Ma Sanli – "Crosstalk Master" “相声泰斗”马三立

他是一位德艺双馨的人民艺术家，擅演“贯口”和文哏段子，在长期的艺术实践中潜心探索，创立了独具特色的“马派相声”。他是中国相声界年龄最长、辈分最高、资历最老、造诣最深的“相声泰斗”，深受社会各界及广大观众的热爱与尊敬。
Ma Sanli is a people’s artist with both ability and integrity and he is skilled in "Guankou" and Wengen routines. He devoted himself to crosstalk and created distinctive "Ma-style crosstalk" in his artistic life. He is known as the "crosstalk master" who is the oldest in crosstalk circle in terms of age, has the highest seniority, the best qualifications and the greatest attainments, and who is loved and respected by various circles of society and people from all walks of life.
马三立(1914-2003)，回族，甘肃省永昌县人。曾任中国曲艺家协会顾问、天津市曲艺家协会名誉主席等职。马三立出身相声世家，自幼受家庭艺术熏陶。15岁拜“相声八德”之一的周德山为师。先后在天津连兴茶社、声远茶社和燕乐、小梨园等场所说相声，并到唐山、秦皇岛、沈阳、沧州、德州、济南及北京等地演出，与当时许多著名曲艺家同台献艺。1941年，参加兄弟剧团后，还兼演相声剧和反串京剧。抗战胜利后，继续在京津两地表演相声。1951年，参加天津红风曲艺社。1952年，参加赴朝慰问演出。1953年，参加天津电台广播曲艺团。1956年，被任命为天津市曲艺团副团长。改革开放以来，把主要精力投入到总结艺术经验和培养曲艺新人上，为培养相声艺术接班人做出了不可磨灭的贡献。
Ma Sanli (1914-2003), of Hui nationality, was born in Yongchang County of Gansu Province. He once served as Consultant of Chinese Ballad Singers Association and Honorary Chairman of Tianjin Ballad Singers Association. Ma Sanli lived in a crosstalk family and grew up in the strong artistic atmosphere. When he was 15, he formally became the pupil of Zhou Deshan, one of "eight famous crosstalk artists". After that, Ma Sanli performed crosstalk at Tianjin Lianxing Tea House, Shengyuan Tea House, Yanle Tea House and Xiaoliyuan (small opera theater), and he also performed in places outside Tianjin, such as Tangshan, Qinhuangdao, Shenyang, Cangzhou, Dezhou, Jinan and Beijing, and he was fortunate enough to perform at the same stage with then famous ballad singers. After joining Xiongdi Troupe in 1941, Ma also performed crosstalk dramas and Beijing Opera (playing female roles). After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Ma Sanli continued to perform crosstalk in Beijing and Tianjin. In 1951, he joined Tianjin Hongfeng Chinese Folk Art Association. The next year, he participated in the special performance as an expression of greetings in North Korea. In 1953, he became a member of Tianjin Radio Station Broadcasting Folk Art Association, and he was appointed as Deputy Head of Tianjin Folk Art Troupe in 1956. Since reform and opening up launched in 1978, he dedicated to summing up artistic practices and cultivating promising young people, and made indelible contributions to the cultivation of promising crosstalk successors.
马三立艺术功底扎实，善于观察社会生活，注意从生活中汲取养分，以其含蓄隽永、质朴自然、蕴藉深远的艺术风格，卓然屹立于中国相声艺术之林。形成了本色自然、冷面滑稽、外松内紧、有条不紊、表演细腻的“马派相声”艺术。改编的《开粥厂》、《夸住宅》、《西江月》、《绕口令》、《黄鹤楼》等，成为脍炙人口的经典之作。《公费医疗》、《买猴》、《开会迷》、《十点钟开始》、《精打细算》、《似曾相识的人》等新作品，为几代人所喜闻乐见，其中《买猴》受到毛泽东、周恩来等党和国家领导人的赞赏。晚年，他坚持对艺术进行不懈的追求与探索。先后创编、演出了《偏方》、《逗你玩》、《81层楼》等许多反映现实生活的单口相声小段，别开生面，堪称经典。
With profound artistic skills, Ma Sanli had a very keen eye to observe social life and was very attentive to taking nourishment from daily life. He stands upright in the Chinese crosstalk art field with his subtle, meaningful, simple, natural and profound artistic style, forming "Ma-style crosstalk" featured by unaffected, stern-faced, funny, well-ordered and exquisite performance with a relaxed appearance but a compacted structure. A number of works he recomposed have become classics and won universal praise, including “Setting up A Porridge Factory”, “A Boast of Residence”, “The Moon Over the West River”, “Tongue Twisters” and “Yellow Crane Tower”. New works created by him, including “Medical Services at State Expense”, “Monkey-purchasing”, “A Meeting-Holic”, “Starting from Ten O' Clock”, “A Bargainer and Familiar People”, are warmly welcomed by generations of general public; among which, “Monkey-purchasing” is applauded by then state leaders including Ma Zedong and Zhou Enlai. In his later years, Ma Sanli continued to seek and explore the crosstalk art unremittingly, and created and performed single crosstalk pieces reflecting real life, like “Pianfang” (folk prescription), “Douniwan” (Kidding You), “the 81st floor”, which have broken fresh ground and have become classic.
马三立贴近群众，淡泊名利，德艺高尚，为世人敬仰。他温和敦厚的形象，让“马三立”这个名字，与天津、与爱心、与快乐紧密地连在了一起。
Being close to common people, indifferent to fame and wealth, with excellent ability and integrity, and admired by Chinese people, Ma Sanli appears moderate, honest and sincere, and his name is closely linked to Tianjin, loving heart and happiness.
马三立演出的节目，先后编入各种相声选集，并出版《马三立相声选》、《艺海飘萍录》等专著，为相声艺术的发展做出了重大贡献。
The crosstalk pieces performed by Ma Sanli have been listed into various selected crosstalk collections, and monographs such as “A Collection of Ma Sanli's Crosstalk” and “A Record of Ma Sanli's Artistic Life” have been published. In a word, Ma Sanli has made significant contributions to the development of Chinese crosstalk art.