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王力宏牛津大學英語演講稿
Thank you, Plena. Thank you, Jun. Thank you, Peishan for helping this set up.
謝謝波琳娜,謝謝君,謝謝珮姍幫我組織這一切。
Thank you all for being here today and the late comers as well. Thank you for coming in quietly.
謝謝在座的各位,謝謝晚來的同學,也謝謝你們悄悄的進來。
I wanna start off today just to take a moment of silence for the victims of the Sichuanearthquake and also for the victims of the Boston marathon bombing. So let’s just take aminute to pay our respect to that.
今天開始之前,我想要先為四川地震的災民們以及波士頓馬拉松爆炸事件的受害者們默哀。讓我們用一分鐘時間,為他們祈福。
Thank you.
謝謝你們。
I never thought I would be addressing you, the esteemed members of the Oxford Union,without a guitar or an Erhu, without my crazy stage hair, costumes. But I did perform in theO2 Arena in London last week. I am not sure if any of you were able to make that. But in manyways, that was similar to what I’m talking about today, that is, introducing Chinese pop musichere.
尊敬的各位牛津大學辯論會和牛津大學亞太學生會的同學們,萬萬想不到會以這樣的方式跟你們相聚。沒有吉他和二胡,沒有夸張的舞臺裝也沒有“火力全開”頭。不過上周確實在倫敦的O2體育館表演過了。不知道大家有沒有去看呢。 但是,從各方面來說,這些跟我們今天的話題都有密切的關聯。那就是-介紹華流音樂。
See, I am actually an ambassador of Chinese pop, whether I like it or not, both music andmovies. And today I’m here to give you the state of union address. It’s not the Oxford Union.It’s the union of east and west. I wanna frankly, openly and honestly talk about how we’ve donea good job or how we’ve done a bad job of bringing Chinese pop to the west. And I also want topress upon all of you here today the importance of that soft culture, that soft power exchangeand how each of us is involved in that exchange.
其實無論我喜不喜歡,我都被認為在代表者華流音樂以及電影。那么今天,我就要來做一次“國情咨文”報告了。但是,這個“國”不是牛津,而是東西方的一個聯合體。我想跟你們聊一聊,我們在將華語音樂引入西方社會方面所做的事情,無論是成就,還是不足。我都會坦誠布公。同時,我也想借此機會給你們留下這樣一個印記:軟實力交流的重要性以及它同我們每個人的相關程度。
Soft power, a term I am sure you are all familiar with this point
軟實力這個詞我相信大家都不陌生。這個概念是由Rhodes Scholar 和牛津校友Joseph Nye 提出的。
Coined by Rhodes Scholar and Oxford alumnus Joseph Nye is defined as the ability to attractand persuade.
被定義為一種“吸引”和“說服”的能力。
Shashi Tharoor called it, in a recent TED Talk, the ability for a culture to tell a compellingstory and influence others to fall in love with it.
Shashi Tharoor 在最近的一次TED演講中把它定義為“一種文化讓其他文化在聽了他動人的故事之后受到影響并愛上這種文化”的能力。
I like that definition.
我很喜歡這個定義。
But I want to put it in collegiate term for all you students in the audience: The way I see it,east and west are kinda like freshman roommates.
但是我想用貼近你們在做大學生們的方式來解釋這個詞。在我看來,東方跟西方在某種程度上,像是兩個大一剛入學的新生舍友。
You don’t know a lot about each other but suddenly you are living together in the same room.And each one is scared that the other’s gonna steal his shower time or wants a party when theother wants to study.
兩個幾乎陌生的人,突然來到同一個屋檐下,其中一個總是怕另一個會跟他搶洗澡的時間,或者在他想要學習的時候大開趴體。
It has the potential to be absolute hell, doesn’t it? We all had horrible stories of THATroommate. We’ve all heard about those stories. I know a lot of students here in Oxford haveyour own separate bedrooms. But when I was a freshman at Williams College, I was not so safeand fortunate.
這種關系很可能就變成跟地獄一樣了,不是么?“我的室友是極品”的故事大家都講得出來。這些事我都有耳聞。還有我知道牛津這兒的很多同學都一人一間的對吧,但是,在我剛上威廉姆斯學院的時候,我并不幸運,而且人身安全堪憂。
(You are kidding me. Woo-hoo! All right, all right!Great. )
哇,你還真的是我們學校的!好吧,好棒!
Well, I had a roommate, and he was THAT roommate. Let’s just call him Frank. So Frank wasmy roommate and Frank liked nothing more than to smoke weed. And he did it every day.
我當時就有一個這樣的極品舍友,讓我們暫且叫他frank。這個frank 就是那種好像除了抽大的麻沒有別的愛好的人。而且他每天都抽。
And Frank had a two-foot long bong under his bed that was constantly being fired up. Forthose Chiese speakers in the audience. Frank would “火力全開” on that bong every day.
