Overview
Chinese Name: 渔舟唱晚
English Name: Fishermen’s Song at Eventide
Composer: Lou ShuHua 娄树华 or Jin Zhuonan 金灼南
Fishermen’s Song at Eventide is the most popular and influential Chinese Zither(古筝) music in China. Almost every Chinese is familiar with the melody of this song. Because it is the background music of China CCTV TV program “Weather Forecast(天气预报)”.
However, the “Fishermen’s Song at Eventide” used in “Weather Forecast” is an electronic organ version, in fact it is a piece of music made for Chinese Zither (古筝).
What is Guzheng?
Chinese zither, also known as Guzheng, Hanzheng, Qinzheng, Yaozheng, and Luanzheng, is a zither instrument among the traditional Chinese musical instruments of the Han nationality, belonging to plucked instruments. It is one of the unique and important national musical instruments in China. The guzheng structure is composed of a front panel, strings, Qianyueshan, string nails, tuning box, piano feet, Houyueshan, side panels, sound outlets, bottom plates, and string holes.
Composition Background of Fishermen’s Song at Eventide
The title of ” Fishermen’s Song at Eventide ” is derived from the sentence “渔舟唱晚，响穷彭蠡之滨” in “the Preface to Tengwang Pavilion《滕王阁序》” by Wang Bo王勃 of the Tang Dynasty.
The music depicts a moving picture of fishermen returning with songs under the sunset glow. At the beginning of the music, with beautiful and elegant tunes and soothing rhythm, it depicts a picture of the sunset reflecting thousands of hectares of blue waves. Then, with the theme of music as the material, the music is lively and interesting. When it changes again and again, it uses the rotation of the pentatonic scale to surround a beautiful melody falling layer by layer. This melody is not only very stylistic, but also very beautiful and beautiful. It is really interesting to “sing late”. Finally, the melody of first rising and then falling is connected into a circle, which is repeated for many times, and the speed is accelerated step by step, which shows that the happy fishermen are at ease, pieces of white sails drift with the waves, and the fishing boat returns with full load. This poetic Zheng music has been adapted into Gaohu, guzheng duet, violin solo and flute solo.
Controversial Opinion of the Composer
There are different opinions on the origin of the music. One is that Lou Shuhua, a guzheng artist in the mid-1930s, adapted it from the ancient song “Return” in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the other is that Jin Zhuonan, a guzheng artist in Shandong, adapted the folk traditional song “Shuangban” and other music in his hometown in his early years. The first half of the widely circulated Lou Ben is the same as the Jin version, and the second half is unique to Lou version.