戏曲村最后一个走书先生
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我这几天真有点发愁：正月里在低塘街道历山村唱了20天，接着便赶到东村去唱5天，再去下一个预约的邵巷村唱20天。可东村的听书迷听了不过瘾，要求把唱书的时间延长到25天，唱了20天走不出来，我怕邵巷村的书迷们不高兴，还真有点左右为难呢！
历山村我每年都要去两次，每次不下一个月，有的村一唱就是两个月。去年我在慈溪从8月开唱到大年廿七才收场，我今年的唱书预约已经排到了10月份，但预约电话还在打个不停。干我们这一行第一要紧的是守信用，谱好了的曲、说好了的事要规规矩矩去做。
听过我老宋唱书的都说越听越有味道，虽然在书场配乐的只有一把盲人拉的四弦胡，道具只有几把扇子，可我往台前一站，只要静木轻轻一拍，台下就立时鸦雀无声。
享受的是“明星”待遇
干我这一行最苦的是乍到一个新的村访时，因为当地人还没听过唱书，不知好赖，猛一看一个半老头加一个拉胡琴的瞎子，这能有啥看头?有时没人给搭台子，我只好往屋檐下面一站就唱开了。不过往往是胡琴一响，开口一唱，就不怕没人来，而且一两天苦下来，人就会越来越多，不少村都能来三五百人，多时院子里挤不下了，这时就有人提议搭台子让我唱书。如果老百姓主动帮你搭台子，就说明你在这村扎稳了，你下次再唱就不会让你站在屋檐底下日晒雨淋地受那份罪，他们会连住处都帮你安顿好，而且会有许多戏迷拉你去吃饭，他们开着奔驰、桑塔纳来接你，哈哈，先苦后甜哩！
我唱书一般在晚上，人多的时候台下黑压压的一片，有人放着《还珠格格》不看也要来听我宋百岳唱书。我在庵东唱了10天后又到胜山村唱，中间离了七八公里路，有不少人还偏偏追到胜山村来听呢，咱享受的可是“明星”待遇。
前几天我在胜山东村唱到清官海瑞就要被杀头时卖了个关子，打算第二天夜里再接着唱。却不料当夜就有十几个戏迷找到我的住处来替海瑞说情。嗨！我单凭一张嘴，哪会说杀就杀，说不杀就不杀呢？那些戏迷那可真叫痴，质问我：“海瑞为皇帝做过多少事、为国家立过多少功，这样的清官为什么要杀他？！”他们宁肯每人掏几十元钱，也让我在唱书中别把海瑞杀了。后来我说到海瑞真的被杀时，听者唱者都泪湿衣衫！……
人说我是个活的“音匣子”
我只读过两年半书，12岁开始就跟着父亲学“走书”。我的父亲宋月明是原上虞虞广绍剧团的一名小生演员，他不但戏唱得好，吹拉弹唱全都不在话下。在父亲的口传下，什么四平调、四季调、马灯调、五令调、杨青调等九调二十三腔我都学会了。
父亲去世后，他教给我的几出戏远不够我在宁绍平原上闯荡，因为已经听过我唱书的老观众我不能让他重复听老戏，所以有时我只得革新剧目。宁波走书三分说七分唱，花样很多，要表演得活灵活现不容易，我为了学新戏，我还到宁波市小百花艺术团的老师那里去讨教。
想想我刚跟父亲登台时，唱了两个村，肚子里的“存货”就见底了，现在我千般角色一人当，一口气能唱二十几出戏，可以连续4个月不重样，每出戏我都唱得滚瓜烂熟，所以别人说我像个活的“音匣子”
一打开就不会停下来。
过去的老先生传下来的东西不能简单复制，于是我就给它来个“活学活用”。这些年经我改编成唱词的就有《玉连环》《绿龙袍》《狄青五虎将》《金龙鞭》《杨家将全传》《绿牡丹》等十几部古书，不过我文化不高，书买回来好多字不认识，只得向字典求救。
我还经常创作一些配合形势的唱词，穿插一些自编的小曲调来宣传计划生育，宣传义务当兵，有时候我下乡走书，听说有的家庭因赌博夫妻之间闹不和，我就到人家家中唱劝人戒赌的段子，好多本来喜欢打麻将赌钱的人，后来都离开麻将桌，成了我的忠实戏迷。
宁波走书快断香火了
我小时候家里穷，6个孩子中我是老大，到29岁了还娶不到妻。我的妻子和面积108平方米的两层楼房都是我唱书唱来的。我挣的虽说是辛苦钱，但一年到头走村串巷，日子又自由又快活。我靠祖宗传下来的艺术赚饭吃，把肚子里古老的曲调传出去，这是一举两得的事情，但如今这年头偏偏没人愿意干了。
