Wang Ying-fen. “Pan Rongzhi’s Nanguan Crossovers in the 1930s in Colonial Taiwan.” Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore 178 (2012.12): 25-73.
Abstract
一九三○年代是臺灣唱片和廣播工業蓬勃發展的黃金時期。面對唱片和廣播帶來的刺激以及歌仔戲和流行歌的興起，當時臺灣的傳統樂人是如何在新舊之間尋求因應之道？本文擬以臺灣南管著名樂人潘榮枝（1905-1947）為例，探討他在廣播和唱片中的跨界與創新。
在廣播方面，潘榮枝除演出傳統南管曲目，也與北管樂師合奏北管弦譜 或伴奏臺灣歌謠劇。他也指揮漢樂研究會，以改良式漢樂器演出漢樂合奏和流行歌，而其作詞作曲的臺灣歌謠曲〈正月鬧〉也在廣播中演出。在唱片方面，潘榮枝為古倫美亞唱片擔任兩套歌仔戲唱片配樂，以南管傳統曲調填入新詞，也為日東和聖樂唱片灌錄南管傳統曲目，還為聖樂唱片發行的現代笑話配樂，在其中安插歌仔戲和南管曲調，並在漢洋融合的樂團中加入南管樂器。此外，他更創作了兼具南管特色和探戈節奏的流行歌曲〈春宵雨〉，為南管爵士化做出大膽嘗試。
雖然潘榮枝勇於將南管與其他樂種進行跨界結合，但是他同時也嚴守南管的分際，在唱奏南管時僅使用南管樂器（頂多只是以梆子代替南管拍板，或是簡化樂器編制），而在為唱片配樂時也仍謹守以南管既有曲調填詞度曲的方式來創作南管新曲。換言之，潘榮枝雖勇於將南管融入其他樂種，卻不讓其他樂種入侵南管。
潘榮枝在變與不變之中的取捨，不但對於我們了解日治時期傳統樂人的跨界嘗試有了進一步的了解，對於當今的傳統樂人如何在新舊之間尋找因應之道，也提供了足以借鏡的範例。
The 1930s was the golden age of music industry in colonial Taiwan. It saw the boom of records and radio as well as of Taiwanese opera and pop songs. How did traditional musicians in Taiwan respond to these changes and negotiate between the old and the new? To answer this question, I will use Pan Rongzhi (1905-1947), one of the leading nanguan musicians at the time, as an example to examine how he crossed musical boundaries through his involvement with radio and record industry.
On radio, besides playing traditional nanguan pieces, Pan also jammed with beiguan musicians to perform beiguan pieces and to accompany Taiwanese drama. He also conducted an ensemble featuring modified Chinese instruments to play Han Chinese music and pop songs. One of the radio programs even featured a nanguan-style pop song, Zhengyuenao (Festive January), that Pan created both as the lyricist and the composer.As an arranger for records, Pan not only produced records of traditional nanguan songs but he also created new nanguan songs to be included on records of Taiwanese operas and of spoken drama. He also blended nanguan instruments with other Han Chinese and western ones to accompany a song he adapted from Taiwanese opera. Most importantly, he composed a pop song that cleverly incorporated nanguan elements with Tango-like dance rhythm, thus resulting in an interesting mixture of nanguan and Jazz.
Despite his in novative experiments to fuse nanguan with other genres, however, Pan adhered to the principle of playing nanguan with nanguan instruments only, albeit sometimes changing its instrumentation. Similarly, he also followed the traditional way of composing new nanguan songs by setting new text to existing nanguan tunes. In other words, Pan was bold to infiltrate nanguan into other genres but kept other genres from invading nanguan.
Thus, Pan’s choice between change and non-change provides us with a good example of how traditional musicians in colonial Taiwan crossed musical boundaries and adapted to the challenges as well as opportunities brought by sound technology.