宋宝罗从艺九秩

米草

一

我与宋先生结识近20年，我称他宝爷，他欣然允答，我俩成为忘年交。去年底，我从衢州来杭州，参加“著名京剧艺术家宋宝罗先生从艺九十周年庆典”。

宝爷1916年生于北京，祖籍河北涞水。涞水有古乐，源远流长。宝爷从小学艺，后成著名京剧高派老生演员。1924年，废帝溥仪被冯玉祥赶出故宫，8岁的小宝罗在庆功大会上登台献艺。宝爷曾对我说，戏毕，冯将军还抱过他，抓了一大把水果糖塞进他的衣兜。

正如宝爷自己所说，“我的人生也是一出戏”。他少年时走红京津、豫鲁、晋冀舞台。16岁时，他因“变嗓”而学国画、篆刻，得到过齐白石、徐悲鸿、于非闇、张大千、赵松声等名家真传。23岁时，他在上海成立“宋宝罗京剧团”，演出轨迹遍于大江南北。1958年，他加盟杭州京剧团，从此在杭州定居。宝爷在京剧艺术上曾发掘和创作了一批优秀传统节目，塑造过许多文臣武将的艺术形象。他曾为毛泽东、周恩来、邓小平、陈毅、叶剑英、李先念等党和国家领导人清唱演出达数十次，受到毛泽东主席的多次接见。他一边唱“雄鸡一唱天下白”，一边在宣纸上画大公鸡；毛主席赞誉宋宝罗的绝技，并收藏了他这幅画作。

工作之余，宝爷还曾为齐白石、徐悲鸿、李苦禅、张大千、梅兰芳、周信芳、孔祥熙、程潜等名人刻章制印。他赋闲时篆刻的《毛主席诗词三十七首》印谱长卷，被全国政协文史和学习委员会收藏；此外，他还在上海、杭州以及美国举办过国画展。宝爷多次赠我画作，关爱备至。

二

是日，杭城冷雨淅沥，星都宾馆三楼却暖意融融，花篮从外面走廊一直摆放到了大厅里面。

宝爷身着一袭红衣，银须飘逸地坐在首桌，尚长荣、张春秋、李军、康万生等京剧名家与他同桌。各地同仁嘉宾、各路记者济济一堂。与会者不时有人上前与宝爷合影。

下午三点半，庆典开始。浙江京剧团团长翁国生和浙江省文化厅副厅长杨越光分别致辞。中国剧协主席、著名京剧艺术家尚长荣一句京剧道白“寿延风光好”，将庆典推向高潮。接着，来自北京、天津、上海、济南、杭州以及台北的京剧名家，有上海的老生名家李军，北京的京剧名家杨少彭，天津的京剧老生张克、花脸名家康万生、青年老旦名家李宏，台湾的京剧名家李宝春，浙京的当家青衣王小军、全国“十小”名票唐育琦、优秀青年演员程佩洁、罗戎征、姜振宇……纷纷登台，以精湛的演技为庆典增光添彩。一曲曲京剧片段或折子戏，赢得阵阵掌声与彼伏此起的喝彩。

山东86岁的张春秋女士是梅兰芳的入室弟子，她边唱边舞梅派经典剧目《贵妃醉酒》。字正腔圆的唱词和精彩的舞蹈表演，使宝爷分外激动，便走上台去，抱拳拱手，连说“谢谢，谢谢”，并说：“我前些天刚刚度过97岁生日，今天又迎来舞台生涯90周年。我的一生见证了中国京剧事业的繁荣昌盛。”

宝爷顺势说，为他配了30余年戏的琴师谢绍骥先生今天特地带着京胡来了，他要唱一出诸葛亮的《出师表》，以表对省文化厅、省京剧团和众嘉宾厚爱之谢意。顷刻间，掌声如潮。

宝爷向有“金嗓子”之誉，尽管现今年事已高，仍然中气十足，洪亮浑厚。请听：“……先帝爷下南阳君臣相见/三顾呃茅庐才下高山/在博望坡新野县两次交战/借东风助周郎火烧战船/用火攻烧藤甲南蛮丧胆/谁不知诸葛亮巧计胜天……”

