Since the release of Dao Lang’s new album “Shan Ge Liao Zai”, his title song “Luo Cha Hai Shi” has been particularly valued by all parties. Under the competitive interpretations of the left, middle, and right factions, Dao Lang has become an old singer who needs to be re-evaluated, and the satirical direction of his songs, because of the unresolved disputes, has evolved into a phenomenon-level social guessing game.
The people on the left say that Dao Lang’s songs are the great poisonous weeds of the new era, a veiled smear. The people on the right say, “Good, good, Dao Lang’s songs are like a scalpel, ruthlessly dissecting the ugly face of society, with a depth, intensity, and breadth that no one can match”; the neutral ones are decisive, “You are all wrong, Dao Lang is not cursing people, his songs are not words of awakening, he is just a singer.”
Regardless of the left or right, Dao Lang is on the verge of being praised to death. The public opinion field seems to be discussing him, but in reality, it is tormenting him. The so-called misfortune and fortune depend on each other, killing people invisibly. Whether Dao Lang is a hero with a knife or a short-lived man who will become a new ghost under the knife, we will see in the next installment. But it is quite rare for people to be so eager to analyze the social criticism of a singer.
The lyrics of Dao Lang’s new album draw on the techniques of “Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio” to depict the treacherous world. He uses a popular voice to let more people re-discuss this collection of strange tales. This is not only the power of satirical literature, but also the world under Pu Songling’s pen, “Flattery, the world is like a ghost, the obsession with scabs”, like a roulette wheel of gambling, reaching the point of “the same in all ages”.
Regardless of what the left, middle, and right think they have heard from Dao Lang’s “Shan Ge Liao Zai”, and regardless of whether this self-righteous interpretation is accurate, at least it shows their commonality: that is, they believe that Luo Cha Hai Shi is not in Dao Lang’s song, but in the surrounding reality. This reality has not been universally noticed until Dao Lang’s wake-up call made them suddenly realize.
Dao Lang’s “Luo Cha Hai Shi” has become a work of many mouths melting gold and three people making a tiger, which also means that this work has reached the standard of literary classics, that is: it can be interpreted from both positive and negative aspects, and these interpreters are nothing more than using the work to pour out their own grievances. In this case, it often means competing for the right to interpret, becoming a meaningless act.
The human world is in Luo Cha Hai Shi, above Luo Cha Hai Shi, and outside Luo Cha Hai Shi. Fundamentally, it is not that Dao Lang is so powerful that he has foreseen the social situation and made the music of the vanguard, but that the vast and surging Chinese society has been lingering and wasting until now, and the public emotions that are steaming day and night have found a breakthrough for venting.
From “countering the four villains” to “satirizing social reality”, Dao Lang’s songs cater to the universal emotions that all classes can only understand but cannot express – there are many things that can be shared between these emotions, and many that cannot. A song has represented the upper, middle, and lower classes, this is the song of the times, and its popularity depends on the rhythms that resonate with it.
From a satirical point of view, the Ma Hu and You Niao in Luo Cha Hai Shi are really not good, which also means that the current society is not very good. When Dao Lang’s melody rings out, the past kind of “where you stand is XX”, “how you are, XX will be how” kind of heroism, seems too pretentious, too embarrassing. In this regard, Dao Lang’s songs deconstruct some things.
The problem is, if Dao Lang’s starting point for satire is the “big picture” of society, where is its end point? Even if there is a national discussion, the key point is vague. The understanding that Dao Lang’s songs are cursing the “four villains” is very interesting in itself: people invisibly turn the satirical blade outward, believing that they have the privilege to transcend the Luo Cha country.
Therefore, even if Dao Lang is being fought over to become a spear and a shield, the left, middle, and right factions do not talk about the fundamental racial factors in Dao Lang’s words of warning. However, only on this national character can the entire satire of Luo Cha Hai Shi be fully implemented, and only then can it be measured with a scale, rather than becoming a shallow argument that is picked and chosen according to one’s position.
Songs are very similar to words. From the moment they are born, they no longer belong exclusively to the singer or author. The audience and readers must participate in their dissemination. Misunderstanding is the norm, and distortion is common. This is the fate that the singer/author cannot control, but it is also precisely where the charm and danger of art lie. At this stage, Dao Lang does not need and cannot defend himself.
Looking back, when singing the first snow of 2002, Dao Lang was still on the edge of the pop music scene in Hong Kong and Taiwan. At that time, good music had a characteristic: they were not an expression of emotion, but an escape from emotion. Twenty years later, the music scene in Hong Kong and Taiwan has declined together, and Dao Lang, with his words of advice, has become a lone hero. What makes Dao Lang different from the stars is not his individuality, but the extension of the disappointment of the whole society.
Although “Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio” is a collection of folk stories, it is ultimately the out-of-the-world ramblings of Mr. Liao Zhai. Dao Lang borrowed the spiritual connotation of the different historians and gained a sensational effect. This phenomenon eloquently proves that a large number of morally questionable activities have made ancient and modern societies the same. Because too many people are trapped on a lower level of consciousness, Dao Lang, who sings Luo Cha Hai Shi, has become the person with the “knife”.
Discover more from 自由档案馆
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.