On December 22, "Yulin Bell" was released simultaneously in the United States.

But Hardison and Jessica searched several video stores, but they couldn't find the album.

Although the United States is also on the first list this time, there is little publicity and less distribution, so it is indeed not so easy to buy, and many stores did not get the goods in the first place.

But the hard work paid off, and eventually they got the new album in a store.

It is a video store located in Hollywood, mainly selling some classical music CDs, the store area is not large, only thirty or fifty square meters, and there is only one owner to watch the store.

Originally, the two of them didn't have much hope when they saw that the store was small, but they didn't expect to buy it.

What they didn't expect was that other video stores couldn't buy it, and this store actually bought twenty copies of "Yulin Bell".

After chatting for a few words, the two learned that the boss was a loyal fan of Y, so when the album was not on the market, he began to stare at the restocking.

"In addition to Y's albums released in the United States, I also have his other CDs and videos."

Hearing that Jessica and Hardison were also fans of Zhou Yan, the boss was very happy and began to share with the two, with a little show off in his tone.

He took out a stack of CDs and tapes from the cabinet and introduced them one by one, "This is the live videotape of "Yanjing Silent", which I specially asked someone to buy for me from China. There is also this one, which is a live video of Y's neon concert, and this is a documentary made by TV Asahi, which is related to the movie "Tree Hole". ”

"Tree hole?" Jessica asked curiously.

The boss smiled, "It's normal that you don't know, 'Tree Hole' was written by Y, and it was later adapted into a film by a Chinese director, and the film also won an award at the Berlin Film Festival." ”

"And is this movie his soundtrack?" Hardison asked.

The boss shook his head, "No, the soundtrack of this movie was made by Zhao, who is said to be a good friend of Y and an alumnus." I also have a tape of this movie, but I don't have it here. ”

"Is the movie good?" Jessica asked.

"It's a very interesting film, after all, to win an award at the Berlin Film Festival must be unique, my friend said, even better. The documentary I told you just now was recorded on the spot when Y went to visit the crew, and there are songs he played live, and "Borrowing Cucumbers" was created on the spot. ”

"Borrow cucumbers?" Jessica questioned again.

"Well, this song is not included in the album, but it can be heard in the videotape of the concert scene, and it is also like this in "Distant Journey."

Jessica's eyes widened when she heard what her boss said, she claimed to be a big fan of Y, but now she found that she didn't know enough about Y at all.

There were so many tunes that she hadn't heard.

When the boss saw Jessica's eyes, he also smiled and said, "I definitely can't give you these collections, but I can show them to you." ”

"Really?" Jessica was pleasantly surprised.

"Of course, there is a TV and a VCR in the store. ”

The boss said just do it, took Jessica and they walked to the TV, and then put the tape into the VCR.

He first showed the videotape "A Long Journey".

The tape was produced by TV Asahi, and it only had neon and Chinese, which Jessica of course couldn't read, but the boss acted as an interpreter on the side.

"This host is introducing the Central Conservatory of Music, because Y graduated from this school and is now teaching at this school. If you look at this gate, which is the door of the Central Conservatory of Music, is it very historical. ”

Jessica was surprised to hear her boss translate.

"Boss, you can even talk neon?"

The boss shook his head and said, "I don't know neon, but I've watched this video many times and asked neon friends, so I know what they say." ”

"I see."

Jessica nodded, but the surprise in her heart was not less, how much this boss likes Y to do such a thing.

From another perspective, Jessica doesn't think she can do that, and the most she can do is pay attention to the music that appears in it.

With the boss's explanation, the two watched the previous interview smoothly, and although they didn't hear the music, Jessica felt quite interesting.

It's always fun to learn about the deeds of famous people. After watching the interview, Jessica also learned more about why Zhou Yan's creative style is so diverse.

Zhou Yan started with bamboo flute in elementary school, learned piano in middle school, and later began to study violin in college, and really came into contact with Western music.

When I was in college, I was exposed to film again, and my style was influenced by film.

When the interview ended, the picture turned to reveal a mountain and three backs.

The boss immediately introduced, "Next to Y are two very famous writers in China, both of whom are his good friends. ”

After a brief introduction, the boss didn't speak, he didn't want to delay Jessica and their listening to music.

Two tunes in a row, the more Jessica listened, the brighter her eyes became.

It's not the first time she has seen Zhou Yan play the flute, but in this documentary, she feels the most, the bamboo flute, the mountain scenery, and the people who stop working in the distance form a beautiful picture, which makes her feel very touched.

The song "Borrowing Cucumbers" also gave her a new understanding of Zhou Yan's improvisation ability.

After listening to the two songs, the boss excitedly explained, "Do you know why this song is called borrowing cucumbers?" It is said that it is because ......"

After listening to the story of "borrowing" cucumbers from the boss, Jessica also found it interesting, and the life of an artist was so interesting.

After watching this video, the boss took them to watch the video of "Voices of the East" in Tokyo, in which Jessica heard a new tune, which was "Luminous" played by Zhou Yan with "Shakuhachi".

