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Take a trip through sound

By Yu Sen-lun
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Aug 31, 2001, Page 7

Alom. PHOTO COURTESY OF TREES MUSIC AND ART

The music will summon images of travel to far-flung places with tunes that cover Jewish music from Poland, Gypsy music blended with Czech folk songs, Taiwanese Aboriginal bands and the famed Macedonian singer Vanja Lazarova. Now these varied styles are being brought together under the theme of "music of migration" for a unique festival in Taipei starting Sunday.

The Migration Music Festival (流浪之歌音樂節) is an eight-day musical and cultural event that hopes to highlight the music and cultures of migratory ethnic groups through four concerts, film sessions and lectures and seminars on the relation of migratory culture and world music. Admission to all events is free.

World music fans will see similarities to the recent world music festival in Taipei, but the Migration Music Festival's specific theme is designed to generate more discussion and involvement on the part of the audience, according to organizer Trees Music and Art Association (大大樹世界音樂文化協會).

The Cracow Klezmer Band. PHOTO COURTESY OF TREES MUSIC AND ART

"This is the first time we can have a music festival with a specific theme. Apart from presenting the music, we hope to have a deeper and extensive exploration of the musical culture of migration," said Chung She-fong (鍾適芳) of Trees Music and Art.

"It will be a festival where people can enjoy the music, see the movies and also join discussions with international critics and music producers," she said.

A look at the history of migration in the world reveals that many ethnic musical cultures developed while in the state of migration. Changing habitat and interaction with different people helped nurture unique cultural and musical forms. This seems especially true of ethnic groups such as the Gypsies of southern Spain who created the mournful yet joyous Flamenco music and dance. Meanwhile, European Jews developed unique musical styles in their own Yiddish language. And in Taiwan, as a society based on migration, the fusion and influences of different ethnic groups is also manifested in its culture and music.

Urna Charhar-Tugchi. PHOTO COURTESY OF TREES MUSIC AND ART

"We hope this music festival can open a window to appreciate more diverse world cultures," Chung said.

Mina Rad. PHOTO COURTESY OF TREES MUSIC AND ART

Trees Music and Art earlier this year organized a European tour for the Hakka band Labor Exchange. This time, the association intends to bring European world music back to Taiwan with the endorsement of Czech TV and the Europe Broadcasting Union.

Migration Theater

The festival will start Sunday with a screening of the Brazilian Oscar-winning movie Central Station at Eslite Bookstore at 7:30pm. On Monday, also at 7:30pm, the screening venue changes to Yungle Market on Tihua Street (迪化街) with The Straight Story, by US director David Lynch. Two films by Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami will be screened at Yungkang Park at 7:30pm on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday's movie will be Where is My Friend's Home. Wednesday's will be And Life Goes On.

Vanja Lazarova. PHOTO COURTESY OF TREES MUSIC AND ART

Grand Stage

Labor Exchange. PHOTO COURTESY OF TREES MUSIC AND ART

The highlight of the music festival is called the Grand Stage, which is a series of three concerts over three days next weekend at the outdoor stage in Ta-an Forest Park. Two shows next weekend will also take place in Kaohsiung. The concerts begin at 7pm. Some of the Eastern European groups are giving their first-ever performances in Taiwan. Performers include The Cracow Klezmer band from Poland, the Alom Gypsy band from the Czech Republic and Vanya Lazarova from Macedonia. Asian performers include Mongolian singer Urna Charhar-Tugchi and her German musician and producer husband Robert Zollitsch, Taiwanese Aboriginal singer Huegue (迴谷) with his Amis tribe band and Labor Exchange.

Huegue. PHOTO COURTESY OF TREES MUSIC AND ART

Documentary Hall

Between Thursday and Sept. 9 the festival will feature a world music documentary series called Documentary Hall. The film My Home Town and the Flowing Water (原鄉逝水) tells the story of the Hakka village of Meinung and its struggle against the construction of the Meinung Reservoir. The band Labor Exchange was formed against the backdrop of this social and environmental struggle. Two movies will focus on four Gypsy female singers. There will also be three short documentaries about Amis Aborigines migrating to cities to become construction workers. All the documentaries will be screened at the Taipei Hakka Cultural Center located at 11, Ln. 157, Hsinyi Rd.. Sec. 3 (台北市信儀路3段157巷11號). For information on screening times call 0939-096-012.

Travelers' Tales and Crossroads

The festival's lecture and seminar series, titled Travelers' Tales and Crossroads, will take place at the Taipei Hakka Cultural Center between Friday and Sept. 9 and will be hosted by international world music critics and producers. Mina Rad, a French-Iranian music critic who writes a column in the magazine Le Monde de la Musique will give a lecture on migratory culture and the music of central Asia. Petr Doruzka, a Czech music producer and critic will speak about Gypsy music in Europe. Taiwanese writer and music critic Ho Ying-yi (何穎怡) and Chung Yung-feng (鍾永豐), also writer and producer of Labor Exchange, will give speeches about Taiwanese music culture. For information on meeting times call 0939-096-012.

Migration Music Festival concert schedule

Sept. 7, 7pm, Ta-an Forest Park
Cracow Klezmer Band -- Poland, Jewish
Four young men, using violin, double bass, accordion, clarinet and percussion sets in traditional Klezmer folk songs. The band instills a lively, vibrant music spirit into this old folk style.
(Also 7pm, Sept. 9 at Kaohsiung City Music Hall)

Labor Exchange -- Taiwan, Hakka
Formed amid the anti-Meinun Reservoir movement, the band sings songs about the land and vanishing rural lives. A protest band blending rock 'n' roll with traditional Chinese instruments like the moon guitar, suona (Chinese reed pipe) and Chinese drums. The first band to mix Hakka mountain songs and modern music writing.

Sept. 8, 7pm, Ta-an Forest Park
Huegue and Band -- Taiwan, Amis Aborigine
The spokesman of urban Aborigines, Huegue creates a new kind of blues, using acoustic guitar and duet vocals to depict the lives of Amis people living in cities as construction workers. He blends Amis folks songs, Japanese songs and Western blues.

Alom -- Czech Republic, Gypsy
A representative band of East European Gypsy music known for its fast and fierce violin-playing. The band uses two violins, a double bass and the Cimbalon, a traditional Czech musical instrument to back wailing soprano vocals.

(Also 7pm, Sept. 9 at Kaohsiung City Music Hall)

Sept. 9, 7pm, Ta-an Forest Park
Vanja Lazarova and group
Seventy-one-year-old renowned Macedonian singer, who has been performing in Macedonia and Europe for half a century. Lazarova's voice is most remembered from the soundtrack for the award-winning film Before the Rain.

Urna Charhar-Tugchi and ensemble
A famed Mongolian singer born on the Ordos grassland of Inner Mongolia, Urna has a four-octave vocal range that allows for soft and light vocals followed by powerful, sharp wailing. Her German husband/producer Robert Zollitsch plays the zither and accompanies her with Mogolian throat-singing.
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