62岁奶奶玩摇滚，“小邓丽君”成了“女版崔健”| China's Rock'n'Roll Grandma

https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=b0697ll63z5&width=500&height=375&auto=0

Living in Shandong Province's Qingdao, Xu Suqin is now 62 years old. Like many of her peers, Teresa Teng was her idol. Some of her friends said that their voices sound a lot alike. Wedding guests were so touched when Xu sang "Sweet Honey", one of Teng's famous songs. Young lads even came to appreciate her singing with bouquets.

徐素琴是青岛人，今年62岁。和同龄人一样，她年轻时的偶像是邓丽君。朋友们都夸赞她的声线和邓丽君很像。在婚庆现场，她的一首《甜蜜蜜》能把大家唱得眼泪汪汪。还有小伙子捧着鲜花来，希望能成为她歌里的“梦中情人”。

Yet now she looks like a totally different person. Short hair, rivet leather jacket, harem pants and sunglasses, she sings songs of Cui Jian (a Chinese rock star) like a rock granny for real. Fans call her "Brother Xu".

但如今的她，却改头换面，和爱唱甜歌的年轻时代完全不同。利落的短发配上铆钉皮背心、哈伦裤、墨镜，用一把烟嗓唱着崔健的歌，她现在是一名货真价实的“摇滚奶奶”，被称为“徐小哥”。

Her life changed because of an incident in 1998.

这种改变源于1998年前的一场变故。

Xu was having a midlife crisis when she found out one day, that she lost her voice. She was diagnosed with a vocal cords polyp that had to be removed with surgery. According to the doctors, the worst case scenario was a pretty hoarse voice. A week after the operation when she was able to sing again, she was shocked: "I thought it was someone else."

那时，徐素琴40岁上下，面临着巨大的生活和工作压力。有一天，她发现自己的嗓子出了问题，说不出声音来。经过检查，她声带上长了一个息瘤，必须手术切除，后果是声音会变得低沉沙哑。虽然医生早就告知了她最坏的结果，但手术后一周，第一次开嗓，就让徐素琴深受打击：“我还以为是别人在唱。”

"Bye-bye singing for the rest of my life. No more dreaming." Ashamed of her voice, she avoided meeting friends and went to work in other cities. There were also painful family issues: "I had no plan for my music, nor for my life. I just needed a job to support myself and my child."

“完了这后半生不用唱歌了。我心里面就知道梦想不可能有了。”因为声音嘶哑，她还特意回避亲朋好友，到外地打工。同时，家庭也出现问题，给她带去了相当的痛苦：“当时我对音乐、生活都没有太大的追求了。只想找份工作，吃饱能住，挣的钱够孩子上学就行了。”

That being said, people missed her singing and encouraged her to change her style: "You may not sing in a feminine voice anymore. But why not try songs of the male singers?" A friend believed that her hoarse voice is the best for rock music, recommending her the songs by Cui Jian.

但一些好友很怀念她的歌声，鼓励她“改版”：“女声甜歌你不能唱了，但是男歌手有这么多，总有一个适合你。”后来，其中一个朋友说她的烟嗓特别适合唱摇滚，还把崔健的歌推荐给她。

"Few people knew about rock 'n' roll. We thought it was just making noises and shouting the lyrics." Later after hearing Cui's "Nothing to My Name", Xu felt that it was the song exclusively for her: "I saw my own life in the lyrics."

“当时我们老百姓不知道什么是摇滚，只觉得是锅碗瓢盆敲起来，然后吼吼。”但是，从复制光盘里听到崔健的《一无所有》之后，徐素琴觉得这首歌唱进了自己心里：“歌词跟我很搭。”

"I have asked you endlessly / when will you go with me/ But you always laugh at me/ for having nothing to my name…"

“我曾经问个不休/你何时跟我走/可你却总是笑我/一无所有……”

The "noisy" style was a surprise hit. Xu's husband Wang Changkang was one of her hardcore fans. He supports Xu's hobby whole-heartedly by collecting many singers' albums, encouraging her to try different styles, and hand-copying lyrics for her: "He's been supportive every single time." Says Xu. In recent years, Wang joins her on tours as her "best assistant."

“锅碗瓢盆流”意外地很受听众欢迎。徐素琴的现任丈夫王长康也是被她的《一无所有》感动的歌迷之一。王长康很支持徐素琴的音乐爱好，帮她找了很多歌手的光盘、磁带，鼓励她尝试不同歌手的风格，还手抄歌词帮她练歌。“他什么都会，我不会的他全都帮我。”王长康现在跟着徐素琴四处演出，俨然成为了她的“助理”。

Cui's "A Piece of Red Cloth" is Xu's favorite now: "You took a piece of red cloth / to cover my eyes and the sky / You asked me what did I see / I said the happiness."

现在，徐素琴最喜欢的歌是崔健的《一块红布》：“那天是你用一块红布/蒙住我双眼也蒙住了天/你问我看见了什么/我说我看见了幸福。”

The "Rock granny" has set foot on the stages of provincial and national TV programs. "Those stages are all bigger than my house. I always enjoy showing myself on stage," says Xu. "It's like singing my love and tears out loud. I feel so free."

这位“摇滚奶奶”已经登上过央视和山东卫视的诸多舞台。“每个舞台都比我家房子大，我特喜欢在舞台上展示我自己。”她说，“放开声音唱，有爱你就唱出来，有哭你就哭出来，喊吧喊出来的那种感觉，太自由了。”

No matter what she sings, the fact of a 62-year-old performing on stage proves that she's a true rocker. "When there's a performance, my friends would get all excited as if they turned young again. Seeing them happy for my music, I wish I could live and give for 500 years!"

也许，不管她唱什么，62岁的徐素琴活跃于舞台，本身就是一件十分摇滚的事。“一说演出，我的朋友们都特开心， 60岁的人就像16岁那么开心。我看到她们那么开心、那么快乐，我真的还想再活500岁。”

Cameraman: Yang Wenchao

Film editor: Liu Xinyue, Ma Mingyuan

Story written by: Zhu Siqi

English editor: Xuyen Nguyen

往期链接：

Suggestions and Cooperation

请读者广提建议，您的建议很重要

投稿与合作：[e-mail]