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Teresa Teng forever
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1995年5月8日，43岁的邓丽君因哮喘病发在泰国猝然逝去。对千千万万怀念邓丽君的歌迷来说，他们的心中永远吟唱着一首《何日君再来》。
ON May 8, 1995, 43-year-old Teresa Teng died from a severe asthma (哮喘) attack while on a trip to Thailand.
The media devoted a tremendous amount of space to the story, and many groups bestowed posthumous (死后的) honours and accolades (赞美) on Teng. The staff at her record company in Japan wore black armbands (黑布) for a week. Teresa's death was reported in the New York Times and Time magazine, and these journals described her enormous impact on fans of Chinese music.
Teresa Teng was popular in Chinese societies worldwide for three decades. Even though she has left us, for countless fans she will always be their "eternal sweetheart".
An early beginning
Teresa was born in 1953. Her father was a great aficionado (爱好者) of Peking opera, and little Teresa often accompanied him to performances. She was thus infected by a love for singing. When she was only five or six, she would dress up in her father's oversized (太大的) shirt and stand in front of a "microphone" made out of a shoe polish can and belt out folk operas just like the real thing.
In primary school, she sang more clearly and better than anyone else. She began to stand out. She later gave up her formal education in her third year of middle school and began performing in floor shows.
Next came appearances on the television show "Galaxy of Stars", followed by hosting a show of her own called "Each Day One Star" and then playing leading roles in films.
In 1973 she decided to take on the challenge of Japan, and she started on the path toward international stardom. She swept up the prize for "Best New Singing Star" in Japan's widely known Red and White Song Competition.
She revealed later in an interview, "When I performed in the past, I was always a little nervous. I would just stand there and sing the words, but I didn't dare to really let go with my emotions or gestures. It was only after coming to Japan that I learned what performing really means. I learned how to free myself and how to express my emotions to the utmost. Only this can truly be called singing."
She was best known for singing folk songs and romantic ditties (小曲) marked by cute little vocal inflections (语调的抑扬变化). In Japan she began to do more demanding (要求高的) ballads (情歌) and her singing technique matured greatly.
Next Teng did concerts in the US, inciting a wave of enthusiasm for "Little Teng".
How was Teng able to sweep so many fans off their feet (激动)? Of course, she had a face that fit the Chinese ideal of the genteel and sweet young maiden, and she had that fresh and pure "girl-next-door" demeanor (风采). But she was more than that, and any analysis of her popularity must look to her music and her voice.
A wise person knows herself
The highly respected author and music critic Chang Chi-kao once described the essence of pop music: "The lyrics must be connected to daily life, and they must be easy to understand. The tune should have a simple structure, and not be too complex, so that it is easy to sing. It shouldn't have notes that are too high or too low, so that it sounds natural and relaxed, and it is easily approachable and not too demanding to listen to."\
Have a listen to Teresa's hit "When Will You Come Back Again?" (《何日君再来》):
A lovely flower does not open often
A lovely view does not exist everywhere
Worries furrow a laughing brow
Missing you brings tears to my eyes
After you leave this night
When will you come back again
These tunes were among Teresa's most popular. All of them are ballads crooned (低声地吟唱) in a simple style, thus fitting right into the popular music mold described by Chang Chi-kao. They are smooth and pleasant, and don't put any stress on the listener.
As for her voice, it was well described in an article by University of Southern California cultural theory PhD Yeh Yueh-yu: "It was the sweetness in her voice that made her famous. Her songs basically follow in the tradition of popular Shanghai music of the 1930s and 1940s."
Li Wen-yuan, the host of the "Piano in the Dark" radio programme, believes that Teresa Teng was very wise, for she really understood herself. She could always display just the right demeanor for any performance, which is something few others can accomplish.
Thereafter, however, as the Chinese music scene became more diversified (层出不穷), new artists pushed the old aside, and Teng faded. Living abroad, she rarely made public appearances. Perhaps it was for health reasons. Perhaps she was tired of the grind and aspired to an unfettered (自由的) life. Perhaps, having already seen the world from the top, she had little interest in remaking her image. In any case, she produced very few new works.
A pop music classic
Let us go a step further to understand Teng and her significance for pop music. Yeh Yueh-yu, a scholar of cultural theory, pointed out in an in-depth analytical (分析性的) piece that, attractive as Teng's voice undeniably was, there are different interpretations of her historical significance. Because she presented a soft and gentle mood aimed at warming the hearts of men.
One scholar of mass communications looks at Teng from the perspective of cognitive (认知) psychology. Listening to a song is in fact a "co-operative activity", with interaction between the singer and the audience. For many Teresa Teng fans, male and female alike, her songs are forever intertwined with fond memories of their youth. And it is particularly now, after her death, that her fans can hear in her songs the emotions, memories, and melancholy of the passing of time. As Chou Chih-wen has written, "Few people can live without warmth and nostalgia (怀旧心理)."
The singer is gone, but her songs float through the air. She leaves behind posthumous glory and fanfare, and countless grieving fans. Teresa Teng is by no means forgotten. On main thoroughfares and in little lanes, in supermarkets, in record stores, in taxicabs....everywhere you turn you can hear her sweet voice resonating:
The singing has stopped
Drink a final cup of wine
I chat and talk of anything
To ease your troubled mind
Life has few opportunities for intoxication
Why not look forward to them?
Come, have another glass
Drink it dry!
After you leave this night
When will you come back again?
(SD-Agenices)
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