VOA常速英语2013--阿拉巴马盲童组合成立70周年

Music of The Blind Boys of Alabama Nears 70th Anniversary 阿拉巴马盲童组合成立70周年

We are approaching the 70th anniversary of the first performance by a venerable American musical ensemble 1, the gospel singing group known as The Blind Boys of Alabama.

我们正在观看的是受世人尊敬的美国音乐团体在70周年纪念日上的首次演出,他们就是为人们带去福音的歌唱组合阿拉巴马盲人乐队。

Though he’s in his mid-80s now, Clarence Fountain, the last surviving, original member of the Blind Boys of Alabama, can still recall clearly the group’s first time singing in public.

克拉伦斯·方腾是阿拉巴马盲人乐队最早的成员之一，也是最后一个在世者，尽管他现在已经80多岁了，但他仍能清晰地回忆起乐队在公众面前第一次唱歌的情形。

“Way back in -- maybe [19] ‘45, [19]‘46 somewhere along in there - man in New York had a contest and what he did, he said, ‘We gonna have the Blind Boys from Alabama vs. the Blind Boys from Mississippi,” he said.

“早在大概1945年或1946年，就在这个时间段，一个纽约人举办了一场比赛，他说：‘我们会让来自阿拉巴马的盲人男孩和来自密西西比的盲人男孩进行比赛。’”方腾这样说道。

Fountain and his friends from the Alabama Institute for the Blind lost that contest.  But they didn’t let it get them down.  Instead he says,“We hit the road," he said. "And we never looked back.”

方腾和他的来自阿拉巴马盲人协会的朋友们输掉了那场比赛，但是他们并没有因此而感到沮丧。相反他说：“我们既然开始上路，就绝对不会止步不前。”

The quartet singing tradition in America goes back to the 1890s.  In the African-American community, quartets were based in the church, but you’d also find them in the barber shop and at work.  In the case of the Blind Boys of Alabama, Fountain says their excitement about singing began when someone brought a radio into the Institute.

在美国四重唱的唱歌传统可以追溯到19世纪90年代。在非洲裔美国人的社区，四重唱起源于教堂，但是在理发店和工作中也可以听到。就阿拉巴马盲人乐队而言，方腾认为他们唱歌的热情是从有人把收音机带进学校开始的。

“And the thing we did -- we listened to music every day,” he said. What they liked best was a gospel group called the Golden Gate Quartet. “They harmonated, and they was speakin’ their words very clear,” Fountain said.

他说：“我们每天都要做的事情就是听音乐。” 他们最喜欢的福音组合就是金门四重唱。方腾说：“他们以和声唱歌，而且吐字很清晰。”

The Golden Gate Quartet was known for a specific type of gospel singing that had never been heard before, something that came to be called “Jubilee 2.”

金门四重唱成名于以前从未听过的一种特殊的福音唱歌类型，后来被称作“朱比利”（黑人民歌）。

“That’s how we learned how to sing," said Fountain. "Singin’ Jubilee -- let me explain it to you.  It’s the same thing as rapping 3.  What the rappers do now.  The only thing is, when you sing Jubilee, you’re rapping in tune 4. You’re singing to the beat, but you’re rapping in tune.”

“那就是我们怎样学会唱歌的，”方腾说，“唱朱比利—我来给你解释一下。它和饶舌一样，就是现在的说唱者做的事情。”唯一不同的就是当你唱朱比利时，你的说唱是和曲调一致的。

The Blind Boys were traveling and making a good living, singing like their idols 5 throughout the 1940s.  But after World War II, musical tastes changed.  

在整个20世纪40年代，盲人乐队四处旅行，而且能获得良好的生计，唱歌就像他们的灵魂。但是在第二次世界大战以后，音乐风格发生了改变。

“Rock 'n' roll came in in the early ‘50s, and it was a big thing,” Fountain said.

方腾说：“摇滚乐在50年代初期开始出现，它的出现是一件惊天动地的事情。”

He says he saw plenty of people give up gospel singing for rock 'n' roll.  People like Little Richard, Ray Charles and Sam Cooke.  

他说很多人放弃了福音歌去唱摇滚，比如小理查德，雷·查尔斯和山姆库克。

“I was in the studio -- me and Sam Cooke -- when he changed from gospel and went over to rock 'n' roll,” Fountain said.

方腾说：“当山姆库克要从福音歌改唱摇滚，我和他就在工作室里。”

The musical styles of early rock 'n' roll and gospel were nearly the same.  But the content… that was another story.

早期的摇滚音乐风格和福音歌几乎是一样的，但是唱歌内容却完全不同。

“We talkin’ ‘bout Jesus and they talkin’ ‘bout ‘my woman’ and ‘I love her’ and ‘she’s mine.’  You know all that whole mess," said Fountain. "There ain’t no difference in gospel or rock 'n' roll.  I’ll give you an example, [he starts singing]  ‘There’s a man, goin’ round takin’ names. I got a woman way over town, she’s good to me.'”

“我们当时谈论的是耶稣，他们谈论的却是‘我的女人’、‘我爱她’以及‘她属于我’之类的。你知道一切都乱了。”方腾说，“福音歌和摇滚乐是没有区别的，我给你举个例子，（他开始唱歌）‘有一个人在四处打听名字，我在镇上遇到了一个女人，她对我很好。’”

The Blind Boys knew they could make a whole lot more money if they gave up gospel for rock 'n' roll, but they decided 6 against it.

盲人乐队明白如果他们放弃唱福音歌改唱摇滚，他们会挣到更多的钱，但是他们决定不那样做。

“I made the Lord a promise and I talk to the Lord easily as I can talk to you,” Fountain said.

“我对上帝许下了诺言，而且我和上帝的交谈就像和你交谈一样轻松。”方腾说道。

They stuck with it, they stayed on the road, and they kept on singing gospel.  It was a risk, but five Grammy Awards and 70 years later, Fountain says it paid off.

“We just took a chance.  And the Lord blessed us real good,” he said.

他们坚持下来了，他们就在路上而且会继续唱福音歌。这样做很冒险，但是拥有5项德国奖项和70年的经历，方腾说这样做很值得。他说：“我们只是冒了一次险，而且上帝保佑我们好好的。“