Chapter 62 Who Will Sing "Little Fang"?

"Hello there, Professor Tong. I'm really sorry to trouble you like this, having to run over in such heavy rain."

Seeing him, Editor-in-Chief Yang immediately pulled a pack of Huanghelou cigarettes from his pocket, drew out two, and handed them over.

"Indeed, Professor Tong, we truly apologize for disturbing you. You are probably the only ones in all of Jiangcheng, at the Hubei Arts Academy, who have the capability to handle this. That's why we took this into consideration and had no choice but to turn to you."

Cheng Kaiyan also chimed in with a few pleasantries to smooth over the atmosphere.

After all, Professor Tong had walked over through the pouring rain, and his expression was looking rather grim.

"It's nothing, it's nothing. We're sister institutions after all. I've always been a subscriber to your magazine's previous publication, *Jiangcheng Literature and Art*, Editor Yang," Professor Tong's expression cleared up a bit as he spoke.

He accepted the two cigarettes, tucked one behind his ear, and lit the other, placing it between his lips.

It was late January now, close to the Lunar New Year, and the students were already on winter break.

As a professor of the composition department, Tong Zhongliang was supposed to be resting at home.

Unexpectedly, however, a task had been assigned by the higher-ups today, asking him to help produce a song and demanding it be completed in the shortest time possible.

This drove him to despair; producing a song was not such a simple matter. Just the musical composition and lyric writing were enough to give someone a massive headache...

"Let's make one thing clear first. I can help with this favor, but I cannot guarantee the final result. After all, there's no musical score, no lyrics yet, and subsequent steps involve recording, mixing, and mastering. It is simply not something that can be wrapped up in a day or two. You need to mentally prepare yourselves; we'll do our best to finish it before the New Year," Professor Tong warned in a deep voice. Since the matter was personally arranged by the leadership, naturally, he couldn't just brush it off perfunctorily.

Editor-in-Chief Yang nodded, showing his understanding. He shared much the same view as Professor Tong, also feeling that recording a song was far from simple.

"Well, Professor Tong, you don't need to worry about those things. I've already prepared the lyrics and the musical score; the next steps will depend entirely on you," Cheng Kaiyan said at this point. Although he didn't know precisely where the difficulties lay, he had already finished the lyrics and composition back in Beijing.

At the school gate.

The three of them stood in the rain, holding umbrellas.

Beneath the umbrellas, smoke swirled; beyond them, a fine drizzle fell continuously.

Hearing this, Professor Tong paused for a moment, looking at Cheng Kaiyan in astonishment.

He remained silent for a short while, and finally blurted out, "Why didn't you say so earlier?!"

Lyrics, composition, and vocal performance were precisely the most difficult aspects of song production.

Once these three points were resolved, producing a song ceased to be a formidable task.

As for the remaining processes—mixing, recording, and mastering—the entire procedure wouldn't take long at all.

"You didn't ask either."

"Fair enough... Let's chat as we walk. There's no point standing here in the rain. Let's head to the recording studio first and take a look at the lyrics and score."

Professor Tong nodded with an embarrassed look on his face.

Upon learning that the lyrics and composition were already prepared, his tone grew significantly more enthusiastic as he hurriedly led the two toward the recording studio in the school's administrative building.

As an industry insider, Professor Tong chatted with the two about developments within the field.

"With the reform and opening up, the record industry, which has been dormant for years, is gradually rising.

Guangdong, adjacent to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, enjoys unique geographical advantages and has become the frontier for the emergence of new things, new cultures, and new ideas.

Last January, the Guangdong Radio and Television Bureau invested 300,000 yuan to establish the Pacific Audio & Video Company, making it the first company in the country equipped with modern music recording facilities, engaging in both song recording and distribution.

That same year, relying on the 'bootlegged tape' method, Pacific Company produced its first stereo cassette, *Roses Blooming Everywhere*. Not long after its release, it became a massive success, with a circulation reaching as high as one million copies.

Some of the equipment in our school's recording studio was shipped over from Guangdong. Although some of it is already obsolete equipment, recording a song will still be no problem at all."

*Roses Blooming Everywhere* was a song originally released by Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng back in the 1950s.

"A prolonged period of cultural starvation has turned all cultural products into bestsellers. Not just songs, but novels, TV dramas, and films—which one of them isn't wildly popular in the country?" Cheng Kaiyan said with a smile after listening.

Along with economic opening, cultural opening followed closely behind.

The 1980s was an era defined by cultural input, and one could say that the mindset of worshiping things foreign and currying favor with the outside world took deep root during this period.

"That is very true. It's rather rare for people like you to write your own songs and compose your own music.

Down in Guangdong, whether it's the renowned Pacific Company or the state-owned China Record Corporation, they all rely on copying pop songs from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, and then finding singers with similar voices to perform them.