我们低塘街道汤家闸村解放前是有名的戏曲村，家家户户都是以唱戏为生，光表演宁波走书的就有63个艺人，过去剧团找好苗子都到我们村里挑，绍兴剧团几个打鼓板拉琴的都是我们村里出去的，许多古老的曲调都是我们村里的老艺人传下来的。可惜现在留下来的艺人老的老、死的死，后代中又无人继承走书，3000多人口的汤家闸村，如今走书的只有我一个人了。
过去我们村里的人空闲时大家伙儿围在一起，你吹唢呐，他拉胡琴，你方唱罢我登台，有唱莲花落的，有唱余姚滩簧的，有唱越剧的，有唱凤阳花鼓的，还有唱京剧和黄梅戏的，往一块儿一凑就是热热闹闹的一台戏。现在没人唱了，想听戏还要请外面的剧团来唱。唉，戏曲村说起来难为情呵！就说我的儿子吧，他当了几年兵，退伍后搞起了模具制作，根本无心学我这一行，等孙子长大怕是来不及了，父传的走书看来要在我手里断香火，我已经是村里最后一个吃这碗饭的人了！现在我真的很想收个徒弟，只要能把这香火传下去，哪怕包吃包住免费教我也乐意，唉，学点祖宗留下来的“土货”有什么不好？再说宁波走书也很有市场，不但乡下的农民爱听，连城里的居民要求我去演唱的也越来越多。宁波走书应该流传下去，老祖宗的东西我们后人怎么好随便丢掉呢？
（本文图片由余姚日报、鄞州文化馆分别供稿）
相关链接：
宁波走书，又名莲花文书，同（治）光（绪）年间由上虞流传至余姚农村，是一种很受群众欢迎的地方曲艺。其表演形式大致可分为三个发展阶段：先是一人自拉自唱的“坐唱”；后有简单的伴奏，演员坐在桌后唱、表演，乐队坐在桌旁，因动作幅度较小，称为“里走书”；再后，演员与乐队相对各坐一旁，演员在台上有较大空间可作表演圈，称为“外走书”由于莲花文书从坐唱发展到站起来表演，分口饰角色，这样演员在台上动作的幅度比较大了，“宁波走书”之名也由此而来。建国后，宁波走书进行了多次改革和创新，在表演方面已发展到男女双档，伴奏的力量也加强了。近期，由于种种原因，和许多地方曲艺一样，宁波走书日渐衰微。
The Last Village Minstrel
Related by Song Baiyue, Written by Padiguli
Editor’s Note: Traveling storytelling has been an age-old art in rural Ningbo. Song Baiyue is the last minstrel from the village of Tangjiazha (The Tang Family’s Watergate) with a population of over 3,000. The village had 63 traveling storytellers in its prime time. Here the last village minstrel tells his story.
I am gravely concerned about myself these days. In the first month of this year I performed 20 consecutive days in the Village of Lishan. Then I traveled to Dong Village and spent five days there telling a story. The next village on my tour was Shaoxiang where I was to perform for 20 days. But the people in Dong Village forced me to stay and asked me to extend the 5-day show to 20 days. I am worried that the people in Shaoxiang will be displeased by my delay.
