Childhood song (Part II) and a little bit of personal ramblings...

So, I was reviewing my notes for my upcoming finals and I decided to procrastinate (what else is new here). Worst, I've been trolling on seoulbeats.com a lot lately and even commented on some of their articles (*punch self*, hey, at least I LIKE seoulbeats. Their articles are a lot longer, wittier, funnier than Allkpop.com, whose credibility is sometimes very debatable) Oh, for your information, I love Kpop too, just not as much as Cpop because I hate it when I don't understand what people are singing. For me, a song consists of two parts: the music and they lyrics. The music, the melody help convey the emotions, the sentiments, the feelings of the singer/writer while the lyrics is the physical manifestation of those feelings. And I find it frustrating when I listen to something beautiful yet cannot fathom its meanings.

Okay, where was I? Ah, I love Kpop too. And my favorite artists of all time are DBSK and recently Big Bang. Although they have different styles, there is one thing in common : they are the biggest and the best Korean band I've ever heard (I like DBSK more though, because in case you can't tell from previous posts, I'm kinda a sucker for ballads and sweet vocals, and personally I think Kim Junsu has the best vocal in the entire Korean entertainment industry. See here and here for yourself, this one right here and here are DBSK at their finest (all the links are their LIVE performances, LIVE I'm telling you) and if you need more proof, buy the Tokyo Dome live DVD :)

Okay, back to the title. I think I've done enough of ramblings and now it's time for the second video in a series of Chinese songs that I've been listening to ever since I was a kid. "Journey to the West" or 西游记 is a staple in Chinese culture (In fact, I think all the Great Four books in 四大名著 are). But unlike the morose and profound "Dream of the Red Mansion", the bandit drama-like "Water Margin" and the historically-inspired "Romance of the Three kingdoms", the 16th-century "Journey to the West" for me is like an impeccably written fairy tale, full of adventurous quests and endowed with magical properties. Sun Wukong, the Monkey King with his 72 magic tricks or transformation, is like the cinema version of Doraemon (though Wukong is much more of a trouble maker than the robotic cat) with his poket. I've read and seen all of the four books but to this day I only recall details from 西游记 (Seriously, you can't expect a elementary schooler to comprehend the other three, right?). I guess if you're from East Asia and South East Asia, you would know the whole story by heart now :) 

So now in the midst of finals and papers, and I know this is also the college app seasons in the states and all of us are now probably too overwhelmed with work, I'd like to dedicate the soundtrack of the popular drama "Journey to the West" to all of you. The melody, as expected from the 80s and early 90s, is beautiful and the lyrics are just inspiring. The words can actually act as a summary of the whole drama, with a lot of references to the plots. All in all, the song's about how people, despite many obstacles and adversity will always persevere and conquer all hardship. So, enjoy it

And here are the lyrics:

你挑着担，我牵着马，

迎来日出, 送走晚霞。

踏平坎坷成大道，

斗罢艰险又出发，又出发。 　　

啦……啦…… 　　

一番番春秋冬夏. 一场场酸甜苦辣。

敢问路在何方，路在脚下。(X2) 　　

Okay, it's 1 a.m already! I think I'm gonna review until 2 and then hit the sacks. Great week ahead everyone!

My very first post! Chinese songs in my childhood

Yay to my very post!!!!

I meant to write much much sooner but I was so caught up in homework and midterms in the past two weeks. My somewhat limited English vocab didn't help much either, as I struggled to find the right words to get my point across. (It was always like this, I sat in front of the computer, typed for about 10-15 minutes, the paragraphs felt awkward, I deleted the whole thing, repeated the above process for about 5-6 times, I got frustrated so I hit the books and completely forgot that I wanted to write my first post for my first blog..)

Anyway, I digress...

Okay, back to the topic!  You know how people say you can never forget your childhood? My formative years, like those of the majority of Vietnamese children, were filled with C-drama and Japanese manga (Talk about manga, Doraemon, Inuyasha, Rurouni Kenshin and Slamdunk are my all-time favorites :D). I can still vividly recall our family snuggling together in front of the TV set, watching with excitement from 还珠格格 (Princess Pearl) to 宰相刘罗锅(The Hunchback Prime Minister Liu) to 包青天(Justice Bao) to 梁山伯与祝英台(The butterfly lovers?). And don't even get me started on the  四大名著 (The four great novels of the Chinese literature)... I think you guys can have a pretty good picture of the prevalence of C-drama in the TV lives of most Vietnamese people in the 90s. Those dramas, mostly about Chinese history and literature were such a big hits in Vietnam. They were so famous, to the point that Vietnamese people can comprehend most of the historical and cultural references, especially from the Great four books, especially about 三国演义(Romance of the three kingdoms). It is also not uncommon for us to use those references in our daily lives.

One a site note, for those who ask "what about the oh-so-mighty Korean wave that washed over Asia at that time??"... Well, the Hallyu/Korean wave only swept through Vietnam in '98, '99 and early 2000s while the the C-dramas were there ever since I can remember (I was born in '89). Besides, my dad totally despised K-drama, denouncing them as superficial, meaningless and a total waste of time. Until I was a senior in high school, I only saw like 2 or 3 K-dramas :(

Okay, now you ask "what does this thing have anything to do with Cpop or the title of this post???" My answer: THE SOUNDTRACK. To list all my favorite C-drama and their soundtracks and the reasons why I like love them would take at least 10 posts. So I'm gonna slowly introduce to you some of my favorite shows and songs in the future :). The one I'm giving you today is from my all-time favorite drama Justice Bao:

新鸳鸯蝴蝶梦 by 黄安 (the ending piece for 包青天/Justice Bao)

-About the movie: 包青天 or Justice Bao is like the early Asian version of 24h/CSI or any US legal drama, only no sex scenes, no swearing and with much much better song :D The 236-episode drama (gasp) surrounds the life of Bao Zheng (包拯), a much-vaunted official in the Song Dynasty for his righteousness, his compassionate heart and careful, thrilling investigation and his standing up to other powerful and corrupt officials in the society. It's worth noticing though, that most of the cases in the movies are largely fictionalized. Anyway, it should not dampen your enjoyment when watching it (provided you have the time! Hehe I'm so happy I watched all of them when I was small). In modern China, Bao Zheng is the symbol of justice!

-About the song: the name is Xin yuanyang hudie meng (新鸳鸯蝴蝶梦). Don't force me to translate it for you, I don't know how to convey all of the meaning and nuances in the title. Let's just say it roughly means dream of two lovebirds =.=

The lyric is beyond beautiful! (For Chinese learners, the video includes the traditional lyrics, so yay, we can sing along just fine). My favorite part is the the two sentences "抽刀断水水更流 举杯浇愁愁更愁"  taken from a very famous poem by the greatest Chinese poet Li Bai. It really adds this poignant sense to the song!

Huang An/黄安 is the singer. I sincerely think this is his one-hit wonder as I can't seem to find his other songs measure up to this one.

Justice Bao is a drama worth watching. The legacy of Bao Zheng is so far reaching that since the overwhelming success of Justice Bao, more and more movies about his early life/his cases have been spawn out. Some movie makers even attempt to remake this one but I doubt any future remake can hold a candle to the original!!!!! I highly recommend this series to anyone who is studying Chinese, interested in C-drama or simply wants to try something such a staple in another culture!!!!

Oh, and great week ahead everyone!!!!!!