1941-09-06 — Page 4

Saturday,

HONGKONG G TELEGRAPH

September 6, 1941.

MASS

SINGING

USED

AS WEAPON OF WAR

By MARK SCHUBART

Mass ainging has been un- known in China until recently, but now it is sprending, through the land. The Chinese have found it a help in their fight against Japan.

Most occidental nations notably the dictator ones-have. exploited martial music to work their peoples into a patriotie en thusiasm. Pre-war China's mu- ic, however, was delicate and completely unsuitable for rabble rousing,

It may rain, it may snow, But we'll go to the rear of the Japanesc,

And give them a kick in the pants.

clo.

But, the songs of new China have the hypnotle swing of a Sousa march. They are a mix- *ture of Chinese cinssical music, old Chinese songs, western har- monies and western marching rhythms. To my cars they sound strange, but after look- ing at the music I realised that Mass singing in China has spread to the youth of the country, too, Here is a group of this was not because of the har-

youngsters exercising their lunga on one of China's new patriotic songs. monics-they are 100 percent western-but because they are the Y.M.C.A. and taught them totals at these ran into five sung with the nasal quality and to sing in unison a few simple figures. wobbly pitch that characterises but, rousing marching songs,

In 1937 the war with Japan - Chinese music.

leading the singing himself. He Introducing these songs. to did not know much about music. broke out and, at Chiang Kai- China was a staggering task. He still doesn't. But he had shek's request, Mr Liu became Besides the prejudice against been cheer lender for college the Army's singing teacher. He

A lot of Chinese took these singing in uni basketball and that, together and a group of some 200 assis-

(ants went everywhere the lyrics literally and penetrated son, Chinn knew with the natural gift of a good,

loud voice, was enough.

Army went, teaching them behind the Japanese lines to nothing of wes-

China's marching songs. One carry on guerrilla warfare. tern harmonics Most of the songs sung that of the most popular of these is (except where first night were Nich Erh's, Chee-Lai, which has become Mr Liu has been in the United missionaries had but some were adaptations of introduce d Chinese songs with political hymns), and messages written into the lyrics. most Chinese One was an adaptation of How, could not read Row, Rom Your Bout which was enough to figure converted into Save, Save, Save Liu Liang-mo out the lyrics of China. In short, China, did not

The group enjoyed the ex- know anything about western- perience and was invited to re- type music and had little desire turn. At the next meeting 160 to learn.

showed up; at the end of the The job was done, however, first month there were 300 in and single-handed, by a small, the group, by the end of the wiry, courageous Chinese-Liu year, 1000. At this point the Liang-mo. Mr Liu, now 30, Y.M.C.A. officials got. interested was graduated from the Univer- and organised mass meetings in sity of Shanghai and then, like public playgrounds. Attendance this: so many other educated young men of his race, went into YMCA work.

a song.

In 1932, Mr Liu Diet Nich Erh, who became the guiding spirit in his life. Nieh Erh was a violinist and musician, but first and foremost het was a patriot. He had watched a new China rising out of the ushes of oppression and had realised that the huge, Illiterate. stubborn mass of the Chinese people needed to the roused and accept

participate

to

In the new movement. And so he wrote songs-songs to make his countrymen aware of what was going on.

Mr Liu heard Nich Erh's songs, realised their potential value to the people, and worked with Nich Erh to promote them. But in 1935 Nich Erh went to Japan to study and mysterious- ly died there. Mr Liu realised

that he would have to carry on the work nione,

He began his work in the win- ter of 1935 by going into the streets and picking at random 60 youths-longshoremen, por. ters, clerks. He took them to

BORN 1829, STILL GOING STRONG

!

sort of unofficial national an- them. Here are its lyrics:

Arise, pou who refuse to be bond slaves!

With our very flesh and blood

Let us build our new Great

·

Wall.

China has arrived at the crisis of her history.