他床底下有一個兩英尺長的煙斗,持續不斷的得點著。給在做講中文的同學們形容下,就是他每天會對著那個煙斗火力全開
All right
好吧。
So, I guess I was kinda of the opposite of Bill Clinton who “tried marijuana but didn’t inhale”. Ididn’t try marijuana but I did inhale, every single day, second hand. And strangely enoughevery time I dwelt into our bedroom, I mysteriously end up being late for class. I don’t knowhow it happened. It was like “Dude, it is already ten o’clock?”.
我可能在這點上算是跟Bill Clinton 相反吧。Bill Clinton 是那種“我試過大的麻,但我不上癮!蔽也怀榇蟮穆,但是我每天都在吸啊吸,而且還是二手的。奇怪的是,只要我在我們的臥室里,我最后都會稀里糊涂地上課遲到。我也不知道怎么回事。我當時就是那副吸了大的麻的樣子,嘿,已經十點了嗎?
So, how many of you have lived with the Frank, or could be a Frank Gat? Having a roommatecan be a recipe for disaster, but it also has the potential for being the greatest friendshipyou’ve ever had. See, Frank, he didn’t make it the second year. And I got two new roommatessecond year, Stephen and Jason. And in this day, the three of us are the best friends.
你們中有多少人有過frank那樣的舍友呢?或者,你們也像他一樣。所以有一個室友可能是一場災難的開始。但也可能會釀造一段非凡的友誼。Frank第二年就輟學了。于是我換了兩個新的舍友,Stefan 和 Jason。如今,我們三個是鐵哥們。
So going back to my analogy, of east and west as roommates. Do we want to be Frank, or do wewant to be Stephen and Jason? And I think, in this day and age of 2013, we should all bestriving for the latter, should we…I mean I’m assuming that we all agree that this is the goalwe should all be striving for.
回過頭來看我的那個類比,我們東方和西方的舍友。是應該成為frank那樣的存在,還是想像Stefan 和 Jason那樣呢?我認為在當時當下,在2013,我們應該努力成為后者。我們應該, 我是說,我想在這一目標上我們是可以達成共識的,對吧?
Let’s look at where we are in reality. Recent headlines in the media include, Foreign PolicyMagazine: China’s victim complex. Why are Chinese leaders so paranoid about the UnitedStates? Or the AFP, the Agence France-Presse, human rights in China worsening US finds.Bloomberg says, on the cover of its magazine, “yes, the Chinese Army is spying on you.”
那么,回過頭來,正視我們在現實中的處境?纯醋罱男侣勵^條:《外交政策》雜志上的,“中國的受害者情節:為何中國領導人如此猜忌美國”或者法新社的財經雜志《彭博商業周刊》上說,“沒錯,中國軍隊正在測探你!
And it’s such a great one that I just want to show you the cover of the magazine. Yes. Be veryafraid! Ok, is it shown to you right? OK. So there’s actually an extremely high amount ofnegativity and fear and anxiety about China, sinophobia, that I think is not just misinformed,but also misleading and ultimately dangerous, very dangerous.
這個特別逗,我來給你們展示一下這封面。是的,特別恐慌有木有!方向那對的吧,嗯,對的。當今對于中國有太多的負面東西。恐華情緒很嚴重。我覺得這種現象不僅是一種誤傳同時也是一種誤導。這是很可怕的,超級可怕。
And what about how westerners are viewed by Chinese? Well, we have terms for westerners.The most common of which are gweilo in Cantonese, which means “the old devil”, lao wai,meaning the old outsider in mandarin, ang moh, which means the “red hairy one” in Taiwanese.The list goes on and on. So are these roommates headed for a best friend relationship? I thinkwe need a little help. And as China rises to be global power, I think it is more important thanever for us to be discerning about what we believe, because after all, I think that’s the purposeof higher education.
那么,中國人又是如何看待西方的呢?我們對西方人的稱呼五花八門。大家熟知的有:香港人叫他們“鬼佬”,字面上就是“老妖”。大陸人叫他們老外,字面上就是“蠻夷”。還有臺灣人叫他們“紅毛”。還真說不完呢。這看上去像是能發展成一段最佳友誼的舍友關系嗎?我認為我們得治治病。隨著中國實力不斷強大,看清楚應該相信什么這一點空前重要。因為,歸根結底,這就是高等教育的目的。
And that’s why we are all here: to be able to think for ourselves and make our own decisions.China’s not just those headlines, the burgeoning economy of the unique politics. It’s not justthe world’s factory or the next big superpower, it’s so much more. A billion people with richculture, amazing stories and as a product of both of those cultures, I want to help fosterunderstanding between the two, and help create that incredible relationship.
這就是我們坐在這里的原因:有能力獨立思考,自主選擇。中國當然不能通過那些新聞頭條來定義。也不只是所謂的特殊政策下快速增長的經濟。中國不僅僅是一個世界工廠,也不僅僅是未來超級大國。中國的意義價值遠大于此。一個擁有十幾億人口,豐富悠久的歷史文化與傳奇故事的民族。作為中西兩種文化的共同產物,我特別想要幫忙在兩種文化之間培養起一種互相的理解,建立起一種很美好的情誼。
Because knowing both sides of the coin, I really think that there is a love story waiting to betold, waiting to unfold. And I am only half-joking when I said love story because I believe it is,the stories that will save us, will bring us together. And my thesis statement for today’s talk isthat, the relationship between the east and west needs to be and can be fixed via pop culture.That’s a big fat plan. And I am gotta trying to back it up!
