In Africa, we wrote a song and made a MV. What did we experience?

Before writing this article, I deliberately turned out the lyrics of "Song of Yuan Zhi", revised them four or five times before and after, polished the melody rhythm six or seven times, and shot the script and three versions of MV before and after. I really can't believe it. It finally happened!

I have to admit that one person contributed to the birth of college songs, that is, the songwriter Asan, so I have to talk about Asan first, and by the way, the lead singer Bao Aici.

Asan is one of the few people I remember after seeing her twice, not because her face value is high enough, but because her body odor is heavy enough. I'm not a racist, but I have to get used to my sensitive and critical nose.

In the later communication, I resolutely kept a "safe distance" from him. Besides recording in the studio, I shook hands with him several times. Later, when signing the contract, he was a little excited and seemed to want a more ceremonial hug. I stepped back in time to stop him and told him that we China women can't hug other men except husbands.

The first time I knew about the existence of musician Asan, it was because the dean wrote lyrics and Asan composed Song of Tanzania Railway. In the MV, Tanzania-Zambia Railway and travel-stained travelers are full of sense of time, accompanied by Asan's high and desolate voice and rap. It doesn't sound good, but it's an exotic flavor.

I am a little curious about this composer and lead singer who I have never met before.

At the end of 2065438+2008, the Confucius Institute held a Chinese song contest as usual, just as the Spring Festival gala hosted by the embassy will be held in half a month, so we want to choose several programs to attend the gala.

Finally, Bao Aici, the lead singer, and Ai Long, an advanced elective course student were selected.

That was the first time I met Sang. I'm off the stage and he's on the stage. It didn't surprise me that I liked his composition and singing skills. He looks very young, with a round belly and shining eyes.

It's not the first time I've met Bao Aici. She is a very beautiful little girl with a baseball cap and brown eyes. She often wears a neutral T-shirt or shirt with jeans. She can sing quite good Chinese songs without saying a few words. She is a very talented singer.

After watching it, the organizer of the party felt that several programs were a bit monotonous when they were performed alone, and suggested that we merge them into one program.

In the three programs, Asan plays and sings with musical instruments, but he can't speak Chinese basically, and he sings in general. What shines is his local musical instrument. Bao Aici sings Chinese very well, but Ai Long's performance is consistent, and they can't be combined, so they can only maintain their respective strengths. After a brief discussion, we decided to make a sketch "I want to go to the Spring Festival Evening" in the form of domestic programs.

I wrote the script overnight, and the lines were all tailored according to their Chinese level. There are several people. I brought Lu Yuan and Wang Chao from the office to join in the fun. I asked them to talk about the script at the weekend, and I also arranged a timetable. I can rehearse six times before I go on stage.

Asan is the most enthusiastic one and seems to be the boss of the whole cast (he is indeed the oldest). He solemnly warned his younger brothers and sisters: "I think this script of my wife is very good. We should take this matter seriously. Rehearse on time every time, and time is tight. We can't be absent for no reason! "

I confidently arranged the timetable and agreed on the rehearsal time. It was found that if ranked according to the degree of unreliability, Assange was the first and Bao Aici was the second. Before going on stage, she rehearsed five times, only two of them were all present.

They are always absent by turns. On Sunday, Bao Aici will be permanently lost, and she will go to church, and the thunder will not move; Asan's appearance or disappearance is not fixed, you never know when he will come.

The only time he was on time, others happened to be late or absent, but he returned to his original seriousness: "how did this happen?" This is a very serious matter! "

I looked at him speechless: "When they were here, you weren't. Don't blame anyone, who will arrange whose play! "

If you don't attend class, go to church, or lose contact for no reason, the rehearsal will be so difficult to complete.

In order not to waste time, it is really who will arrange whose part. Later, it was found that Wang Chao and Ai Long, who had the best Chinese, ranked the highest, while Asan and Bao Aici, who had the worst Chinese and should practice more, ranked the lowest. Until I stood on the stage with them and performed, I was still worried that they could not say the only lines, and I was always ready to save the scene.

But Assange doesn't seem to think this is a problem at all. After the second rehearsal, I told him to come on time next time. He nodded and said he was serious, and then suddenly asked me, "Is there any progress in that Song Ci?"

Confused, I asked him what Song Ci was. He said that Liu Jiaoshou had told him before that Song Ci wanted him to compose music.

I said no meeting. Liu Jiaoshou said, then find Liu Jiaoshou. Then, I immediately got back to the topic: "Let's take care of the rehearsal now. Stop talking about opera. Time is so tight. Try not to be late for the next rehearsal! "

However, Asan is tired of me. Every time she sees me, she will persistently ask, "What about the lyrics? I am still waiting to compose music! "

After asking several times, I had to ask the dean what the song of the courtyard was about. The dean said that he had written a song of Tanzania-Zambia Railway before, which was a song by Assange, and casually told him that he would cooperate with another courtyard song in the future.