After watching the tape of this concert, it was not too early, and the boss was going home from work, so he made an appointment with Jessica and them to come back tomorrow.

Only then did Jessica remember that after buying "Yulin Bell", she didn't even listen to it.

The two were not in a hurry, went home with the album, and then listened to it at home.

On this album, Jessica has heard most of the tunes, and it must be good to listen to, but there are indeed fewer surprises.

However, at the end of this album, she was still given some surprises.

Finally, there is a concerto for violin, which begins for more than half a minute, showing a pleasant silence like night.

In the next twenty seconds, the tone gradually became higher, the mood progressed, and the tune was mixed with some uneasiness and melancholy.

After that, the sadness grew heavier and heavier, and finally suddenly exploded.

In fact, the melody of this piece is relatively simple, and the arrangement is nothing special, but it is just good.

Jessica looked through the catalog, and the last piece was called "Moon", a very simple name.

In terms of musicality, this piece is definitely not as good as "Drinking the Yangtze River Water Together", both in terms of the arrangement technology and the overall narrative, "Drinking the Yangtze River Water" is better.

But Jessica knows that on the contrary, this song "Moon" may be more liked by ordinary listeners, because the melody is simple and the explosion is strong in the middle section, which can be remembered by the audience.

To confirm her idea, Jessica asked Hardison, "Which tune impressed you the most?" ”

"Young and Beautiful, of course."

"What about other than that?"

"Other than that......" Hadison thought for a moment, frowning, "and that's the last piece." ”

Sure enough, Jessica nodded.

……

"Is there any story behind this song "Guanghan Palace"?"

The day after the premiere of "Spring in the Cattle Herding Class", Zhou Yan accepted an exclusive interview with TV Asahi, and reporter Takashi Horikita asked Zhou Yan such a question.

"Guanghan Palace" is the name of East Asia and other countries and regions, and in the album released in the United States, it is called "Moon".

Because this piece is the first time to meet the world, and the melody is on the top, and the name is "Guanghan Palace", so Takashi Horikita specifically asked this question.

Zhou Yan explained with a smile, "The song "Guanghan Palace" is based on the traditional Chinese mythological story of Chang'e running to the moon. ”

Hokitaka knew that Chang'e was running to the moon, so he nodded and said, "So, "Guanghan Palace" expresses the love tragedy between Chang'e and Hou Yi? ”

"It's not just love, the perspective of this song is Chang'e, I think for Chang'e, what she is reluctant to give up is definitely not just her lover Hou Yi, in addition to Hou Yi, she is full of nostalgia for many things in the world. I think the emotions it expresses are probably a little more complex than love. Speaking of this, Zhou Yan smiled, "Of course, after a piece comes out, the definition I give it is no longer important, the key is what the audience can feel from it." If the listener can feel love, then it is love, and if it is family, then it is family. ”

"I see, as you said before, the emotional expression of music is intuitive, but it is also free. Giving too many definitions is a kind of imprisonment. ”

Zhou Yan nodded, picked up the teacup and took a sip of water.

The song "Guanghan Palace" is adapted from a song by Neon, called "Confession Night".

It is said that the inspiration for "Confession Night" is "The Tale of Taketori", a literary work by Neon, about a bamboo cutter who finds a girl in bamboo and takes it home for adoption.

And this girl is a princess from the moon, and in the end she can only say goodbye to her adoptive parents in tears and fly away.

Zhou Yan directly changed the backstory to Chang'e running to the moon.

Takashi Horikita looked at the small book and asked the last question, "When will the movie "Spring of the Cattle Herding Class" be released on neon?" ”

Zhou Yan thought for a while and said, "It won't be too long, it's probably March, and the specific time will be announced soon." ”

In fact, if it weren't for participating in the Berlin Film Festival, this time Neon would have been released with China.

The festival has a requirement that films participating in the festival cannot be screened outside of the production area.

Takashi Horikita was very happy to hear that the movie would be released on Neon in March, "I believe that Neon fans will definitely like this movie very much, and I will announce the good news as soon as I go back." I also look forward to Mr. Zhou Yan that you can hold a concert in Neon again as soon as possible, and the grand scene of "Voices of the East" is still fresh in my memory. ”

"Well, the concert is already being discussed, and it should be soon. Also, next year I will go to Neon for a concert and I will bring two orchestras. ”

"Two orchestras?"

Regarding the news suddenly revealed by Zhou Yan, Hori Beilong looked surprised, "In addition to the Piano Youth Orchestra, are there any other orchestras in your studio, is it No. 43 Baojia Street?" ”

Hori Kitaka has also done his homework, and knows that Zhou Yan's studio also has a band at No. 43 Baojia Street, and when Shizuka Kudo came to Yanjing for a concert before, this band also performed as a guest.

However, he felt that his guess was not reliable, how could Zhou Yan bring a rock band to perform in music?

Zhou Yan shook his head, "I won't talk about the specific orchestra first, you can look forward to it." ”

"Okay."