但凡事都有兩面,所以我認為這背后蘊含著一個亟待講述的愛情故事。我說“愛情故事”不完全在說笑。因為我相信,這些關于愛的故事能夠拯救我們,把我們凝聚在一起。我今天講的主題就是,通過流行文化修復東西方世界的關系。好宏偉的計劃有木有啊!我會想辦法講明白的。
The UN Secretary general Bunki Boo said: “There are no language required in musical world.”That is the power of music. That is the power of the heart. Through this promotion of arts, wecan better understand that the culture and civilizations of other people. In this era ofinstability and intolerance, we need to promote better understanding through the power ofmusic.
聯合國秘書長潘基文說過,在音樂的世界里,溝通時無需語言的。這就是音樂的力量。這就是人心的力量。通過發揚藝術,我們才能夠更好的了解其他民族的文明與文化。在這個動蕩不安,人與人之間不甚寬容的年代,我們需要利用音樂的力量來更好的了解彼此。
Now the UN Secretary General thinks we need more music, and I think he is right. Music andarts have always played the key role in my life in building relationships, replacing what once wasthe ignorance, fear and hatred with acceptance, friendships and even love. So I have astrong case for promoting music between cultures because it happened to me early in life.
聯合國秘書長認為我們需要更多的音樂。這一點我很贊同。音樂和藝術一直在我的生命中占據著很重要的地位。音樂和藝術的力量能夠幫助建立人與人之間的關系,用包容,友誼和愛來驅逐因為無知的仇恨而產生的恐懼。在不同文化之間推廣音樂這一點上,我自己的童年時期的經歷是一個最好的例證。
I was born and raised in Rochester, New York. I barely spoke a word of Chinese. I didn’t knowthe difference between Taiwan or Thailand. I was… That’s true. I was as American as apple pie.Until one day, on a third grade playground, the inevitable finally happened. I got teased forbeing Chinese. Now every kid gets teased or made fun on the playground, but this wasfundamentally different. And I knew it right then and there. This kid, let’s call him Bryan M. Hestarted making fun of me, saying “ Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, look at these.” I can’tbelieve you are laughing at that and that hurts. OK, I am just kidding. I can still remember howI felt. I felt ashamed. I felt embarrassed.
我在紐約的羅切斯特長大,幾乎不會說中文。我連“臺灣”和“泰國”這兩個詞都分不清楚。那是真的!我那時是個地地道道的美國人。直到我上了三年級,有一天在操場上,不可避免的事情終于發生了。因為中國人的血統,我第一次被人嘲笑了。當然一起玩的小孩都會互相戲弄開玩笑,但這次絕對不同。這點當時我立馬就感覺到了。我們暫且管那個孩子叫Bryan M吧。它開始嘲笑我說,中國人,日本人,臟膝蓋,快來看。(英文還押韻)你們居然還笑,我太受傷了!好吧,我只是開個玩笑。我依然能夠記得我當時的感覺。我感覺特別丟臉,特別尷尬。
But I laughed along with him, with everyone. I didn’t know what else to do. It was like having aout-of-body experience, as if I could laugh at that Chinese kid on the playground with all theother Americans because I was one of them. Right? Wrong. On may levels.
但是我當時跟著所有其他人一直在笑。年幼的我并不知道該怎么辦。當時感覺好像靈魂出竅一樣。好像我能夠和操場上其他美國孩子一起嘲笑中國人,我就是他們當中一員了。這種想法可取嗎?當然不可取,而且是大錯特錯。
And I was facing in front of the first but definitely not the last time, the harsh reality that Iwas minority in Rochester, which in those days had an Asian population of one percent.
那是我第一次感受到一件殘酷而現實的事實。我屬于一個少數群體,但那絕不是最后一次。在那個時代的羅切斯特,亞洲人口特別少,幾乎之占當地人口的百分之一。
And I was confused. I wanted to punch Brian. I wanted to hurt him for putting me in thatsituation. But he was faster than me and he was stronger than me. And he would kick my buttand we both knew that. So I just took it in. And I didn’t tell anyone or share with anyone thesefeelings. I just held them in and I let them fester. And those feelings would surface in astrangely therapeutic way for me through music. And it was no coincidence that around thattime I started getting good with the violin, the guitar, and the drums. And I would soondiscover that by playing music or singing, other kids would, for a brief moment, forget aboutmy race or color and accept me and then be able to see me for who I truly am, a human beingwho’s emotional, spiritual, curious about the world and has a need for love, just likeeveryone else.
