A New Zealander’s B i l i n g u a l M u s i c Journey

By Bo Ning & Liu Chang

A New Zealander’s B i l i n g u a l M u s i c Journey

By Bo Ning & Liu Chang

In the morning, Laurence Larson turned on the computer as usual, to see whether the music video he’d posted on the internet yesterday had received any comments. He couldn’t believe his eyes: there were almost 100,000 comments below that song. In New Zealand, where only four million people live, the figure was unimaginable.

That day, he made up his mind to come to China.

Laurence Larson (Chinese name Luo Yiheng, meaning “eternal art” in Chinese),the brilliant “Prince of the Elves” before his audience, seems like a shy “boy next door”when he steps off the stage. When meeting the reporter, he tried his best to express himself in Chinese, occasionally switching to English. “New Zealand is my hometown, but China is where my dream started.” His sincere love for China can be perceived.

Born in eastern Auckland, New Zealand,Laurence has had a sea of Chinese friends since childhood. At the age of ten, he fell in love with the guitar, and naturally took it up as his major at university. When it came time to select a minor subject, he thought of his Chinese friends.“When my friends got together and I was the only foreigner, they would chat in Chinese… I often had no idea what they were talking about, so I thought I should learn a little bit.”

A coincidence led him to combine his music dream with China. “My friend’s mother was a singing teacher and once a guest at a singing contest in Auckland. She invited me to participate in the competition and sang Chinese songs,out of the blue. I lost my heart to those songs immediately.”

In Laurence’s eyes, Western music pays the most attention to rhythm while oriental music attaches more importance to melody and lyrics. In addition,when the language and melody of Chinese songs are integrated, there is a special beauty. While preparing for the contest, Laurence listened to and studied Chinese songs attentively and began his music journey between the two languages.

From then on, he translated English songs into Chinese and vice versa, and uploaded his own versions to the internet. His songs attracted fans from all over the world.

Like many foreigners in China, Laurence came across plenty of difficulties at the beginning of his trip. The hardest part was still the language barrier. “At first, it was totally impossible for me to communicate with others.”

“You can’t be afraid of embarrassment when learning a new language. You just have to feel the awkwardness.” Gone are those days. Now Laurence has already learned to laugh at embarrassment.Surrounded by Chinese friends, he has completely forgotten that he is from another country, and he is fascinated by Chinese diet, culture and lifestyle.

In 2016, Laurence participated in the competition of the TV program Sing My Song and was in the top six in Liu Huan’s group, successfully attaining thousands of fans. When asked about his international success, he smiles and says, “Music is the most honest language we have, so use your music to share your story, and don’t try something just to be a star or be on the stage. Don’t worry about competing with other people; do what you want to do.”

In November 2017, Laurence came to Wuhan as a representative to celebrate New Zealand Culture Week, bringing the song “Rewi” he wrote for Rewi Alley. He hoped that, like Rewi, he could also become a bridge of cultural exchanges between China and New Zealand. ♦

早上，罗艺恒如常打开电脑，想看看前一天上传的音乐视频有什么反响。他不敢相信自己的眼睛，那首歌下面有几乎上十万的评论。在仅有400万人口的新西兰，这个数字令人难以想象。

那一天，他下定决心，要来中国看看。

Laurence Larson，中文名罗艺恒，寓意艺术永恒。

台上他是光芒四射的“精灵王子”，台下却像个腼腆害羞的邻家男孩。面对笔者，他努力地用中文表达着自己，偶尔切换到英文。语言转换之间，他诚恳道出对中国的热爱，“新西兰是我的家乡，而中国是我梦想开始的地方。”

罗艺恒出生于新西兰奥克兰东区，从小就有很多中国朋友。10岁时，他对吉他一见钟情，大学时便理所当然地选择音乐专业。到了大学，需要选择辅修专业时，他想到自己众多的中国朋友，“当朋友相聚，只有我一个外国人时，他们就会说中文……我时常不知道他们在聊什么，所以我觉得我应该学习一点。”

一次巧合让他将音乐梦想与中国结合起来：“我朋友的母亲是一位歌唱老师，她当时是奥克兰一个歌唱比赛的嘉宾。她邀请我参赛，演唱中文歌曲，没想到我一唱就爱上了。”

罗艺恒认为，西方音乐注重节奏，东方音乐注重旋律和歌词。当中文歌曲的语言和旋律结合起来时，有种特殊的美感。借着参赛的机会，他用耳用心地去学习和理解中文歌曲，开始在两种语言之间转换的音乐之旅。

也是从那时起，他开始将自己翻译的中英文歌曲上传到网上，无意间吸引来自世界各地的粉丝。

和其他许多来华寻梦的异乡人一样，罗艺恒初到中国时也遇到过种种困难，最难之处在于语言，“一开始真的无法交流”。

“学习一个新的语言不能怕尴尬，你就是要感受那个尴尬。”现在的他，早已学会笑对尴尬。围绕中国朋友身边，他已全然忘记自己来自异乡，中国的饮食、文化、生活方式都令他深深着迷。

2016年，他参加《中国好歌曲》的比赛，获得刘欢组6强，成功收获大批迷妹。在他看来，音乐是最诚实的语言。他所享受的，是用音乐分享故事，而非试图上台成为明星。竞争并不重要，重要的是做自己想做的事情。

2017年11月，罗艺恒来汉参加新西兰文化周，带来为路易·艾黎所创作的歌曲《这样一个人》。他希望自己，也能像艾黎一样，成为中新文化交流的桥梁。♦

“精灵王子”双语音乐之旅

文/柏宁 刘畅