那么长的唱词，寿龄望百的宝爷一句不漏，一字不少，流水行云般有板有眼地娓娓唱来，实在令人惊叹！

庆典将结束前，宝爷的女儿宋飞鸿演唱了《红灯记》。“爹爹的品德、爹爹的胆量、爹爹的智慧传给我”，这一唱段尤为动人，是她的心声。飞鸿定居美国，事业有成，谈起她的父亲时，最令我感动的一句话是：“小时候爹爹经常对我们说：天不会坍下来。”

三年前，宝爷在新浪网上开了“博客”。我此次受邀请，就是他在博客上发的“纸条”。宝爷博客的开场白，坦诚有趣，抄录如下，以示同好：“大家好，我是宋宝罗。这个博客是由我自己写成文字，我的学生和儿媳妇再帮我整理成电子版，他们会及时把朋友们的提问和留言告诉我，我再把要说的话告诉他们，并回复给朋友们。我每天画画、会客、和学生聊聊戏，生活过得很充实，祝大家万事吉祥，欢迎您来杭州玩。”

有如此豁达乐观的心态，宝爷一定挺立似松，长寿逾百。

（本文摄影：魏志阳）

Peking Opera Artist Celebrates 90-Year Career

By Mi Cao

Song Baoluo and I have known each other for nearly two decades. It has been what is called ‘friendship through the gap of generations'. I call him ‘Grandpa Bao'. He likes it very much.

Song Baoluo was born in Beijing in 1916， with his ancestry from the small county called Laishui in Hebei province， reputed for its fine， long-standing tradition of ancient Chinese music. The performance of a 7-year-old Song Baoluo caught the eye of Feng Yuxiang at the celebration gala held for the ousting of China's last Emperor Puyi ， dethroned in 1912 as the result of 1911 Revolution， from the Forbidding City in 1924. The general was so impressed that he gave the child prodigy a big hug and packed his pockets with candies.

The lifetime story of Song Baoluo is a drama in its own right， as often said by the Peking opera master about himself. Turning 16， the boy in his puberty turned to traditional Chinese painting and seal cutting under the instruction of such big names as Qi Baishi， Zhang Daqian and Xu Beihong. Before that， he was already a star on the Peking Opera stages across Beijing， Tianjin， Henan， Shandong， Shanxi and Hebei， cities and provinces in northern China. At 23， he founded Song Baoluo Peking Opera Troupe in Shanghai， and toured around the country. He finally settled down in Hangzhou， after joining the Hangzhou Peking Opera Troupe in 1958.

He performed for many state leaders such as Chairman Mao， Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. His eccentric performance of singing “the rooster heralds a new time” and improvising a rooster on a piece of Chinese rice paper at the same time constitutes an enduring part of the memories of many of his followers including Chairman Mao.

The man is also a talented seal engraver， and had solo exhibitions of traditional Chinese paintings in Shanghai， Hangzhou and the United States.

At 97， Song Baoluo showed up at a celebration party， held in commemoration of his nine decades of life as a performing artist. The party was held in a hotel in Hangzhou last December. Present at the celebration were several Peking Opera masters， special guests and media representatives from all over the country. He stepped onto the stage to say thank you to Zhang Chunqiu， one of the live-in disciples of Mei Lanfang， for her share of stage contribution to the celebration. Song shared with the audience how excited and proud he felt as a witness to all the progresses achieved in the history of Peking Opera.

Many of Song's fans call him the ‘gold voice'. In his nineties， the man still has an amazingly mellow and sonorous voice with clear articulation.

The atmosphere of the night culminated when ‘Grandpa Bao' introduced Xie Shaoji， his accompanist for more than30 years， to the audience and volunteered to sing a well known aria to express his gratitude to the provincial government and the Zhejiang Peking Opera Troupe for their long-time support.

When the celebration was nearing the end， his daughter Song Feihong sang an aria of The Red Lantern for her legendary father. Based in the US with a successful career， Song Feihong recalled what his father often said to his children that made her what she is today.

“When we were young， my father always wanted us to bear in mind that the sky will never fall and hope is out there.”

The sincerity and sense of humor of the approachable man can be seen on Sina Weibo， to which he hooks up on with the help of his students and daughter-in-law.

“I do the writing， and they do the editing and keep me updated on the questions and messages left there by my friends and fans. I do respond a lot. I live each of my living days to its fullest and I hope the dreams of my friends can come true too. Welcome to Hangzhou.”