我當時心里很亂,我很想把bryan 打一頓。他讓我陷入那種窘境,因此我也要讓他難過。但是他身材比我壯,出手也比我快。如果和他打架,我一定會被揍得更慘。這一點我們都知道。所以我就忍了下來。我從來沒有告訴過別人。也沒發泄什么感受。一直自己忍著,想讓他們爛在心底就好了。后來慢慢地,這些感受在音樂里竟然十分巧妙地把我治愈了。我那個時候對小提琴,吉他,鼓都越來越得心應手,當然不是巧合。我漸漸發現,當我演奏或者唱歌的時候,其他孩子便會忘記我的種族或我的膚色。而真正接受我,了解真正的我,哪怕只是一小會。每當這個時候,他們就會發現,我跟他們都是一樣的人。我也對世界充滿感性的好奇和想象,我也需要愛。
And by the six grade, guess who asked me if I would be the drummer for his band? Brian.And I said yes. And that’s when we together formed the elementary school rock band calledNirvana. I am not kidding. I wan in the rock band called Nirvana before Kurt Cobain’s Nirvanawas ever known. So when Nirvana came out, Bryan and I were like “Hey, he’s stealing ourname.” But, really what attracted me to music at this young age was just this and it’s still whatI love about music is that it breaks down the walls between us and shows us so quickly thetruth that we are much more alike than we are different. Then in high school, I learned thatmusic wasn’t just about connecting with other, like Bryan and I were connected through music.It was a powerful tool of influence and inspiration.
到了六年級的時候,猜猜誰拉我加入他的樂隊當鼓手?對,就是Bryan,我答應了。于是Bryan跟我一起,組成了我們小學的搖滾樂隊:涅槃樂隊。是真的我沒開玩笑。我們的樂隊在科特柯本的涅槃樂隊之前就有了。所以后來涅槃樂隊出道的時候,我跟Bryan還嚷嚷,嘿,他盜用我們的名字!所以在那么小的時候,我就發現了音樂的迷人之處。當然這迷人之處也是我至今熱愛音樂的原因之一。那就是,音樂能打破人與人之間的隔閡,能讓我們那么快就看到彼此的相似點,而不是那些不同之處。后來上了高中,我學到了更多,音樂不僅僅能夠溝通彼此,就像我跟Bryan通過音樂結緣一樣。它同時也是一股強大的影響他人,激勵他人的力量。
Sam Wayne was my high school janitor. He was an immigrant from Vietnam who barely spokea word of English. Sam scrubbed the floors and cleaned the bathrooms in our school for twentyyears. And he never talked to the kids and the kids never talked to Sam. But one day, beforethe opening night of our school’s annual musical, he walked up to me, holding a letter. And Iwas taken aback. I was thinking, “Why is Sam the janitor approaching me? And he gave me thisletter that I have kept to this day. It was scrawled in a shaky hand written in all in capitals. AndI read: “In all my years of working as a genitor at Sutherland, you are the first Asian boy thatplayed the lead role. I am gonna bring my six-year-old daughter to watch you perform tonightbecause I want her to see that Asians can be inspiring.” And that letter just floored me. I wasfifteen years old and I was absolutely stunned. That’s the first time I realized how music wasso important.
Sam Wayne是我們學校的門衛。他是越南僑民。幾乎從來不說英語。Sam在我們學校做了二十幾年的清潔工,擦地板,掃廁所。卻從來沒跟學生們說過話。學生們也從不跟他說話。但是一天,我們學校一年一度的音樂節前夕,sam找到我,手里拿著一封信。我嚇壞了,心里琢磨,門衛sam找我會有什么事?于是他遞給了我那封我至今保存的信。一看就是用顫抖的手寫下的潦草字跡。全都是大寫字母,信上寫著,我在這個學校當了那么多年門衛,你是我見過的第一個擔綱主唱的亞洲男孩。我今晚要帶我六歲的女兒來看你的演出。因為我想要她看到,我們亞洲人也可以帶給人好多正能量。我真的被那封信震驚了。十五歲的我當時就驚呆了。我第一次意識到,原來音樂如此重要。
With Bryan, music helped two kids who were initially enemies become friends. But with Sam,music went beyond the one-on-one. It was even a higher level. It influenced others I didn’teven know in ways I can never imagine. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to Sam, the janitor,to this day. He really is one of the people who helped me discover my life’s purpose. And I hadno idea that something I did could mean more than ever imagined to an immigrant fromVietnam who barely spoke English. Pop culture, music, and the other methods of story telling,movies, TV dramas, they are so key and they do connect us like me and Bryan and do influenceus and inspire us.
在Bryan那兒,他讓兩個本來是敵人的孩子成為了朋友,然而在sam這里,音樂的意義超過了個體的范疇,達到了一個更好的層次。音樂以我想不到的方式影響到我甚至完全不認識的人。我從頭至尾對門衛sam的感激是無法用語言來形容的。他真的算是幫助我發掘人生目標的人之一。我從來不知道我的一個小小的行為,能夠對這樣一位甚至從來不說英文的越南僑民產生如此大的影響。流行文化,音樂以及任何一種講述故事的方式包括電影,電視劇,他們都是如此的重要,連接著我們。比如Bryan和我,又真的在影響著我們,激勵著我們。
Then let’s take another look at this State of Union the east, west union, with this soft-powerbias. How is the soft power exchange between these two roommates? Are the songs in Englishthat become hits in China? For sure. How about movies? Well, there are so many…that Chinahas had to limit the number Hollywood movies imported into the country so that local films caneven have a chance at success. What about the flip side of that? The Chinese songs that have ahit in the west? Well…(YES!)
