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c Among all the great and meaningful music that were produced in China, I have

found ³Shanghai Nights´ produced in 1949, to be the most outstanding and significant

piece that attracts me the most, because it was produced before the Chinese Revolution

and was sung by the most popular female artiest at that time, named Zhou Xuan. Since a

lot of western cultures were introduced to Shanghai during the World War II, Shanghai

became an international city where western music genres met oriental artists. The song,

"Shanghai Nights", combined western instruments and traditional Chinese female vocal

type and turned out to be a very successful and famous one. ³Shanghai Nights´ was

describing the true phenomena under its flourish surface. The music was written by Chen

Gexin and the lyrics was written by Fan Yanqiao.

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the lyrics described Shanghai as a sleepless city where people were having night lives.

However, these night lives were for survival purposes only. On the surface, the city was

full of well-dressed people enjoying high class treatments; beneath that, the truth lies,

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where people just used luxuries and alcohol to anaesthetize themselvesand the thirst for

a brand new lifestyle and environment, furthermore to escape from the horrible memory

from the war. The music starts with a trumpet and accompanied by piano, cello/viola,

clarinet, and violin. The texture of the song is homophonic which a single independent

melodic line with accompaniment. The musical tonality of this song is major and the

intervals are consonant so the musical expression of it is bright. With the influence of the

Jazz music, "Shanghai nights" also has instruments solo. In the middle of the music,

piano, trumpet and violin solos one by one. When the solo instruments plays, other

instruments reduce their volume. From this song, the shadow of western music can been

seen.

The first time I have heard of ³Shanghai Nights´ was in a famous Chinese

Movie, where a beautiful singer stood in front of a crowd while others were having social

dances. I was immediately caught by the voice of the girl and by the sadness but

pretended to be happy of her facial expression. Even thought Zhou Xuan was not

recognized as the best singer of that time, she did not have a big vocal range but her voice

is very unique and well-liked by the public. Once one hears it, he/she may have difficulty

to move away from it, her voice is sweet and bitter, strong and weak, full of hopes and

also despair. Since then, I have fell in love with this piece of music and the singer, Zhou

Xuan. Further to explain my reasoning of my love for the song is the historical fact

behind it. In the year of 1936, Shanghai was just been emancipated from the Japanese

Government for half decade. The city was under terrified horror and been divided into

different concessions prior to the year of 1936, such as French Concession, one of the

most powerful concessions of that moment, British Concession, and much more. The

q
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Shanghai citizens just started to enjoy the happiness of being freed from Japan¶s horrified

governance after the city was been emancipated, the Chinese Revolution started right

away where the Communist Party and the Nationalist Party fought for the political power

in China. Along with the singer, Zhou Xuan¶s unique voice, as a new generation, I can

deeply experience and feel the desire of escaping from the political pressure.

Another reason of why I fell in love with this song is because the personal story

of the singer. She left Hong Kong when she was in the climax of her career and came to

Shanghai to help her people to survive through the war and fell in love with a young man.

The song also described the impossible relationship between two of them because the

political situation in China back then and also because of the fame of the singer. During

that time, female singers were considered not much better than prostitutes in China. She

once said: ³I seek no glories, but the simplest life if possible.´

In short, I would definitely recommend "Shanghai Nights" to others; in fact,

majority of my generation in China is very familiar with the singer and this piece of

music. In my opinion, ³Shanghai Nights´ reminds people that they should never forget

the history and should always learn from the history . More importantly, to treasure what

we have today and be grateful to the people who have given these to us in the past and

the present. After I have taken music 125, I am able to appreciate this music differently.

Before taking this course, I listened to music passively, just for pure enjoyment and

relaxation. But now, whenever I hear a song or a piece of music, I will explore deep into

it and listen actively. I will focus more on the type, texture, shape, rhythm, dynamics,

instruments that being played and the overall musical expression. And I'm also curious

about the background of the music such as who wrote the song; who sang the song;

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during what period was the song produced and so on. Comparing ³Shanghai Nights´

with my first concert report, I was able to personally present the live concert for the first

report therefore the feeling was quite different from just listening to music through a

media player. Also, for the first report, I had the chance to explore other audiences¶

expression toward the music for the concert; for ³Shanghai Nights´, it was up to me to

imagine the singer¶s feeling and what the environment would be like when the

performance was performed.

Last but not least, if I were a columnist reviewer writing for a famous magazine and

have the opportunity to attend a live musical event and heard ³Shanghai Nights´, here is

what I would write: ³ 'Shanghai Nights' is such an outstanding piece where fully

expresses the most accurate feeling of Chinese who are trying to be free and get away

from the political pressures. Furthermore, Zhou Xuan¶s unique voice has delicate the

lyrics well enough that people who listen to her would share and feel how she feels and

what the true meaning of the lyrics of ³Shanghai Nights". In the turbulent days of90¶s

Shanghai, everyone has to hide their true feelings in order to survive and always have to

support their livings even at the nighttime, no matter drunken or awaken.

!
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