Assange is obviously serious about this "casual" invitation. Even after the performance, as soon as he saw me, he asked me about our school song with an expectant expression. I said no progress. He just looks disappointed. However, the next time we met, he continued to ask me about my progress expectantly, just like forgetting the last disappointment.

I finally started writing "Courtyard Song", but I was still stimulated by Asan.

At the end of June, he asked me again about the progress of the lyrics of our college songs. After getting an unexpected negative answer, he was really disappointed: "Oh, I thought you had been taking this matter seriously! Madam, we really created a garden song. How nice! I am also a member of the Confucius Institute and have always wanted to make some contributions to this big family! "

I don't know whether his tired disappointment stung me, or whether his persistent questioning and infiltration in the past six months played a role at this time, or whether his "you" made me unable to stay out of it-I found that I always consciously interpreted the "you" said by a foreigner as plural "you" and "you China people", and I always interpreted other people's intentional or unintentional accusations as.

So I gave him a promise for the first time: "OK, from now on, I will write this lyric."

Asan looked overjoyed and warmly extended her hand to me, saying that she would "cooperate happily" with me. Of course, I shook hands with him with equal enthusiasm. Deal!

However, when I really started writing calligraphy, I found that I had never been anywhere except Dashi, and I didn't even know our own teaching points, so it was unrealistic to collect folk songs one by one.

So I can only Google it and ask my colleagues about the characteristics of each place as the material of the courtyard song. After all, I didn't see it with my own eyes. My impression of various places is actually very vague.

When I returned to China for vacation, I took time to start writing words, focusing on friendship and communication, including our teaching points as much as possible.

The first draft of the lyrics was sent back to the dean, who revised the historical and political issues and rhymes and removed some words that made me feel guilty. The lyrics are really pleasing to the eye and pleasing to the ear. I polished it several times before deciding the lyrics and translating them into English.

After the holiday, I returned to Tanzania and began to prepare for someone to compose music. The dean and I are basically the same in the general direction, and we both want to find a local composer. The theme of the college song is Sino-Tanzanian friendship, and the lyrics are in Chinese and French. If matched with Tanzanian style, it will achieve perfect and harmonious effect.

However, at this time, I was unfaithful. Although I was really inspired by Asan's lyrics, I didn't really want to invite him to compose because I never had much confidence in him. I'm looking forward to lyrical and optimistic tunes. I'm not sure such tunes can flow out of his chubby body.

But we seem to have no choice. He is the only musician we know who can afford it. There are many famous professors in the art department, but the appearance fee is too high for us.

So in the end, we signed an agreement with Asan, and the reward was divided into three parts: equipment rental fee, copyright fee and production fee, which were paid in installments.

I have always been afraid of Asan's straightforward style and his seemingly lifeless belly, and the cooperation of the Spring Festival Evening also worried me that he lost contact for no reason. So I told him "carefully" on the principle of "say what you said first" that if we were not satisfied with any modification or could not finish it within the required time, we had the right to terminate the agreement and only pay him the equipment rental fee and part of the copyright.

Of course, when I say these words, I am very happy. I said that although I can't compose music myself, I like words. I think any "creation" needs inspiration. This is a "propositional composition", so we also need a tacit understanding between us. All I want is what you can give, so that everyone will be happy.

He kept nodding, as if he had made up his mind to accept all this, but it made me feel uneasy and wondered if I was too smirking, so that he didn't realize that I was serious.

Based on my understanding of Asan, I think composing music will be a very long process. I hope it can be finished before I leave office, and I hope it will not be made into the rap style of "Song of Tanzania-Zambia Railway".

This time, however, I greatly underestimated Assange's efficiency and inspiration. A week later, I was surprised to see Asan proudly walk into the office and handed me a USB flash drive, saying that he had finished composing music.

The sample sounds good. Professor Mutanbei, the foreign dean, and Jane, Wang Chao, Lu Yuan and Han couldn't help dancing when they heard this piece of music, saying it was as beautiful as the waves.

I can't say anything wrong, but I can't say anything good. I always thought it would be strange to match this tone with the lyrics.

Sure enough, another week later, when Asan couldn't wait to ask me to bring another China teacher to record, I was very shocked to find that he did sing rap, except for the first four sentences-in a very unknown way, and most of the lyrics were said.

After recording it for four or five times, I couldn't help asking him, "Are you going to' deal with' this Song Like?"

He said, "Yes!" Then he explained a lot of his ideas to me.