回過頭來再看看這個東西方的聯合體,是存在一種軟實力偏向的。東方和西方這兩個“舍友”之間的軟實力交流會是什么樣子的呢?有沒有在中國很紅的英文歌呢?當然有。英文電影呢?那就太多了。多到中國不得不限制好萊塢電影的引入,來給本土電影制造些成功的機會。那么反過來,又在西方很紅的華語歌曲嗎?
Heheha,Yeah, and movies. Well there was Crouching Tiger, that was thirteen years ago. And,well I think there is a bit of an imbalance here. And I think it’s a soft-power deficit, let’s callthat. I mean look in this direction. That is to say, the west influences the east more than viceversa. And forgive me for using east and west kind of loosely but I think it’s a lot easier to statethis than English-speaking language or the Asian speaking language… Chinese, or Cantonesespecifically, I think I’m making a generalization I hope you can go with me on this.
觀眾:江南style!王:哈哈,沒錯,還有電影。比如臥虎藏龍,那也是十三年前的事了。我覺得這當中有一種不平衡存在。我認為這是一種軟實力赤字,就這么叫吧。當我們放眼這個方向的時候,也就是說,西方對東方的影響遠遠大于東方對西方的。原諒我這里把東方和西方這兩個詞用的這么隨意。因為這比說,以英語為第一語言的國家,講中文或講粵語的地區,這樣的話方便點。我在使用一種概況化的表達方式。希望你們能理解。
And it’s interestingly a problem with this imbalance in pop cultural influence. And I think so. Ithink in any healthy relationship or friendship or marriage, isn’t it important for both sides tomake an effort to understand the other? And that this exchange needs to have a healthybalance.
這種在流行文化影響方面的不平衡其實是個很有趣的問題。試想在任何一段健康的關系中,無論是友誼還是婚姻,雙方彼此努力去了解對方都再重要不過了,對嗎? 這種軟實力交換需要一種平衡。
And how do we address this? As an ambassador for Chinese pop music and movies, I have toask myself the question, Why does this deficit exist? Is it because Chinese music just is lame?Don’t answer that, please. Yeah I can just see some of you are really like: “Stop complaining!Write a hit song! Psy did!” you know.But actually there is truth in that.
那么如何做到這一點呢?作為中國流行文化大使,我必須問自己這樣一個問題,為什么會存在這種軟實力赤字?是因為華語音樂真的很爛嗎?求你們了別回答這個問題。我看得出你們當中肯定有人在嘀咕:別發牢騷了!寫首勁歌吧!鳥叔不就做到了嗎?事實上這背后是有點道理的。
And the argument being that the content we’ve created just isn’t as internationallycompetitive. And why shouldn’t be? Well, look at Korean pop, look at K-pop for example.Korean is an export-based economy and they are outward looking.
一種說法是,我們所創作的內容,沒有足夠的國際競爭力。為什么就沒有呢?那么,我們以韓流音樂為例。韓國的經濟是以出口為導向的。他們的眼光是面向世界的。
And they must be outward looking. Chinese pop, on the other hand, can just kind of staydomestic, tour all over Chinese-speaking territories and comfortably sustained. So when weare, that big and powerful, there’re over 160 cities in China with a million or more people. Youtend to kind of turn inward and be complacent(自滿的).
事實上他們也必須面向世界。而華語流行音樂,僅憑借在中國國內發展以及在華語國家和地區舉辦巡演,就能夠堅挺下去。而中國,正是由于是一個泱泱大國,市場潛力巨大,又有著160萬個人口超過百萬的城市,華語音樂確實有內化和固步自封的傾向。
So this certainly can be an argument made for Chinese pop being not marked with internationalsensibilities in mind. But the other side of the argument, I think is more interesting andthought-provoking and even more true that western ears aren’t familiar with, and thereforedon’t really understand how to appreciate Chinese music. Ouch!
所以華語流行音樂缺乏在國際市場競爭的敏感性這一觀點是成立的。不過我認為這一議題的另一方面,更為有趣,更發人深省也更為真實。那就是西方聽眾并不熟悉華語音樂。因此并不懂得如何去欣賞華語音樂。哦好傷人啊!
OK, the reason I think that argument holds water though is because that’s exactly what I wentthrough. So I happen to know a thing or two about learning to appreciate Chinese pop as awesterner. Cause as I was 17 years old when I went from being the Asian kid in America tobeing an American kid in China. And the entire paradigm suddenly got flipped on its head.