Horikita Takashi didn't continue to ask, he was already very satisfied to hear the news.

In addition to Zhou Yan, he also interviewed many people, including directors such as Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou, as well as writers such as Yu Hua.

Although these people are far less famous in Neon than Zhou Yan, they are by no means unknown, and they are also Zhou Yan's periphery.

A careful study can find that it is these people who have witnessed Zhou Yan's growth in all aspects along the way.

Zhou Yan's first appearance can be traced back to his participation in "The Red Lantern Hangs High", and the director of this movie is Zhang Yimou.

Later, he successively soundtracked movies such as "Heaven's Reply" and "Farewell My Concubine", and then he became his own director, made feature films, and released theme albums.

In just a few years, Zhou Yan has achieved unparalleled results, it seems that the time is very short, but he is very solid step by step.

When Takashi Horikita was studying Zhou Yan, he was also extremely amazed, in the past five years, Zhou Yan wrote, directed and arranged three movies and released three theme music albums.

In addition, he has also scored many movies and TV series.

After asking the question, Takashi Horikita got up and took his leave, "Mr. Zhou Yan, thank you for taking the time to accept my interview today, I won't continue to bother you." ”

Zhou Yan looked at the time and said with a smile, "Lunch time is coming, don't be in a hurry to leave, stay and have lunch before leaving, just eat in the canteen of the studio." ”

Takashi Horikita smiled, "Is there a fried noodles in the cafeteria of your studio?" ”

"Well, sometimes."

"Miss Kudo has mentioned the jajangmyeon in your studio cafeteria more than once in interviews, and she said that as long as she comes to Yanjing, she must come to your studio just to eat jajangmyeon. Now many neon people are very curious about how delicious your fried noodles are here, including me. ”

Zhou Yan smiled, Shizuka, a little clever ghost, even made excuses for herself to come to the studio.

"If you're curious, let the chef cook some at noon, I haven't eaten in a long time."

"Then I'll be respectful and obey."

……

After "The Spring of the Cattle Herding Class" was released in the mainland, the response was very good, both in terms of market performance and word of mouth.

However, the specific box office data will not come out for a while, and Zhou Yan did not pay much attention to it.

Because during this time, he still has a lot to do.

The rehearsal of the Spring Festival Gala will start in 20 days, and their rehearsal tasks have increased, but most of the time they are still rehearsing in the concert hall of the Chinese Orchestra, because now the rehearsal is getting closer and closer, and the schedule of the studio is becoming more and more difficult to make appointments, and other programs are rushing for time.

And compared with those language and dance programs, Zhou Yan and their programs also have to make concessions, not that those programs are more important, but those programs do need to be rehearsed in the studio more.

The positioning and fixed points of those programs are particularly important, unlike their music performances, in fact, there is a similar place, and it is probably enough to adjust it.

……

As soon as "Spring of the Cattle Herding Class" was released, it performed very well at the box office, and the reason why it was able to get off to a good start was mainly because of the fame of Zhou Yan and Li Xuejian.

And some time ago, because "The Sixth Sense" became a small hit in North America, the audience was very much looking forward to Zhou Yan's new movie.

This is expected by Zhou Yan, but he thinks that "Spring of the Cattle Herding Class" will not have much stamina, because now domestic audiences have begun to pursue blockbusters, and they don't have much passion for this kind of warmer movie.

But what Zhou Yan didn't expect was that a week later, the box office data of "Spring of the Cattle Herding Class" did not fall too significantly, and it was still very strong.

By January 15, 25 days had passed since the film was released in the mainland, and the box office of "Spring of the Cattle Herding Class" reached 48.5 million yuan.

When he heard this data, Zhou Yan was taken aback, because it completely exceeded his expectations.

In fact, the statistics of the data are lagging behind, which means that the box office of "Spring of the Cattle Herding Class" is likely to exceed 50 million, and the movie has not been painted, and there is still room for growth in the future.

The box office exceeded 50 million, which means that the box office of "Spring of the Cattle Herding Class" surpassed "Sunny Day" and became the third place in the box office list of mainland films in 1995.

In front of it is "True Lies" with a box office of 103 million, and "Red Fan District" with a box office of 95 million.

And these two are imported films, if only non-imported movies are counted, "Spring of the Cattle Herding Class" is the first place.

At the end of last year, after the introduction of "The End of the World", the effect was very good, and ten movies were introduced this year, and these ten imported blockbusters performed very well.

Originally, there were six imported blockbusters in the top ten, including "The Lion King", "Speed of Life and Death", "Jedi Men" and so on.

And because "Spring of the Cattle Herding Class" rushed in, "Jedi Men", which was originally ranked tenth, ran to the eleventh place, and became a difficult brother with the twelfth "Forrest Gump" in the twelfth place.

It is precisely because of "The Spring of the Cattle Herding Class" that mainland films and imported blockbusters have also made a five-five difference in the number of imported blockbusters. (End of chapter)