29 October 2009

The Lonely Accordion

I received a request, probably an order, from May to learn a new song, 'The Lonely Accordion' (Gudu de shoufeng qin 孤獨的手風琴), the screen song of the latest film Prince of Tears (Lei wangzi 淚王子), so that I can sing it in a KTV (ie, a karaoke box, which consists of multiple rooms containing karaoke equipment to be rented for time periods).

It's a story which took place in a 'military-dependent village' (juanchun 眷村) of the air force in Taiwan during the White Terror era, the years when martial law and one-party dictatorship were imposed by the Nationalist government and numerous political dissidents and innocent suspects were imprisoned, tortured and eliminated.

The film is going to be screened tomorrow (30 October) in Taiwan, but the original sound track has already been released. May sent me a link to YouTube, the MV of the screen song, by the veteran Hong Kong singer Goerge Lam (林子祥).



The song is origianlly a famous Russian song 'The Lonely Accordion' (Одинокая бродит гармонь), composed by Boris Mokrousov in 1947, with lyrics by Mikhail Isakovsky. It's about a young accordionist walking alone at night in search of someone, against a backdrop of apple blossoms and a chill blowing in from the fields.

In the film the army pilot, who was imprisoned for suspected espionage, plays the accordion, and thus this melancholic Russian tune is especially chosen and adapted into a Mandarin song. It is the original Russian song that May asks me to sing.



Well, I found the Russian lyrics last night and will study it over the weekend. Next time when I visit a KTV, I shall sing in Russian while other singing the adapted Mandarin version.

Снова замерло всё до рассвета,
Дверь не скрипнет, не вспыхнет огонь.
Только слышно, на улице где-то
Одинокая бродит гармонь.

То пойдёт на поля, за ворота,
То обратно вернётся опять,
Словно ищет в потёмках кого-то
И не может никак отыскать.

Веет с поля ночная прохлада,
С яблонь цвет облетает густой...
Ты признайся - кого тебе надо,
Ты скажи, гармонист молодой.

Может, радость твоя недалёка,
Да не знает, её ли ты ждёшь...
Что ж ты бродишь всю ночь одиноко,
Что ж ты девушкам спать не даёшь!

3 comments:

May said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
May said...

補充一下。
我想聽你唱中文版呢。俄文版聽起來就像一首普通的有俄羅斯風味的名謠,但中文版讓我接受到更奇異的感覺。不知道該怎麼形容,但就是要像林子祥這樣的年紀、氣質配上唱腔。第一次聽到的時候我就在想,如果是校長或是林承光老師唱起來,應該也會很有味道吧~

May said...

電影我去看了。其實有點失望。
畫面美音樂佳,但劇情跟節奏有點讓人ORZ。我想導演有很多話想說,可一段一段就是湊不起來。電影簡介中一直強調楊凡導演花了多少時間去考究其中的場景與戲服,我卻只看到了皮毛而不見精髓。其中的軍服飛鷹掛錯(這對某位仁兄來說是很嚴重的錯誤)、眷村媽媽沒事在家也頂個大濃妝、女主角的衣服會出現深V晚禮服...雖然最後散場時打出來的老照片證明了導演真的想重建眷村的樣子,但我只能說,這部電影是回到了[楊凡導演心中的眷村年代],而跟你我記憶中或是真實的眷村可能有很大的差距。
男女主角帥氣美麗,說台詞像參加朗讀比賽,也是一樣,一段一段都很努力地想演出些什麼,但也一段一段地湊不起來。
電影看完,整個場景與音樂在我腦中盤據了好幾天。我想,這不是因為劇情的啟發,而是電影的氣氛,吸引著我駐留在這個奇妙的幻境中。
音樂很好聽...大部份的配樂沿用[紅玫瑰與白玫瑰]。校長有空可以去看,就像我說的,就感受那種氣氛就好,其他的,就當是進入楊凡導演的夢境而不要太考究吧。