我之所以認為這種論調其實站得住腳,是因為我本人恰巧有過這般經歷。因此我對“西方人如何學著欣賞華語流行音樂”這個問題還是要一定發言權的。在17歲之前,我是一個身處美國的亞洲小孩。17歲之后,我變成了一個身處亞洲的美國孩子。情況完全顛倒了過來。
I grow up listening to Beatie Boyz, Led Zeppelin, Guns N’ Roses. Then I found myself in Taiwan,listening to the radio and thinking, where’s the beat? Where is the screeching(呼嘯聲) guitarsolos? And here I am an American kid in Asia, listening to Chinese music for the first time andthinking “this stuff is lamb. I don’t like it.” I thought it was cheesy, production value was low.The singers couldn’t belt like Axl Rose, or Mariah Carey. But then one day, I went to my firstChinese pop concert and it was Yu Chengqing, Harlem Yu, performing in 臺北社教館the TaibeiMusic Center.
以前我是聽著Beatie Boyz, Led Zeppelin,槍花長大的。但是到了臺灣之后,我常邊聽音樂邊想, 這音樂怎么一點節奏感沒有!華麗的吉他獨奏在哪里!所以,作為一個在亞洲的美國孩子,我剛開始接觸到華語音樂的時候心里的想法是,這音樂太遜了,我不喜歡。我覺得這些歌都太不給力了。制作價值太低。這些歌手就是沒有Axl Rose (槍花主唱)或者Mariah Carey 那么會飆高音。直到有一天,我聽了人生中第一場華流演唱會。是庾澄慶,哈林。在臺北音樂中心的那場。
And as he performed, I looked around the audience and I saw their faces and the look in theireyes, their responsiveness to his music. And it was clear to me, finally, where the problem lay.It wasn’t that the music was lacking. It was my ability to appreciate it and to hear it in theright way. The crowd, they would sing along and be totally emerged in his music and I had thisepiphany(頓悟) that I was missing point. And from now on, I was going to, somehow, learnhow to get it.
當他表演時,我看到臺下觀眾臉上的表情,眼神 和他們對音樂的那種熱烈響應。我總算知道問題出在哪里了。并不是華語音樂缺少什么,而是我不能夠正確的聆聽和欣賞它。看到臺下的人群跟著哈林一起唱并且完全沉浸在他的音樂里的時候,我頓悟到,我起初沒有很好的理解。我現在應該開始學著如何領悟它們。
I was going to learn how to hear with local ears and I deconstructed and analyzed what it wasthat made Chinese audiences connect with certain types of melodies and rhythms and songsstructures and lyrics. That’s what I’ve been doing for the past almost twenty years. And it tookme a long time and I am still learning.
如何用“當地的”耳朵去聽音樂。我開始解構,分析,是什么讓華語聽眾對某種旋律,歌曲的結構或者歌詞產生共鳴。在過去二十年我一直在做這樣的工作。真是路漫漫,至今我還在學習中。
But at some point, I not only began to be able to appreciate the music, but I started beingable to contribute to it. And I created my own fresh spins on the tried and true. And I thinkthis happens to everyone, really, who is on the outside looking in, it always looks strange if youlook at things from your perspective. You’re always gonna think that these people areweirdoes(古怪的人).What’s wrong with them? Why are they listening to this stuff? And I amsaying that you can make an effort and get it. It can be done and I am a living proof for that.And as an ambassador of Chinese pop, I am trying to get people to open up to a sound thatthey may not feel as palatable(使人愉悅的,隨人心愿的) at the first time listen. What elseshould we do to reduce imbalance in our popular cultures?
而從某刻開始,我不僅能欣賞華語音樂了,而且能夠開始做出自己的貢獻。開始嘗試和創造自己的風格。作為外觀者,每個人都會這樣。如果僅從自己的角度出發看問題,你總是會覺得外面的世界很奇怪。你總會覺得別人是異類。他們是怎么了?怎么會聽這些東西?而我想說的是,只要你跨出去一步,就會有收獲。并且我用自己的親身經歷證明,這是能夠做到了。作為華語音樂大使,我一直在努力讓人們開放接受,那些也許最初聽上去并不喜歡的音樂,那么我們還能做些什么,來減少這種流行文化中的不平衡呢?
Well, maybe give a talk of the Oxford union, tour more outside of China? But seriously, actuallyI think the tides are already starting to change very slowly, very cautiously, almostcalculatingly. You see more cross-cultural exchange now, more interest in China, definitely alot of joint ventures, a lot of co-productions in recent years, Iron Man 3, Transformers FiftyThree, Resident Evil… Really it’s beginning to be kind of a world pop. And that’s what I amlooking forward to, and that’s what I am focusing on these days. There was J-pop, there was K-pop, there‘sC-pop. And there’s like this W-pop, that’s kind of starting to emerge. This worldpop. And I think. Yeah, I love that idea. It’s not world music. It’s not. It’s world pop. And Ithink… yeah I love that idea that it’s not world music. It’s not like… there used to be sectionHMV called world music Now it’s like ethnomusicology (人種音樂學) musical class in college.