I said flatly, "No! Those are your ideas, but they don't accord with mine. I am not satisfied with this draft! "

Once again, I took the lyrics and analyzed the meaning of this song word by word, what is the relationship between the first two paragraphs, how to segment it and so on. Finally, I told him seriously: "Please have a snack and think about it. This tune must be greatly changed! " "

Mr. Assange's eyes are full of disappointment and helplessness. He talked with me in English about his creation, which made him feel wronged. His head shook and shook, his mouth opened and opened, and finally he nodded and said "OK".

I didn't expect Assange's inspiration to come so quickly!

This meeting is less than a week. But the melody I heard was still similar, with no ups and downs and no echo. This time it's my turn. I think in a sense, I am also a "scholar meets soldier" and need to talk to someone who doesn't know Chinese about my music creation. I think I said everything I could last time, including the meaning, core and sentence break of every sentence, the connection between sections and paragraphs, the tone and climax of the whole song. I don't know what else to say.

After listening to the demo, I was silent, powerless and helpless. My eyes and ears drifted over the ripples on the computer, to an indescribable distance, and my brain was blank.

Asan may be a little confused by my silence, but she still has a glimmer of hope and tries to ask me, "Madam, how about this time?"

I took back my distracted eyes and couldn't bear to hit him, but I couldn't bear to feel inferior and looked at him seriously: "Yes! However, we must change it. "

He seems to be mentally prepared, ignoring my obvious perfunctory "yes" and sincerely asking: "Madam, you say it, I listen to you, you are my boss now!"

I couldn't help laughing: "How did I become your boss? I have no money! " The money is locked in the safe in the dean's office.

He smiled cunningly, a pair of "not obvious" expression.

I can only tell him the effect I want to express word by word with the lyrics, and think to myself: If I know how to change it, what else can I do for you!

After three or four times of almost ineffective communication like this, Assange was finally silent for two weeks, and then brought a sample that sounded good. I heard with emotion that the two of us, seemingly from different planets, have broken through the barriers from culture, language, gender and other aspects bit by bit. Although singing with ears is still a bit difficult, it is not easy to get used to it.

When I signed the contract before, I said I could give up if I couldn't meet the requirements, but Asan's insistence kept me from opening my mouth. He must have remembered the agreement and didn't give me a chance to speak. He always says "Yes!" I've changed! "

Then I entered the recording stage, but the lyrics should accommodate Bao Aici's Chinese level. Her Chinese is a little better than Asan's. She once passed HSK level 3 exam, but after she went to college, she devoted herself to music. Besides attending classes, she hangs out in the recording studio, and her major is neglected, let alone Chinese.

I reluctantly gave up the lyrics that were integrated into my feelings, and the language was concise and concise. Place names such as "Lake Victoria" and "Kilimanjaro" have been changed to Sri Lankan. Asan also added some transitional sentences to Slovak.

Fortunately, the courtyard song was really well played by her, and finally she brought a recorded sample, which made the dean feel very satisfied. However, since the lyrics are bilingual in China and Sri Lanka, we hope that China and Tanzanian faces can appear in the final MV.

However, our teacher China has been practicing for a long time, and it is still difficult to find the tune and keep up with the rhythm. Finally, with the accompaniment of Chen Yu Pipa, Yinfeng and I walked into the recording studio together. We still don't get along, we don't make a movie, and it sounds awkward. After recording it several times, Sang said it was no problem. I said it's not good. He said no problem. We'll deal with it later.

Two days later, he brought an mp3 mix, and all I could hear was Bao Aici's voice. The volume of Yinfeng is very low, but my voice almost disappeared.

This is not what I want. What I want is "Welcome to Beijing", but Asan can't tell me the right track. Our timbres are so different.

I said, "Look, when I was in the studio, I asked you if you could record like this. You said yes, but after you can, it's wrong now. Do you need to re-record it? Or how to deal with it? "

His eyes flashed a little: "No need ..."

I noticed, and stared at him with a bad smile: "What's the matter? Is it unbearable? "

He was embarrassed by my smile, licked his lips and said, "As a musician, I can't attack singers ..."

I suddenly felt a little happy and smiled and encouraged him: "I'm not a professional singer. If you can't beat me, just say it!" "

He still said sincerely, "madam, the rhythm of this song is not very friendly to you." You are not suitable for this fast-paced song. You are suitable for singing lyric songs. The other lady is a little more suitable than you, but you really sang beautifully in Slovakia! "

Perhaps to comfort me, he emphasized "beautiful!" Twice.

This time I really smiled: "Yes, I'm really not good at singing this kind of song, so let's do it later." It is best to hear the voice of the people of China. "

Later, when I heard that he gave feedback to the dean, he said directly that he thought my singing was not good. Ha ha! When this old boys told me face to face, he was probably embarrassed.