I visit the village of Lishan twice a year. Each performance there lasts at least a month. In some villages, I sing for two months. Last year, I started in August in Cixi and the last show ended two nights before the eve of the Spring Festival. This year I am already booked to October and phone calls keep coming in for more shows. The first principle in my business is to keep my word. My fans say that my art is becoming better. I have only one blind-man play a four-string Huqin as accompaniment and I use only a few fans as prop, but the audience become silent the moment I bang the silence wood on the table.
The hardest thing for a storyteller on the road is his first visit to a village, for no one there knows anything about the storytelling art. A man who is on the far side of his middle age and an accompanist who is blind do not inspire interest at all. So in such a case, I just start a show under the eave of a house. Once they hear the Huqin and my singing, they come to watch and listen. Usually, after one night or two, a big crowd gathers. In some villages, we can draw a crowd of 500 people. As soon as a courtyard can no longer contain a crowd, someone will suggest setting up a stage and booking me for telling a long story. If they offer to set up a stage for us in the first few days, we will not start our show under an eave next time. They will arrange everything for us in advance. They even drive a Benz and come all the way to take us to the village.
In a show just a few days ago, I stopped my storytelling deliberately at a crucial moment when Hai Rui, an honest official of the Ming Dynasty, was about to be executed. I planned to resume the story the next evening. After the show that night, more than 10 fans crowded into my room and begged me not to let Hai Rui die. How could a person like me have the final say in anyone’s death or life? They cornered me with their angry protests: “He did so many things for the emperor and he made so many contributions to the state. How can you kill such an honest official??They even offered to chip in and pay me a small fortune to change the script and let the character live. When Hai Rui died in the following evening, the audience cried and I cried.
All my school education added up to only two and half years. I started learning the storytelling art from my father at 12. My father was an actor with a rural troupe. He was a good singer and good at playing all kinds of instruments. I learned all the nine tunes and twenty-three melodies from him. After he passed away, the repertoire I got from him was not good enough for me to stage shows in villages across rural Ningbo and Shaoxing. The audiences who heard my stories want new stories. So I have added new ones to my repertoire. My performance consists of 30% talking and 70% singing. There are many tricks to make a show good. In order to make good shows, I have learned new skills from masters with the Ningbo 100 Little Flowers Yuejue Opera Troupe.
When I first followed my father on a tour, I ran out of my stories after performances in two villages. Now, I act all the characters in my stories and I can tell stories for four months without any repetition. They say I am a walking radio and once I am turned on I will never stop.
It is not good enough to sing songs made by old artists. Over the past few years, I have adapted more than 10 classic stories and added them to my repertoire. With my poor school education, I had difficulty reading these stories, but I checked new words out in a dictionary.
I now and then create some short songs to make people aware of current affairs. I encourage people to take part in family planning programs or sign up to join the army. Sometimes I urge villagers to stay away from gambling. Many of my fans used to be mahjong addicts.
Our family was poor when I was a kid. I was the first of 6 children. I was not able to marry when I was 29. But I made enough money to marry and build a two-story house of 108 square meters. Though tours are hard and money comes by through sweat, I am happy and free. I learned the art of our fathers and I entertain people with the art. But the days of the art seem numbered.
My home village was full of actors and musicians before 1949. For a while, there were 63 fellow villagers making a living by traveling and telling stories, let alone the villagers engaged in other kinds of shows. Troupes came to our village to recruit. Some troupes in Shaoxing had accompanists and percussionists from our villages. Some ancient tunes were passed down to us from our ancestors in the village. But some of these artists have died and some are too old to travel and stage a show. No one in the younger generation is willing to carry on the art. The village has more than 3,000 residents and I am the only storyteller now. In the past, the village did not need to invite troupes from outside. We could stage a performance easily. Now we feel shamed when we invite a troupe from outside to entertain us.
My son was in the army for a few years and now he is in a mold-making business. He has no wish to learn the art from me. When my grandson is old enough to learn, I am afraid I will be too old to teach. I am willing to pay for boarding and meals to teach a disciple. I feel bad that the good things I got from my father will be lost.
The storytelling art is as good as these trendy things today. It is popular in Ningbo, not just with villagers. More and more people in the city want to hear my stories. The art has every right to live. We can not afford to let the art of our fathers die.
(Translated by David)