso said shyly: "Those who sing indiscriminately, those who sing indiscriminately, do not become a 'unified system', and the sprinkling in the field cannot be put on the stage." But I couldn't help but applaud, and in vain the little train was full of applause, and some good people in the carriage coaxed and said, "One more, one more." Aso stood up and bowed humbly to the crowd and said, "Don't dare, don't dare, disturb everyone." ”

Aso asked me, "Do you want to drink it?" ”

I said cheerfully, "Okay," and I said in Aso's tone, "Two mouthfuls." As he spoke, he took Aso's small iron kettle.

I saw Ye Hena and Song Zhiqiu with tears on their faces, and Xia Tingquan and Du Runjian also had tears on their faces. It can be said that what Aso sings, as far as the content of the song is concerned, they did not understand a word. But does it matter? The content of music includes words and music, does it matter what the words are written? How many people understand what Beethoven's music is about? Rejoicing and grieving is the true power of music. For example, the desolation blown by the Chinese cave flute, and the Cangsang pulled out by A Bing's erhu, there is no difference between countries, and in the world, they are the best music. Therefore, I think it is shallow to argue with Yehena about what is Chinese and Western.

At this time, Aso asked, "How many teachers want to roast tofu, the roasted tofu of Honghe?" I said to Asso, "You are our teacher, at least my teacher." ”

Aso said in fear: "This is not a joke, don't dare, don't dare." The roasted tofu in the Red River is not available in the capital, and you can't eat it. ”

Following Aso's enthusiasm, I said, "Then we'll eat a few pieces." ”

Because of Asuo, I began to be kind to Yunnan, which is far away from the north. Maybe it's because of Aso's singing, maybe it's because of the magic of music.

The long train is like a long period of time, people come and go, go and come, my grandfather Huang Kexing took this train to Yunnan Gejiu, and then transferred to Zosa. In the autumn of 1940, the bewitching woman, Yoshiko Kawashima, also took this train to the old one, and then transferred to Wassa. This train starts from Kunming in Yunnan Province and ends at the mouth of the river and enters the meter-gauge railway in Vietnam, which is like a stage of time, the stage has not changed, but the actors have changed.

In the autumn of 1942, Yoshiko Kawashima took a train in Kunming. This is a secret woman, many times he is wearing men's clothes, she likes the charm and charm of women, but she often wears men's clothes, and she has to expose her tough side in her softness, because in her heart lingers the shadow of the Japanese raping her. This autumn, Yoshiko Kawashima wore a waist-length black Chinese cheongsam, her jade legs were wrapped in transparent stockings from the United Kingdom, her feet were a pair of French 10cm red high heels, and she wore an Italian wide-brimmed gauze hat, which made people only imagine her face, and she was wearing a Burberry British Army's special high-end trench coat on her hands, and her every gait was like the writhing of a water snake, and only a coquettish woman could walk her appearance. After getting on the train and entering the box, she took off her Italian wide-brimmed hat and put on her Ray-Ban sunglasses, as if she deliberately wanted to keep a distance from everything in front of her, to let people know that her existence was actually a non-existence. In Kunming in the autumn of 1942, mysterious figures like her were in full swing. Nearly every train to the estuary has someone like her on board.