Indignation fills the heart of all of our countrymen. Then there is another little ditty with lyrics that go like

States for six months, now studying theology at the Crozer Seminary in Chester, Pennsyl vania. But he keeps working with China relief agencies and makes records of new songs for shipment to China. He makes the recordings himself, by the way, and when the songs call for trios or quartets he gets some of his Chinese classmates to sing with him.

Mr Liu is eager to return to his native land. American life is too fast for him, he says. He would swap for China, war and all, any day.

With a Snarl for

for a Song

"Proud, at our masthead fles

the banner,

Symbol of all the Reich's

night

No more will Germans cower

under

the Axis goes to war, beating

its Big Drum. And it will never

The Englishman'a insulting understand why we prefer to laugh

slight

These are our Holy Fuchrer's

orders;

Go, smash the greedy Engilsh

Aland

posed the above balderdash, u Professor of Music, and Goebbels has forbidden it to be played as a p-dance-tune:--

then when we return" victorious,

We'll

prasp ONT plendid Leader's hand! Gainst England 'tis we march

Gainst England!"

You messed

of

it. It's one those. German hate-songs. In fact, THE hate-song of this war. The song whose forerunner In 1914-1918 was "God Smite Eng- land," a little dilly which every respectable German family recited before and after family dinner.

The Germans still have a passion for these unterwaulings of hate. If anything, the passion's grown.

At any rate, Hitler has recently made Herr Herms Niel, who coin-

No nation on earth has so many hate- hate-songs as Germany ... songs which were described by the late John Buchan in the last war as "A sercan of

But, on the whole, as the world has grown up, the hate-song has died out.

It survives, truc,_but_to-day you'll find it issuing almost entire- ly from the throats of the nationa who are trying to drag the world huck to barbarism.

Italy for Instance. Italy's Fas- anthem starts off as prettily as any Shakespeare ballad "Youth, youth, springtime of love- but liness! Eial Elal Alala!"

elst Jangled nerves." Not that there's anything very new in the hate-song,

The Greeks sang them against the Persian Hitler, Xerxes. The (genuine) Romans guyed "Bar- barians"

Buch as the nnelont Britons, for the blue woad they wore on their behinds.

And the psalms are bale-songs especially the one in whlen the psalmist asks God that tho Righteous may bathe up to their elbows in the blood of their

encibles.

Good Whisky-

JOHNNIE WALKER

Sola Agents, for China: CALDBECK, MACGREGOR & CO., LTD, SHANGHAI HONGKONG TIGHTEN

the following verso offers "A dog. ger for the war of to-morrow

13

And Japan. They're a bit more cocksure tn lofty. They're too sing a hate-song pure and simple.

Six million Japanese Shintoists sing:

The world awaits peace from

Japan,

Peace i Japan's own way, Till now throughout the realms

of man

Others have ved beside Japan, Soon, o'er them we'll hold

sway."

But of all the hate songs, the French "Marselllalse" is the grand-

It Is, and was, a ery against tyranny, defiant and bold, it calls on all who love liberty to form their ranks.

It has been sung in almost every language in the world

Russian, Hungarian, even in Chin-

CLC.

Germany's afraid of 41. It may not be sung in either Occupled or Unoccupied France.

But listen to the Free. French singing. They still make it eclto round the world.

Somehow, we've never gone in for

hate songs.

Our own Natonal Anthem is a prayer, which only in one, seldom- sung verse aks God to scatter the King's enemies.

We didn't take Napoleon serious- Iv. Na the Kalser. Nor Hitler,

nor Mussolini..

songs are concerned.

not so far as our

Kipling tried it for. us, but ho discovered that the more you beat the, big drum, the more hollow it

So he

he wrote "Lest Wo

Tot" in.explation,

We haven't the sort of mind which enjoys hate song. We'd feel ridiculous marching about. solemnly singing them.

We'd rather have a laugli.

We know, that half the battle, is won if we can lauh at the enemy, for to hale is to fear.

•

So we listen to and sing "Oh," What in Surorise for the Duco" ark? "Hell, Hitleri Yab, Yah, Yah!": And neither Hitler nor the Duce will ever understand why.

David Tutaeff.

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