Sanbao: I have a steel heart

When preparing for the selected musical repertoire concert, composer Sanbao and screenwriter Guan Shan came up with many names. In addition to the final choice of "The End of the World", alternative names also include "The Heart of Steel".

At a press conference in Shanghai, his wife Wan Qianhui said that "The Heart of Steel" is suitable for Sanbao. "He has undergone open chest surgery, installed nine stents, and replaced them with mechanical valves." When Wan Qianhui first met Sanbao, she was shocked to hear a clock like ticking sound near him. Later, she found out that the sound came from the mechanical heart valve inside the other person's body.

San Bao is rehearsing

"Even the hair is guiding the musicians"

During the rehearsal, San Bao did not need to be taken care of. He was the conductor and artistic director who took care of everyone. "For the Shanghai performance, we started rehearsing one month in advance, and it was done in batches. The choir alone had more than 100 people, which needed to be rehearsed in three stages. First, a part of the solo and choir were rehearsed, and then another choir of over 40 people was rehearsed. After arriving in Shanghai, the local choir was rehearsed, and finally, the choir was assembled. It was not just about simply gathering enough people to go on stage."

The massive choir is just a part of the stage

After two delays, on September 9th and 10th, the selected concert of Sanbao's musical repertoire "The End of the World" was finally performed at the Shanghai Cultural Square, bringing together Sanbao's music dramas such as "Jinsha", "Butterfly", "Steel Qin", "Wang Er's Long March", "Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen", which had been created for over 20 years.

Sanbao initially selected 30 songs for the concert, "I've been struggling for a long time. Male and female soloists, duets, choruses, lyrical songs, intense songs, and elegant songs... The concert must have various types and styles of melodies. The performance time has been running for 5 hours, and now it's controlled at 150 minutes."

There are 5 musicals, and when Sanbao created them, he only used a band of a dozen or so. This time, he rearranged the music and performed it together with a double barreled symphony orchestra, an electric sound band, a folk band, and a choir. "The music sounds more layered and brilliant," he said

The rehearsal lasts from 2pm to 9pm every day. "The official performance lasts for two and a half hours, and at most, the afternoon is the first time for a sound test. Rehearsal is harder than the performance, and attention is highly focused. If there are any problems, stop at any time and start over," said Sanbao.

Rehearsal lasts from day to night

Rehearsal lasts from day to night

The three treasures of command, Wan Qianhui, are very reassuring. "He even guides the musician with every strand of hair and sweat on his clothes, but he is very happy." She describes Sanbao as "seeing from all directions and listening from all directions". "We may be chatting, the musician is practicing on their own, and he will suddenly stop to remind the guzheng player whether the sound is inaccurate."

As the producer, Wan Qianhui ensures the smooth progress of the concert

Wan Qianhui and the children watch the Three Treasures rehearsal together

"Being able to keenly identify errors amidst countless chaotic notes is not a big surprise," said Sanbao, who graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music with a major in conducting. "Without good listening skills, one cannot enter the Central Conservatory of Music. Conducting is the most difficult profession in the classical music industry."

"A small brick in the musical industry"

Sanbao was born into a music family and has an impressive academic background. He has composed music for movies and TV shows such as "Golden Powder Family", "Big Shot", "Not to See You Again", "My Father and Mother", and "Just Like a Classmate and Youth". "In My Eyes, Only You" has become a well-known Wahaha Pure Water advertising song.

In 1997, Sanbao began creating musicals "entirely out of personal preference." His earliest understanding of musicals came from the movie "The Sound of Music," a cassette tape of "Cat" gifted by his mother's friend, and watching "Phantom of the Theater" in Hong Kong.

"Creating musicals is much more complex than film and television music." Sanbao is like a strategic general, "he needs to understand all the characters in the musicals, including their prequels, understand the dramatic structure and rhythm of the entire play, that is, the rhythm of the play, as well as the setting of character relationships and singing segments. Male and female choirs, duets, and solos all have overall designs, and each major character has its own representative theme."

