When it comes to the Spring Festival Gala, which song will you immediately think of?
"Unforgettable tonight, unforgettable tonight, no matter the end of the world or the corner of the world..." These few words seem to have their own voice and picture. Hearing this song is the Spring Festival Gala and the New Year.
If watching the Spring Festival Gala is the most ceremonial family event during the New Year, then "Unforgettable Tonight", which has been sung for decades, may be the most ceremonial song in the Spring Festival Gala. On the New Year's Eve of the Year of the Rabbit, this song was reinterpreted on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala of China Central Radio and Television. The song "Unforgettable Tonight" in the Year of the Rabbit became more light and lovely. , shaking ears, bouncing towards us from the green water and green mountains.
1. Why children's chorus?
Since the second CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 1984, "Unforgettable Tonight" sung by the famous singer Li Guyi has quickly won the love of hundreds of millions of Chinese audiences. "Shenzhou Thousands of Miles, One Embrace", the Chinese nation celebrates the Spring Festival together. No matter where we are, the singing voice full of affinity and cohesion expresses our common good wishes, and this song has become the repertoire of the Spring Festival Gala.
On the stage of this year's Spring Festival Gala, the main theme of "Unforgettable Tonight" was sung by children from the Beijing Philharmonic Choir, the Malanhua Children's Choir, and the Guoguo Choir of Zhongba Village, Xide County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province. This is also the first time that "Unforgettable Tonight" in the Spring Festival Gala does not have a professional singer as the lead singer, but uses the form of a cappella + multi-part children's chorus.
The director team revealed that this year's "Unforgettable Tonight" was caught in a dilemma: Mr. Li Guyi was just recovering from an illness and it was difficult to appear on stage; according to the traditional way of thinking, other singers were invited to sing, and the audience's feelings were often stuck in the comparison of whether Li Guyi looked like him or not. Rehearsal several times, the effect is not ideal. The director of the main station suggested that the director team should simply come up with a completely new style and create based on children's chorus. On the basis of using children's chorus at the beginning of the Spring Festival Gala, the children's voices will be used to bring the wind to the end again, and the whole show will be written as a big article that echoes from beginning to end.
Zhao Dazhi, the director of the Spring Festival Gala song and dance group, recalled: "In fact, at the earliest time, we contacted Mr. Li Guyi. Mr. Li was sick at the time and said that he might not be able to participate in the Spring Festival Gala this year. We said that we would wait. So during the first rehearsal, "Unforgettable" "Tonight" is still done according to the model that Teacher Li Guyi can participate in."
After the first rehearsal, the director team has been thinking about how to deal with the presentation of this song if Li Guyi cannot appear on stage?
Everyone has also proposed four to five singers to replace the singing, but for a song that has accumulated the memories and emotions of generations, this is far from enough. Director Haixiong immediately proposed to completely innovate the performance form, adding rhythmic a cappella (a cappella) as vocal accompaniment and harmony, and using children's voices to interpret the main theme of the song. After repeated optimization and adjustment, the vocal performance of "Unforgettable Tonight" is more vivid, the rich and distinct sounds collide and blend, exuding the beauty of harmonious and inclusive music, making the audience unforgettable and full of thoughts.
Different from the magnificent orchestral music, a cappella is sung purely by human voice, and its performance style is more popular and international. The chorus is a form of music performance that we have participated in more or less since we were young. It has a natural intimacy, coupled with the clear and simple children's singing, a new interpretation full of sense of the times and vitality, making this song on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala Classic songs glow with enduring charm.
2. How to create an innovative arrangement?
After several rehearsals, Zhao Dazhi, music director Zhao Lin and other main creators would give "Unforgettable Tonight" almost every time, "change the taste and see how it works". Zhao Dazhi said that during the fourth rehearsal and recording preparation, the children's chorus without acapella was originally used. "After this version came out, everyone felt that it was almost meaningless, and changed back to the form of a cappella + multi-part children's chorus."
How to use the form of a cappella to adapt this simple but long-lasting song into a longer work with a newer style, so that the audience can fully experience the unique temperament added to the song by a cappella and children's chorus? Wang Xinyue, music coordinator of the song and dance group of the Spring Festival Gala, and two arrangers Zhao Bo and Sun Yue tried various arrangements. Behind every trial and error and modification is a solid workload.
According to Wang Xinyue's statistics, from December 23 to the broadcast on New Year's Eve, "Unforgettable Tonight" went through a total of 17 versions, and finally presented a very complete acapella work on the stage of the New Year's Eve Spring Festival Gala.
Since a cappella is sung by a cappella, each re-arrangement must be written out track by track, and then sung in with human voice, which poses a great challenge to the speed and quality of the arrangement. Although the last version of the singing can only be heard on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, we believe that every version of the singing is full of sincerity and the fluffy and cuteness of the Year of the Rabbit.
The children who sang this song also faced the world's attention at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics a year ago, singing an ethereal and clear song of ice and snow. The Year of the Rabbit came, and this group of "little snowflakes" landed on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala. Wearing a warm bunny outfit, the singing seems to be warmer, swaying with the brisk rhythm, flying to the lights of thousands of homes and the vast sea of stars.
3. What colors are limited to the Year of the Rabbit?
The annual Spring Festival Gala limited edition "Unforgettable Tonight" will continue to update the "skin" every year with the theme of the Spring Festival Gala.
The theme of the Spring Festival Gala for the Year of the Rabbit at Headquarters, "Man Ting Fang" comes from the name of the Ci brand in the Song Dynasty, and the aesthetics of the Song Dynasty is famous for its simplicity and elegance. This year's "Unforgettable Tonight" turquoise screen adheres to the concept of freshness and elegance, and it is a series with the main red visual of this Spring Festival Gala, presenting the image of "full garden".
This whole set of key visuals is affectionately called "on duty" by the main creative team, and these "on duty" are displayed at important nodes such as the host interludes between shows, the countdown to zero, and "Unforgettable Tonight".
In the visual design of "Unforgettable Tonight", the circle in the center of the main screen adopts the form of a fusion of Ruyi pattern and bat pattern, which symbolizes the reserved and restrained character of the Chinese people, implying wishful thinking, good luck, peace, and auspiciousness. The visual design of the show includes blue and green. These two color systems are also taken from the "Prolonging Youth" and "Fushou Green" in the "Spring Festival Gala Color System Application Manual", expressing people's desire for evergreen and longevity. , Longevity prayers.
The main visual elements such as magnolia, white plum blossom and orchid in the blue fan symbolize nobility and elegance, implying "Jade House and wealth". The green fan vision uses simple and simple willow branches and begonias to imply "spring is warm and flowers are blooming".
The continuous green hills and pairs of swallows in the picture are consistent with the image in the lyrics of "the green hills are there, and people are not old", implying the melting of the ice and the rejuvenation of the earth, which also symbolizes people's happy new life. At this moment of saying goodbye to the old and ushering in the new, the visual images express the blessings for the development of the motherland and the good expectations for the future life with "Jade hall and wealth" and "Spring warmth and flowers blooming".
Some netizens said that the Spring Festival Gala has always used the same song, which is a sense of ritual unique to the Chinese. The main station insists on the stage with the largest audience in the world, and realizes the ritual sense of unforgettable and farewell tonight time and time again. Why are classics eternal? Adhering to the original intention and constantly bringing forth new ideas, the headquarter Spring Festival Gala will always make people curious and expectant.
As winter passes and spring comes, New Year's flowers will surely bloom. This is the promise of spring:
Regardless of whether you are a new friend or an old friend, we will invite you again next spring.
