What story does Ge Dongqi's Xi tell?

The song Xi tells the story of a woman getting married, but the wedding is not as happy as expected, but full of sadness. In fact, this is a "ghost wedding" where the groom marries the ghost bride and the bride has been killed by the king. But the affectionate man didn't forget his promise with the woman, so he decided to hold a ghost wedding. The whole lyrics of Xi were written on the ghost wedding day.

The first lyric of the song is "the 18th day of the first month/auspicious day of the ecliptic". In fact, the 18th day of the first month is not an auspicious day, and it is not suitable for living people to get married, but the first month is suitable for yin marriage. Secondly, "sorghum shoulders/red clothes/one foot and one hate" to ward off evil spirits. "Let's talk about it later/push the door and the fog will open itself." This is the time for ghost weddings, and the living usually get married at noon, and there will be no fog.

"The wild cat crooked its neck and followed the trees for several blocks", which means that the cat smelled the bride, so it followed for a long time. "It's strange to close all the doors in this village." Most people get married with onlookers and help, so they are not used to closing the door. "That official thought for a long time/only mumbled a sad sentence", so it can be seen that Xi describes the day of ghost marriage.

Creation background

The popular genre collides with the realistic expression in the lyrics, combining folk music such as suona, erhu and pipa, supplemented by Shanghai dialect, opera cavity and monologue. Ge Dongqi broke the usual genre mode, and the elements were changeable, which brought a refreshing feeling to the audience. The song expresses a "happy event" in a realistic way, without feelings or emotions, but only from an objective and concrete perspective. The "official", "bride" and "king" in the song are like the contradictory fusion of various elements in the genre, and they are also a story full of contradictions.