Sanbao likes to take the little people as the main characters of musicals. In the big era theme musical Humen destructed opium, the little people are the most important ones.

Unlike some original musicals with strong Korean, European, and American styles, Chinese opera elements can be heard in the works of Sanbao, and even the shadow of Errenzhuan can be found. "Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, Shanghai Opera, Sichuan Opera... Chinese opera has a long and continuous history, and there must be its principles. Errenzhuan has lines and specific dances, which are actually very close to musicals. National culture and traditional culture are like a big pond, inexhaustible and inexhaustible. I like to talk to them, and music creation must have a broad perspective."

Sanbao has gone through more than 20 years of ups and downs in the domestic musical market, from germination to growth, and now has become a prominent player in the market. He believes that everything needs to be tested over time. "Opera and dance dramas cannot enter the stage without more than five years of learning and training. Musical industry personnel have varying skills and perspectives. A play may only have a few paragraphs, which is very good. With more employees, after reaching a certain industry scale, they will go through a wave of sand washing. If they are good, they will continue to do it, but if they are not, they will be eliminated. Every industry that starts from scratch will go through this process, which is neither urgent nor urgent."

In the same musical, the star stage was snatched up, while other performances struggled, and the audience followed the actors. Sanbao said, "Audiences of European and American musicals rarely rush to the theater for a particular actor. Domestic audiences follow the actors and can attract many people to enter the theater. After enjoying the performance style of musicals, they may go to see other plays and gradually accumulate a fixed audience. Audiences need to be trained. Listen to the producers, now audiences change every year."

Sanbao likened himself to a small brick in the musical industry, saying, "Put it forward, and those behind it will step on the brick and continue to move forward, so as not to fall into the water. Now that this brick is well placed, I won't put it forward again, otherwise I will get hit with a 'brick'."

Why compete

When I was young, my long hair was over my shoulders, but now it's neatly tied up. Sanbao joked that I'm past the age of competition, "What's the strength within my own abilities and bottom line? I'm calm and don't get angry anymore. Now the rehearsal is very gentle, rarely cursing or staring at people."

San Bao is rehearsing

San Bao is rehearsing

Although not competitive, the Sanbao Musical's selection concert "The End of the World" is still a cost-effective performance art, featuring songs such as "Someday", "Why Let Me Fall in Love with You", "Greed", "At That Time", "Beyond the Horizon", "Sea Water", "Remaining Warm", "Heart", "I Believe So I Persist", and six chapters including "Preface", "Meeting at the End of the World", "The Destiny at the End of the World", "The Voice at the End of the World", "The Scream at the End of the World", and "Ending". Tan Weiwei, Liu Yan, Xu Yao, Yang Liu, Le Wei, Wan Qianhui, Cai Xinru, Zhu Xishuaihua, Cui Yan, Mou Yi, Zhao Mairui and other front and behind the scenes staff nearly 400 people. Last July, the official filming of a concert in Beijing and related videos on the internet exceeded 200 million views.

Tan Weiwei will appear at the Shanghai station of "The End of the World"

"The End of the World" will record and release a full scene sound version. "Many viewers value visual experience and no one tells them what good sound is. We create a full scene sound version, allowing the audience to listen to every voice part as if they were on site."

Sanbao bluntly stated that currently, downloading and playing music in real-time on the internet highly compresses source files, damaging sound quality. "People pay more attention to visual experience, and sound becomes indifferent. Except for a few audiophiles, vinyl records, cassette tapes, and CDs are all gone."

Sanbao gave a physical CD of 18 selected musical segments to friends, and almost everyone looked embarrassed, saying they didn't have a player. "The sampling frequency of the CD is 44.1kHz, and the lowest recording frequency is 48kHz. Videos often have 4K, 8K high-definition picture quality, and even up to 32K, the audio is becoming increasingly compressed. When I listen to music online, even with the best headphones, the sound still cannot be heard. I really hope that there can be a technological breakthrough in playing music online."

So there was a full scene version of "The End of the World". Sanbao said, this is a summary and another beginning.