Content of the Performance
Cantonese operatic song performance is one of the most representative song arts in the Lingnan area. It contains extremely rich Canton elements, so it is greatly appreciated and sung in the Canton area. Cantonese opera tells the story through the "four basic skills", while Cantonese operatic song highlights the part of singing. The performers tell touching stories through their beautiful voices with the accompaniment of music.
粵曲為嶺南地區的代表性曲藝，包含豐富的廣府文化，因此在嶺南地區廣為人知和頌唱。粵曲和粵劇有著密切的關係，粵劇通過四功五法的藝術手段演繹故事情節，而粵曲則較專注於唱藝。在音樂的伴奏下，表演者以動人的歌聲唱出感人的故事。
Ms Leung Fei Tung will perform two classic Cantonese operatic songs, including "Daiyu Buries Fallen Flowers" and "Cheuk Man-Kwan" in this festival. Accompanied by The Gong Strikes One, she will narrate the stories by singing in the first-person perspective of the characters. The lingering charm presented in the songs by the guests creates an illusion of travelling back to the traditional Lingnan Garden. The scene of ancient people enjoying this form of entertainment will immediately pop up in the audience's minds. Through this opportunity, the audience can enjoy the essence of Cantonese operatic songs like the previous garden owners and find it entertaining to release stress in their daily life and gain more understanding of the love stories and lives of two ancient talented women at the same time.
在是次表演中，梁非同小姐將會為我們帶來《黛玉葬花》及《卓文君》兩首經典粵曲的演出，她會以故事人物的第一視覺和粵曲唱腔演繹故事內容，一才鑼鼓團隊則會透過吹奏洞簫和彈奏古箏來進行拍和。在欣賞的過程中，觀眾仿佛穿越時空回到昔日的嶺南庭園之中，享受由古傳承至今的娛樂活動和體驗古代園主的樂趣，細品粵曲的韻味和精髓，紓緩平日所面對的壓力，同時能了解更多關於兩位古代才女的愛情故事和人生。
Content of the songs
Daiyu Buries Fallen Flowers
《黛玉葬花》
Besides exposing the underbelly of the past society and reflecting the diverse behaviours of the characters, the Chinese masterpiece “Dream of the Red Chamber” also depicted the progress of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu falling in love with each other, and the grief end. “Daiyu buries fallen flowers” is one of the most classic and unforgettable scenes. Daiyu has misinterpreted that Baoyu purposely snubs her and lodging under other people’s roofs makes her feel lonely too. Therefore, the sense of grief is generated when Daiyu sees the falling flowers, as she is referring the scene to her life. Burring flowers first reflects Daiyu’s health concern towards herself, which the falling flowers seem to imply her fleeting youth, so burring flowers is like burring her youth that has already gone. Meanwhile, since she does not own the autonomy of marriage and the existence of Baocai makes her feel stressed about her relationship with Baoyu, burring flowers also reflects the end of love. In this Cantonese operatic song concert, the artist will recreate the scene of Daiyu carrying a hoe and burring the flowers collected in the sachet and express the aggrieved feeling of Daiyu through her singing with the accompaniment of musicians. The lingering charm of her voice may create an illusion of the actual character crying and singing in front of the audience. The audience can genuinely experience Daiyu’s feeling when she cannot seek help from anybody, so the only way is to talk to the falling flowers that share a similar condition with her about her sadness.
《紅樓夢》除了揭露社會的黑暗和人生百態，其他主要是描寫賈寶玉和林黛玉相知、相戀的過程跟悲哀的結局，而當中的經典橋段——黛玉葬花和當中的《葬花詞》，令人難以忘懷。黛玉既誤會寶玉冷落自己，在賈府寄人籬下又常令她自感身世孤伶，因此當她看到落花的情景就將花兒影射成自己的身世，傷感油然而生。葬花代表了體弱多病的黛玉對健康的憂慮，鮮花凋零令她彷彿看見自己一朝春盡，而葬花就像在埋葬一去不返的青春年華。同時，因為她沒有對愛情和婚姻的自主權，且寶釵的存在令她的不安感加倍放大，所以葬花亦代表了愛情的終結。是次粵曲表演將透過歌聲來重現黛玉擔著鋤頭，哭著把落花埋葬的情節，在樂器的拍和下，嘉賓會唱出黛玉當時無法言說的委屈，韻味細膩的歌聲產生黛玉本人就在觀眾面前哭誦的錯覺。觀眾能真切地感受到黛玉無法對其他人道出心聲，唯有跟與她有相同命運的落花委婉道來，向它們述說自己的落寞的心路歷程。
Cheuk Man-Kwan
《卓文君》
Cheuk Man-Kwan was the daughter of one of the wealthiest businessmen in the Western Han period. As she had a strong musical sense and was highly educated, she was called one of four Chinese ancient talented women. Her behaviour of abandoning the original social status to elope with her lover Sima Sheungyu has been truly respected by many people until now. However, the Cantonese operatic song performed in this concert has shown a different situation, which the content is about Man-kwan figuring out that her husband was only a poor scholar, and he was being looked down on by Man-Kwan's father. Losing the financial support from the family, Man-kwan was compelled to be self-reliant to make a living through selling alcohol. She was even willing to mortgage her accessories to provide her husband financial assistance to take the imperial examination. However, Sima Sheungyu left seemed to be gone forever once he left, and Man-kwan could not obtain any information about him anymore. Through singing, the scene when Man-kwan stayed in the rooms alone every day, wishing for a reunion and expressing her affection to her husband, will be reconstructed. Most of the lyrics embody the sadness of Man-kwan being snubbed by Sima Sheungyu. The audience can feel her loneliness from the beautiful tones and genuine emotions of the performers.
卓文君是四川臨邛巨商卓王孫的女兒，家境顯赫。因為她通曉音律且文化修養高，因此被稱為中國古代四大才女之一。一代才女為愛不顧一切地跟愛人司馬相如私奔的故事也受到世人的敬佩。然而是次粵曲表演卻表達出另一景況，內容講述卓文君與司馬相如私奔後，才發現他只是個窮書生，丈夫也被家人看不起，失去家庭資助後的她只好當壚賣酒以維持生計，更甘願將自己的珠釵典當以助丈夫上京赴考，豈料丈夫此去經年，她更得不到夫君的任何消息，卓文君感到備受冷落。因此粵曲描述了她獨守閨房盼望夫君的回歸，抒發自己對丈夫的思念，全曲大部分歌詞都體現出卓文君被受冷落的悲傷之情，觀眾可透過演唱者情感真摯的歌聲深刻體會到她當時孤獨寂寞的感受。
資料來源
劉錦芳（2018）。〈論林黛玉的病變與文變——以黛玉葬花為例〉。《藝術品鑒》，26，65-66。
