張月兒

简介

Zhang Yue'er (1907-1981), originally named Zhang Guoxiong, was a Hong Kong Cantonese opera singer and film actress. Her family originated from Xecun Village in Panyu, Guangdong Province. At age 11, she began learning from musician Xu Guifu, and at age 13 she started performing on stage in Hong Kong. She became famous in the 1930s for her mastery of the pinghu (flat throat) singing style, and together with Xiao Mingxing, Xu Liuxian, and Zhang Huifang, she was known as one of the "Four Pinghu Kings" or "Four Pinghu Heroes" in the Cantonese opera singing world. She developed her own distinctive "Yue'er style" characterized by powerful volume and wide vocal range, and was capable of singing both male and female dialogue parts in Cantonese opera with lively expressiveness. She excelled at comic songs and could use various role types' vocal styles to portray character personalities, earning her the nickname "Queen of Comic Singing." Among her notable works was the Cantonese opera song "A Generation of Artists," written in memory of film star Ruan Lingyu who died in 1935, with lyrics containing titles of several films starring Ruan Lingyu. She also starred in a film of the same name "A Generation of Artists" (1941). Zhang Yue'er came from a literary family and had considerable skill in poetry and lyric writing. Record companies in Shanghai and Hong Kong produced many of her records.