I couldn't hear my own voice at the end of the mix, but the lead singer Bao Aici's interpretation did add a lot of color to the song, and Asan also praised her many times as a natural singer.

Later, when shooting the MV, Lu Hang took a beautiful shot for me, but in the picture, my mouth opened and closed, and the sound was obviously from a foreigner, just like playing a double reed. The whole video immediately felt inferior, so I reluctantly asked Lu Hang to delete it.

In fact, the shooting of MV started before we got the final draft of singing, because the semester was almost over and there was not much time. I plan to send a story board to the teaching point, but it is not easy to organize such shooting activities. I can only shoot when students are in class and activities. The situation of each teaching point is also different. There is always a person in charge of the teaching point who sends a message to communicate with me about the implementation. The script has been written and revised, and the draft has not been finalized. Later, it was only sent to Lu Hang for future reference.

In the hottest season in Tanzania, outdoor shooting is in place at 6 am, and it is also sweating after shooting. This department has some relative resource advantages, such as a few loyal fans like William, a second-generation Beijing opera fan, and a yellow Polo shirt customized by Confucius Institute. Driven by loyal fans and the temptation of free clothes, it became our god's assist and took many big scenes.

I can shoot almost all the pictures, but I can't get the time for the lead singer Bao Aici. This girl has always been steady, just like when rehearsing a sketch. She finally met her on the last afternoon before the holiday, and Lu Hang just didn't have time, so I took a short shot with my mobile phone in the creative stone forest outside the art department. Her cold brown lenses show a messy row of buildings opposite. The filming was not ideal, and she was in a hurry to go home, so she had to ask her to make up another group after school.

During the holiday, several sets of shots from other provinces have not yet landed. At that time, we all planned to travel to various places. Lu Hang plans to take the Tanzania-Zambia Railway to Mbeya. She was also in charge of video production, so she took the initiative to shoot rice waves along the Tanzania-Zambia Railway. Our family planned to go to the grassland, specially chose the route including Lake Victoria, and finally stayed in Mwanza for two days and one night. I took snapshots of waterfowl on boats, rocks and shores in Lake Victoria for two days.

When I finally sorted out these photos, it suddenly occurred to me that I had never taken any photos of Asan!

I told Lu Hang that Assange's lenses should be mended and Bao Aici's lenses should be reshaped after school. It bothers me to see the shadow on her lens. It is better to have a group of pictures of songwriters and lead singers. In short, there are several lenses that need to be modified or optimized.

However, we can't wait for the school as in previous years, because the epidemic is coming.

There is no hope of starting school, so there is no chance to make up the film. "Attention" can only be changed to "make do".

I asked Asan to send me some photos, and all he sent me were photos of his singing. In every photo, he is so enthusiastic and his eyes are bright. I just remembered that I've never really seen Sang sing.

At this time, I looked at his shining eyes and was moved: at least, he is really a musician and really loves music.

Attachment: Song of Yuan Zhi

Crossing the vast Indian Ocean

We come from the Far East.

From the Yellow River and the Yangtze River to Ping 'an Port

Say hello to beautiful Tanzania.

Peng Da, Tunai, Tanzania (We love Tanzania)

We love China.

Let's keep friendship.

Tanga's frankincense flies along the coastline.

The rice waves in Mbeya sing along with the Tanzania-Zambia Railway.

Ziwa Victoria (Lake Victoria) has waterfowl crossing the sunset.

The top of Kilimanjaro (Kilimanjaro) snow is shining with golden light.

Our greetings float with the sea breeze.

Hello, dear Tansan.

Our friendship lasts forever.

You and I both have a new hometown.

Traces of the Maritime Silk Road

Let's continue our long friendship.

From "Hello Jambo" to fate.

Let Tanzania know China's mind.

Peng Da, Tunai, Tanzania (We love Tanzania)

We love China.

Let's keep friendship.

Wonderful Chinese knots weave thousands of years of memories.

The mysterious Tai Ji Chuan is in harmony with the natural melody.

Pen and ink, paper and inkstone, full of poetry and painting.

Born ugly, long-sleeved and good at dancing, playing the ancient rhyme today.

Our wishes are conveyed in a smile.

Welcome to Tanzania.

History notes have our meeting.

Sino-Tanzanian friendship continues in Dakongyuan

Guests from China, welcome to Tanzania.

Hamjambo ndugu zetu, Wageni wetu toka China (brothers from China, how are you? )

Hakuna Matata, Karibuni Tanzania (welcome to Tanzania, there is no trouble here)

Hakuna Matata, Karibuni Tanzania-China (welcome to China and Tanzania, they are carefree).