When it comes to popular music, there are still very few capable creators domestically."

Saying this, a hint of sarcasm inevitably colored Professor Tong's tone.

Before long, the group arrived at a room bearing a plaque labeled "Recording Studio."

The room was quite large and filled with various musical instruments, such as guitars, pianos, a drum kit, an erhu, and a trumpet...

Professor Tong led the two to sit down on a sofa and poured several cups of hot water, allowing everyone to drink tea and warm up their bodies.

"Have a seat first, let's take a look at the lyrics and sheet music," Professor Tong said, looking at Cheng Kaiyan with eager anticipation.

He hadn't expected that this young fellow would actually be able to write songs, having even prepared the lyrics and score complete.

Cheng Kaiyan took a sheet of white paper from his pocket and handed it over. This was the melody he had already composed while still in Beijing, though it was written using piano grand staff notation, and he had even played it once on a piano back then.

The original tune wasn't meant for piano performance, so there were some minor discrepancies.

Professor Tong eagerly began to read. On the white paper, blue ink outlined the staff and notes, while the lyrics were written underneath:

*There is a girl in the village named Xiaofang, beautiful and kind-hearted...*

"This is quite well written, Comrade Cheng! The lyrics are unpretentious and overflowing with emotion."

After reading through it once, Professor Tong looked at Cheng Kaiyan in astonishment and praised him.

Hearing this, Editor-in-Chief Yang let out a sigh of relief. *As long as it's good, as long as it's good.*

Cheng Kaiyan, standing beside them, was far more composed. It was much more than just "good."

The song *Xiaofang* had swept across the entire country during the year of its release, remaining a massive hit for a full year—a year that came to be known as the "Year of Xiaofang" and the "Year of Li Chunbo."

Professor Tong then attempted to sing using the pitches on the sheet music: "In the~ village there is... a girl named Xiaofang... I can't quite get the hang of singing it. It feels a bit awkward with just a piano accompaniment. Can you sing it, Xiao Cheng? Why don't you give it a try?"

Following that, Cheng Kaiyan sang a cappella: "There is a girl in the village named Xiaofang... Thank you for the love you gave me..."

As Professor Tong made revisions on the paper, he offered his critique: "That's right this time, it sounds wonderful. The lyrics are catchy and full of narrative quality.

A piano isn't quite suitable. I actually think we could use a guitar and dense drum beats to create the intro.

Overall, I don't think we need to pile on too many instruments; we can use the electric guitar performance to highlight the melody and emotion of the song.

Such an arrangement will instead make the song focus more on the expression of the lyrics and the singer's interpretation, allowing listeners to concentrate more on the story and emotion conveyed by the song."

Cheng Kaiyan and Editor-in-Chief Yang nodded. As expected of an expert; the moment he spoke, it was entirely different.

"Then let's do as you say! What do we do next?"

"First, let's record the accompaniment. We expect to wrap that up this afternoon; fortunately, I know how to play the guitar."

At Professor Tong's command, the three of them began bustling about in the recording studio. To assist with Professor Tong's work, Cheng Kaiyan took on the task of beating the drum rhythm.

Time flew by, and the afternoon passed in a flash.

Along with a sharp click from the professional twenty-four-track tape recorder, a cassette tape of the accompaniment was successfully recorded.

Cheng Kaiyan took a pen and wrote the three large characters "Accompaniment 1" on the surface of the cassette tape, marking a solid foundation for the subsequent recording of the song.

Reinserting the tape and playing it back two or three times to ensure there were no issues, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's finally done!"

"So next, who should we find to sing this song *Xiaofang*?" Professor Tong asked in a deep voice.

"We'll still need to look around. Judging by Xiaofang as described in the lyrics, it should probably be sung by a man. There are quite a few literary and art units in Jiangcheng..."

"I'll find someone to sing it. Actually, whether it's male or female doesn't really matter; the most important thing right now is to record the song well."

Cheng Kaiyan stepped up without hesitation and took charge. Letting someone else sing it as a joke?

That would mean a massive loss for him!

Better yet to let his own Sister Xiaoli sing it; at the very least, it could coax her into a good mood.

Singing didn't make any real money in this era anyway. No matter how many tapes or records were sold after a singer finished recording, it had nothing to do with them; at most, they would only receive a small performance fee.

Domestic record companies had lacked any awareness of copyright ever since their inception. For the production of every single record, companies basically settled accounts with arrangers, producers, and singers in the form of flat performance fees or salaries, let alone paying copyright royalties to original creators from Hong Kong, Taiwan, or even overseas.

For instance, Cheng Fangyuan's cover album sold a million copies, yet she only received a few hundred yuan in performance fees.

"Alright. Originally, I was going to seek approval from the leadership, but since both this song and the novel were written by yourself, we shouldn't interfere too much. You can make the final call," Editor-in-Chief Yang nodded, expressing his agreement.