美语咖啡屋 Lesson 18: Bluegrass Music

Y: 各位听众好，我是杨晨，欢迎您到美语咖啡屋。

J: And I'm Jody. Welcome to American cafe, where you can meet everyday Americans at work and at play. So, come on in and grab a good seat by the window and join us for American Cafe.

Y: 说到这儿啊，我们今天要带您认识两位美国人。他们有一个共同的爱好。

J: That's right. One's a musician and one's a dancer. And they have something in common - they both love bluegrass music!

(Enter "Orange Blossom Special")

J: Yang Chen, did you hear how fast they are playing? It is simply incredible!

Y: Wow, 你说的没错。虽然我看不见他们的手，可是我已经觉得眼花缭乱了。

J: Yang Chen, let's first introduce Bob Carlin, a musician we met at a cultural festival and let him describe this very American type of music; bluegrass.

Y: 好吧。我们首先来认识一下Bob Carlin。他是一位音乐学者，让他给您介绍一下什么是Bluegrass Music， 兰草音乐。

实录1 Bob Carlin: Bluegrass is a form of music in its strictest definition. It's a band of fiddle, or violin, mandolin, five-string banjo, which is an American invention from an African instrument, and, uh, the guitar and string base. And that's the classic bluegrass band.

Y: Jody，Bob Carlin刚才提到了演奏bluegrass的几种基本乐器。我们解释一下这几种乐器好吗？

J: That's a great idea. First he mentions the fiddle, or violin.

Y: 其实 fiddle就是小提琴，在演奏乡村音乐或兰草音乐的时候就称为fiddle。我给它起了个名字，叫“乡村小提琴”，好不好听啊？

J: Very clever. Then there's the mandolin.

Y: 曼陀林琴。

J: Next is the five-string banjo. It is the most important instrument in bluegrass music. What you hear in the background, in fact, is an example of banjo music.

(Enter banjo music)

Y: Banjo就五弦琴或者叫班究琴。您现在听到的就是班究琴。Banjo在兰草音乐里是最重要的一种乐器。

J: Then there's the guitar.

Y: 我想大家都很熟悉吉他。

J: Finally, Yang Chen, there's the string bass.

Y: 最后还有低音琴。解了演奏 Bluegrass 的基本乐器，下面我们听听 Bob Carlin为我们介绍 Bluegrass 的起源和风格。

实录2 Bob Carlin: What separates this from other music groups is that they play in a style that was pioneered by Bill Monroe back in the 1940s. And, um, it's a music that takes its cue or its roots from earlier forms of American string band music, country music and incorporates, uh, some ideas out of jazz, like soloing.

Y: Bob Carlin 刚才谈到的 Bill Monroe 就是兰草音乐之父。还有啊，他提到几个词，我们来解释一下，"jazz" 就是爵士乐。"Soloing" 我想就是某种乐器穿插在乐曲中间的独奏，对吧？

J: That's a perfect definition of soloing.

Y: 谢谢你的夸奖，Jody。你来自西维吉尼亚，可以说你是听着bluegrass 长大的，那么对你来说，bluegrass有什么特别意义呢？

J: You're right. I grew up in West Virginia listening to bluegrass music so it really is in my blood. When bluegrass music is playing, it's very hard to keep my feet still.

Y: 好，那么我们下面就为大家介绍我们今天要认识的第二个美国人。她叫Lynn Masterson。我们听听她为什么喜欢bluegrass。

实录3 Lynn Masterson: Well, it always has a strong beat. For a dancer, a strong beat is very important. Um, it's cheery. It's happy music. It's very, uh, familiar and comfortable music. It's sort of part of who we are.

Y: 我觉得她刚才Masterson女士的这番话很有代表性。 Bluegrass的确很有感染力。她所说的strong beat，也就是节奏感很强，适合跳舞。Jody，bluegrass这个题目要讲的内容实在是太多了。

J: That's true.

Y: 可惜我们没有足够的时间。 不过有一点我觉得非提一下不可，那就是bluegrass对大家熟悉的摇滚乐歌王，也就是猫王Elvis Presley的影响。

J: I knew you were going to bring up Elvis Presley.

Y: 好，下面我们还是听听音乐学者 Bob Carlin 是怎么说的吧。

实录4 Bob Carlin: Of course, Elvis is influenced by bluegrass. You know, Elvis did Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky," and Bill Monroe just did it one speed through.

(Enter Bill Monroe singing "Blue Moon of Kentucky")

实录5 Bob Carlin: Elvis, he did it as a waltz like Monroe and then he sped it up.

(Enter Elvis Presley singing "Blue Moon of Kentucky")

J: Now that we heard both versions, Yang Chen, which one do you like better?

Y: 当然是Elvis Presley了。

J: I knew you were going to say that.

Y: 因为他的演唱速度比较快，而且有摇滚乐的味道。

J: Okay, okay we know how much you like rock-n-roll and Elvis Presley. But you know, I think Bill Monroe's version better. But, I guess we're going to have to talk about that over coffee because that's all the time we have for today on American Cafe.

Y: 好，我们今天就聊到这儿。听众朋友们，我们下次见。