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From the melodious sounds of the foreign concessions, the sonorous music of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the smooth folk tunes, to the international style of modern music festivals, Shanghai has allowed the music of the East and the West to give birth to new vitality through the collision and fusion of the music.

Looking back at the history of Chinese pop music, which was the first pop song? Who was the first singer to sing a song in a popular way? Who was the first to hold a solo concert?

The 13th season of the "Jiantou Reading Club·The Paper North Bund" series of activities, hosted by the Publicity Department of the Hongkou District Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, China Construction Investment Group Jiantou Bookstore and others, kicked off recently.

"Drizzle", "Shangri-La", "Night Shanghai", "Rose Rose I Love You", "If There Is No You"... At the opening ceremony, amid the melodies of these familiar and moving old songs, Wang Yong, Dean and Professor of the Shanghai University Conservatory of Music, shared his views on the theme of "The Origin of Chinese Pop Music and Shanghai Style Old Songs", and told the readers on site the interesting anecdotes of many "firsts" in the history of pop music of big stars such as Zhou Xuan and Bai Hong.

What was the first pop song in China?

The first pop song in China was called "Drizzle", which was written and composed by Li Jinhui, who was hailed as "the father of modern Chinese song and dance, writer of children's song and dance music, and founder of Chinese pop music", and was also the organizer of the Mingyue Song and Dance Troupe at the time. It was released in 1927.

Wang Yong shared that "Drizzle" was sung by Li Jinhui's daughter Li Minghui, who had followed her father out to "venture into the world" since she was a child. Many of the songs composed by Li Jinhui were first sung by her. Later, she starred in films such as "Qingming Festival" and "New Year's Money" and became a well-known female movie star.

"Young man, the sun has just risen over the mountains. Young woman, the lotus has just unfolded its petals. Don't wait until the flowers wither and the sun sets over the mountains." Many of the lyrics in this song are still very interesting today. Wang Yong joked that Li Jinhui had predicted nearly a hundred years ago that there would be the problem of "leftover men and women" in future cities.

This song was very popular in those days. When Lu Xun was living in Hongkou District, Shanghai and writing articles in his later years, he also wrote about listening to Ms. Li Minghui singing "Drizzle", describing it as "I seemed to hear the sound of a hanged cat."

Why did Lu Xun write that this song sounded like "the sound of a hanged cat"? Wang Yong explained that the first reason was technical. "The inventor of the record was Edison. Why did he invent the record? To record sound, which refers to what you say. Later, a man named Emile Polinar invented the flat disc phonograph to record music. At that time, the main concept was to record the sound, and the high frequency was recorded as a relatively important indicator. The mid- and low-frequency sounds were not very important, so all the old records have relatively high sound."

At the same time, this was Li Minghui's first pop song. Before that, she sang children's songs such as "Little Rabbit" and Huagu Opera. She sang Huagu Opera on an open-air stage for hundreds or even thousands of people. There were no microphones at that time. Considering that high frequencies are easier to transmit, the voice pitch needed to be raised very high when singing.

"You want the people in the last row to hear you on stage, right? Of course, that's why many operas are performed in a relatively high position. Ms. Li Minghui combined her experience in singing children's songs and operas to sing her first pop song. It's great that she sang like this. We can't ask for too much."

Who was the first singer to sing in a popular style?

If you ask everyone who is the most familiar female movie star or singer from the 1940s and 1950s, or the "white moonlight" in everyone's heart, many people's answer may be Zhou Xuan.

Wang Yong introduced that one of Zhou Xuan’s greatest contributions to music was that she was the first singer to perform songs in a so-called popular singing style. “She had her own way and was the first to sing in a breathy voice.”

After Zhou Xuan first joined Li Jinhui's Mingyue Song and Dance Troupe, she had always been a backup singer and dancer and was not outstanding. What opportunity brought her into the public eye?

"Once she went to a recording studio. Back then, one microphone was used to record the entire performance. Zhou Xuan found that her voice was very soft, while the band's voice was very loud. What should she do? The editor at the time, Mr. Li Jinguang, who was Li Jinhui's younger brother, was very knowledgeable about this. He arranged the studio for Zhou Xuan. The microphone was placed in front of Zhou Xuan, but very far away from the band, basically at a diagonal distance. So Zhou Xuan was in this corner, and the band was in that corner. A band member at the time once told me that he really couldn't hear them. I asked if this was a bit exaggerated. How could the band's accompaniment match her if she couldn't even hear them? He said to look at the lip movements."

In addition, Wang Yong analyzed that there is another very important technical issue, that is, how does Zhou Xuan control her relationship with the microphone? If she is very close to the microphone, there will be panting and jet sounds recorded, so for Zhou Xuan, the control of breath and the suppression of the jet must be done very well so that the audience can't hear it.

"Teresa Teng once said that the Chinese singer and idol she admired most was Zhou Xuan, and we thought that Teresa Teng had a great breath, and Teresa Teng thought that Zhou Xuan had a great breath. Zhou Xuan was equivalent to creating a standard for how pop songs should be sung, and until now, we have confined the popular singing methods of pop songs to this framework," Wang Yong concluded.

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Who was the first person to hold a solo concert in China?

After coming to prominence in the 1930s, Bai Hong gradually became a famous star in movies, dramas and songs. She recorded more than 150 songs, second only to Zhou Xuan, and was one of the seven great singing stars of that year.

Bai Hong, known as the "Queen of Singing", is also the first singer to hold a solo concert in China, which established her position in the history of Chinese pop music.

On January 12 and 13, 1945, Bai Hong held two "Bai Hong Singing Contests" at the Shanghai Lyceum Theatre, singing more than a dozen famous songs from home and abroad, including "Bethany", "Ave Maria", "The Merry Widow", "Night Jasmine", "Dream Song", "My Love is the Spring Wind", "The Sea Swallow", "Free Shooter", "Dancing Tonight", "Carmen", "Bright Light", "Rose", "Dream of Love", etc. "Before that, everyone had to go to the Paramount Ballroom to listen to songs, and there were no special concerts for you to buy tickets to listen to. What conditions must be met for a concert? First, you must have a two- to three-hour repertoire, and second, you must have enough fans, which is a must. Now everyone thinks that buying tickets to listen to songs is a matter of course, but it was the first time at that time, and it was very challenging to sit down and listen to her singing for such a long time."

Wang Yong also gave a detailed explanation as to why Bai Hong held a solo concert first: "In that era, singers were very particular about seniority. If Bai Hong didn't hold a solo concert, no one else would dare to hold one. Bai Hong was recruited by Li Jinhui from Beijing to join the Mingyue Song and Dance Troupe. Many people, including Zhou Xuan, received her guidance on Mandarin. Although we are about the same age, you entered the industry earlier than me, so Zhou Xuan held her solo concert after Bai Hong did. At that time, a newspaper in Shanghai also selected the best singing queen in Shanghai. After everyone voted, Bai Hong had the most votes, and Zhou Xuan was probably third or fourth. At that time, Bai Hong was the big sister, and her position was unshakable."