比如說,為牛津亞太學生會做演講,或者在中國以外的地方開演唱會?但說真的,其實我覺得這種不平衡的趨勢,正在開始發生微妙的,緩慢的,小心的,謹慎的變化。你們能夠看到目前中國有很多跨文化的交流,外商漸漸視中國為寶地,近年來不乏很多跨國公司和合作成果,鋼鐵俠3,無數部變形金剛,生化危機……真的已經形成一種世界流行文化了。這正是我期待看到的,也是我最近專注的內容。之前我們有日流,韓流,華流,現在這種世界流正在慢慢興起。這就是世界流,我覺得。。。是的,我很喜歡這么個說法,就是世界流并不是世界音樂,不是像。。。HMV之前有一個類別叫世界音樂。有點像音樂學院的“民族音樂學”課程的分類方式。
No, but world pop is more about breaking and turning down age-old stereotypes, the artificialconfines that have kept us apart for way too long. It’s a melting pot and it’s mosaic that evenwhen we look up close, we’d still see the colors and flavors of each culture in detail. And wherecan we go to listen to world pop? I don’t think there is a world pop station or a magazine,unfortunately, there are none- there should be.
但世界流不是這樣的,這個概念打破了陳規舊俗,沖開了藝術上那些一直阻礙在我們之間的界限。這就像一個大熔爐,一個馬賽克拼圖。如果我們仔細看,是可以領略到每種文化的不同風格和特色的。那么我們通過什么途徑可以聽到“世界流”音樂呢?并不存在這樣一本世界流音樂雜志或一個平臺,很不幸,當然這些是應該有的。
But there is the Internet and has proven to be a driving force for world pop. Britain’sGot Talent made Susan Boyle the hottest act in the world. And she achieved that not throughthe record labels or the networks but through grassroots sharing. Gangnam Style is anothergreat example how that just took over and became a huge worldwide world pop phenomenon.So world pop also suggests a worldwide pop culture and something that can be shared by all ofus and give us a lot of common ground.
不過還好,我們有互聯網,比如油管就是一個推廣世界流音樂的中堅力量。蘇珊大媽是通過英國達人秀走紅的,她的成功不是通過唱片公司或者音樂圈的網絡,而是走的草根路線。江南style也是一個很棒的范例,能成為一種掀起全球狂潮的文化現象。所以世界流,意味著一種世界范圍內的流行文化,能讓全人類共享,給我們提供了一個共通點。
So today, what’s my called action? I wanna improve a multicultural exchange between the eastand the west. I think I have made that clear, but how? I think… you can all become pop singers.Really…I think that’s the answer. No, I am just kidding. Unless that’s what you really wanna do.My called action is this: build and protect that roommate relationship between the east and thewest. Value this relationship and take ownership of it. Don’t come to Oxford as an exchangestudent from Taiwan and only hang out with other Chinese students. Why would you do that?You could do that back in Wuhan or Nanjing or wherever you came from.
于是今天,我的號召是什么呢?我想要幫助推進東西方之間的多元文化交流。這一點我想我已經表達的很清楚了,但是如何做到呢?我覺著吧,你們都可以出道嘛,這樣就好了。我開個玩笑。不過如果成為歌手真的是你想做的事情那就另當別論了。我在此,號召各位,請務必在東方與西方橫亙的隔閡間,建立一種室友般的情誼。并且能盡所能及的保護這份情誼,珍惜它,擁有它。千萬不要千里迢迢從臺灣跑來牛津大學當交換生還一天到晚只和中國學生聚一塊。你說你這是干嘛對吧?這些事你在武漢,在南京,在老家的時候都能做對吧。
Don’t buy into the headlines or the stereotypes or into the hyper nationalism. Think foryourselves, and this goes for the East and West both. Get to know one another and think foryourselves and don’t believe the hype. For a moment, if we could just disregard thegovernments, and what the media are saying, just for the sake of the argument, with our owntools of critical thinking, can we build relationships that actually see one another as individualhuman beings and not faceless members of a particular ethnicity or nationality? Of course wecan do that. And that’s the goal and dream, I think of the romantic artists and the musicians.I think it’s always been there. And that’s what I wish for, and that’s what makes music and artso powerful and so true, and breaks down instantly and disintegrates all the artificial barriersthat we’ve created between each other, government, nationality, black, brown, yellow, white,whatever color you are, and shows each other our hearts, our fears, our hopes and our dreams.And it turns out in the end the East isn’t that far after all. And the West, well, ain’t so wild.
