开凿于1500多年前的云冈石窟，现存大小造像59000余尊。是世界文化遗产，堪称中国佛教艺术的颠峰之作，代表了五世纪世界美术雕刻的最高水平。步入云冈石窟第12窟，会立刻被洞窟前室顶部壁上的“伎乐天”深深吸引。他们手捧不同乐器，仿佛一支整齐的乐队。该洞窟因此享有“音乐窟”的美誉。 与建筑、雕塑等“凝固的艺术”相比，音乐是流动、变化的，加之唐代以前几乎没有乐谱传世，北魏石窟里雕刻的乐器到底能奏出怎样的音律？艺术家们反复思索。“让千年云冈发出属于当代的艺术之音！”这是上海民族乐团著名琵琶演奏家俞冰初见云冈时立下的宏愿。经过多年筹备，为千年石窟注入超凡想象力，依据云冈石窟中对乐器和乐者的描绘，俞冰自2022年春天起酝酿为云冈谱新曲。受到特别邀请的还有上海打击乐协会副会长杨雷恒、上海戏剧学院电影作曲系主任黄磊等。 经过一年多的反复探索和实验，艺术家们试图以当代手法和思维，将传统民族打击乐呈现出既富于中华人文哲思又突显云冈意境内涵的特色表达。近15分钟的曲目《云冈圣境》里，悠远细碎的串铃象征飘渺梵音，浑厚深沉的箭鼓和重锤寓意庄严行进的步履，急促不定的大鼓犹如石破天惊的纷纷落石，旋转跳动的排鼓仿佛须弥仙境中的翩翩神舞，海螺的划奏、Udu鼓的指击……展现出云冈如梦如幻、悠远辽阔的意象。值得一提的是，作为中西音乐对话的代表性乐器，琵琶仍是焦点。“这不仅取自‘伎乐天’造像，也来自今天人们对不同文明交流互鉴的向往。” 伴随庄严的鼓点，大弦嘈嘈如急雨的琵琶声，仿佛能穿透厚实的洞窟壁，以独特的共鸣“唤醒”云冈…… Excavated more than 1,500 years ago, the Yungang Grottoes now have more than 59,000 statues. It is a world cultural heritage, which can be called the pinnacle of Chinese Buddhist art, and represents the highest level of world art sculpture in the fifth century. When visitors enter the twelfth cave of the Yungang Grottoes, they will immediately be fascinated by the Flying Asparas Musicians on the top of the cave's front room. They hold different instruments like a neat band. The cave is therefore known as the "Cave of Music." Compared with "solidified arts" such as architecture and sculpture, music is fluid and keeps changing, and there was almost no musical score before the Tang Dynasty. What kind of rhythm can the instruments carved in the caves of the Northern Wei Dynasty play? The artists pondered repeatedly. "Let the millennium Yungang revive through contemporary art!" This is the grand wish set by Yu Bing, a famous pipa player of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, when he first saw the Yungang Grottoes. After years of preparation, Yu Bing has been composing new music for Yungang since the spring of 2022, based on the depiction of musical instruments and musicians in the Yungang Grottoes. Yang Leiheng, vice president of the Shanghai Percussion Association, and Huang Lei, director of the film composition department of the Shanghai Theatre Academy were also invited to join in Yu’s work. After more than a year of repeated exploration and experimentation, the artists have tried to present traditional folk percussion music with contemporary techniques and thinking, which is not only rich in Chinese humanistic philosophies, but also highlights the connotation of Yungang. In the nearly 15-minute track "Yungang Holy Realm", the delicate string of bells symbolizes the ethereal Buddhist music, the thick drum beats and heavy hammers imply the solemn marching steps, the rapid and erratic drums are like falling stones and the spinning and beating drums are like the dancing Asparas in the Semeru Wonderland. The stroke of the conch and the fingering of the Udu drum show the dream-like image of Yungang, far and wide. As a representative instrument of Chinese and Western music dialogue, the pipa is still the focus in the track. "It is not only extracted from the statue of the Flying Asparas Musicians, but also has responded to today's people's yearning for exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations." Accompanied by the solemn drumbeat, the thick strings of the pipa loudly thrum like the pattering rain, as if they can penetrate the thick cave walls and awaken Yungang with a unique resonance.