那些標題黨,那些陳詞濫調,那些超民族主義,別買他們的賬。你應當學會自己判斷,這個原則同樣適用于研究東西方。把一件件來龍去脈搞清楚,獨立思考,對那些天花亂墜的東西不要偏聽則信。要是哪一天,你能做到漠視政府的鼓吹,忽視媒體的通稿,據理力爭只為真理,動用“批判思維”的武器,是不是就能建立起那份情誼了呢?到那時,每個人都是獨立的個體,個人不再是隸屬于某個種族或是國家的無臉人?我們當然能做到。這是目標,也是理想。這是浪漫藝術家和音樂人亙古不變的初心。也是我想要極力撮成的一種情誼。正因如此,音樂和藝術的力量才這樣強大,這樣真切。正是這些力量讓橫亙期間的壁壘土崩瓦解。那些我們在彼此之間人為制造的隔閡,政府或者國籍,膚色。黑色,棕色,黃色和白色,無論哪一種膚色。也是這些力量讓我們能夠單程我們的內心,我們的恐懼,我們的希望,我們的夢想。最終我們就會發現,“遠東”也并沒有那么遙遠。西方也并非都是蠻荒一片。
And through understanding each other’s popular cultures, we gain insight in each other’shearts and true selves. For those of you who are just beginning that journey, the West andEast, I want to invite you today on this amazing journey with me. And I, as an experiencedtraveler on this road, on the West and East road, I’ve prepared a mix-tape for all of you today,of then songs that I love, there, that’s a C-pop mix-tape. That you can check out. I was goingto bring you all CDs, but my publicist reminded me lovingly that would be illegal. So becauseI’m a professional recording artist, I shouldn’t do that. But actually the link works out nicely,because you get to see the music videos as well on a lot of these songs.
通過了解彼此的流行文化,探到彼此的內心,觸碰彼此的靈魂。如果你們正想踏上這條貫通東西的征途,我誠摯的邀請你們和我一起加入這場奇幻之旅。作為在這條聯通東西方之間的路上還算有點經驗的人,我為你們準備了一只合集的卡帶,里面收錄了十首我愛的華語流行音樂。看,你們感受一下。本來今天我是給你們每人準備了CD的,但是我的團隊好心提醒我說,這么做是不合法的。作為專業的專輯制作人,我可不能做這種事。不過這里的鏈接還是很好用的,因為這樣你們還能看到這些歌曲相應的MV。
And these ten songs are songs that I love and ten different Chinese artists to start you off ongetting to know and love Chinese pop. I think these guys are awesome and I hope you do too. Ijust wanna wrap up by saying that being here on the Oxford campus really makes menostalgic for my days at Williams. And when I look back on those four years, some of myfondest memories are spending time with my roommates Stephan Papiano and Jason Price. Infact, Jason is here in the audience today and nake this special trip form London just to see me.And I suppose in the beginning we were strangers. We didn’t know much about each other andsometimes we die compete for the shower. There were time when we did intrude on eachother’s privacy. But I always loved listening to Stephen’s stories about growing up in a Greekfamily and his opinions on what authentic Greek food really was. Or Jason’s stories aboutwanting to make violins and to live in Cremona, Italy like Antonio Stradivari and he did do that.
這10首我最愛的歌曲,來自不同的很棒的中國音樂人。我們就從他們開始了解入手中國的流行音樂吧!我覺得這些音樂人都很棒,希望你們也能喜歡。最后的最后,我只想說,現在置身于牛津大學校園,真的讓我不由的回憶起我在威廉姆斯大學的那段時光。當我回首那四年,我發現最值得回憶的,就是于室友Stephan Papiano和Jason Price共處的時光了。事實上呢,Jason就在觀眾席中。他專程從倫敦趕來看我。我在想,剛開始大家還是陌生人,我們對彼此不了解,有時候我們還會搶淋浴,甚至互相侵犯別人的隱私。但是我一直喜歡聽Stephen講他在一個希臘家庭里成長的故事。還有他眼里原汁原味的希臘菜應該長什么樣子;蚴荍ason的故事,說他渴望以做小提琴為生,生活在意大利的克雷默那,像安東尼奧特拉迪瓦那樣,而他的夢想后來真的實現了。
And I will never forget many years later when I played a Jason Price handmade violin for thefirst time and how that felt. They were always attentive and respectful when I tell them aboutwhat it was like for me growing up in a Chinese household with strict parents who made mestudy. So we shared stories, but the strongest bonds between us were formed just sittingaround and listening to music together. And I really do see that as a model for East and West.So that’s why I want to share Chinese music with you today because it’s the best way I knowhow to create the lasting friendships that transcend all barriers and allow us to know eachother truly, authentically and just as we are.
多年之后,我都無法忘記,我第一次拉“Jason Price”手工制作的小提琴時的場景,還有當時我內心的觸動。他們也總是那樣聚精會神,十分尊重的傾聽我的成長故事,如何在一個中國傳統家庭里長大。我的父母很嚴格,一直逼我學習。我們會互相分享各自的故事但是我們之間的紐帶系的最牢的時候卻是當我們單純的圍坐在一起聽音樂的時候,我真心覺得我們的例子,就是東西人互相理解并和諧共處的典范。因此,這就是為何我今天要與各位分享中國的音樂。因為據我所知,這是最好的一種方式,讓友誼地久天長。而這份友誼超越了所有的界限,讓我們真真切切的了解彼此,展現最真實的自己。
Thank you!
謝謝大家!
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