Before the expectant eyes of music academics, the Research Institute of Musical Heritage (
The country's first archive devoted to ethnomusicology, a relatively new field of musical study in Taiwan and worldwide, appeared to be in a half-finished state despite having taken 13 years to build. There has been criticism that the archive is lacking in research articles and ethnic music publications and was opened ahead of time for political reasons.
The Ethnic Music Archive includes folk music, operas, dance music, religious and contemporary music from around the world, with a focus on ethnic music from Taiwan. Its two-story, 200-ping space is divided into a reading room, audio-visual room, research room and a open-shelf library. It also holds performances and seminars on weekends. Lifetime membership costs NT$100 and allows anyone access to its digital and open-shelf collections.
PHOTO: VICO LEE, TAIPEI TIMES
The setting up of the archive was a long tortuous process. In its original plan, broached by late musicologist Hsu Chang-huei (
Around the same time, the government's financial situation made such a large project unfeasible. In 2000, the new administration adjusted the country's cultural policies toward strengthening "cultural software" instead of hardware, so that the CCA combined the institute with the existing National Traditional Arts Center (
The archive has also been condensed into the less than 200-ping space of a former office building, on loan from the Council of Agriculture, to save construction cost. Its original functions of gathering, researching, and displaying ethnic music materials, remain unchanged.
PHOTO: VICO LEE, TAIPEI TIMES
Despite the long delay, the archive's opening is still a positive development in ethnic music research, said Lin Huei-kuan (
Although many in the music field are happy to see the archive finally materialized, it's not without its critics. On Nov. 3, five days after its opening, a Chinese-language daily reported that the archive's digital collection could not be accessed and its printed collection consists only of second-hand materials, all of which are available on the market. The archive, it reported, may have been opened prematurely, for political reasons.
Since the news came out, Hu Wei-chiao (
Huang Yu-cheng (
Ke Chi-lang (
The open-shelf area contains many fine-arts publications unrelated to ethnic music, the Taipei Times found, meaning the actual collection of ethnic music publications is fewer than the 28,000 items claimed. Ke admitted that these books were purchased over a decade ago for a cultural library in the archive's large-scale original form but somehow got transferred here. Ke promised to look into the matter.
Hsu Ruei-kun (
"Professor Hsu [Chang-huei]'s original plan for the archive has been condensed to a very large extent, but it's still better than nothing. I think we should give people at the institute their due credit for making the effort. It's not only helpful to academia but also to the general public," Hsu said.
Ethnic music materials are few and hard to find in Taiwan, said Wang Yin-feng (
"One of the most urgent issues in music academic circles is that each scholar does his or her own research, unaware of what other scholars have done. The archive serves as a gathering ground for their works, and it eases the circulation of information."
However, the volume of the archive's collection, both Wang and Hsu agreed, needs to expand.
"A real archive needs its own first-hand materials, gathered through field work by its own researchers, and that is what the archive lacks at present, because its research team is understaffed," Wang said.
Hsu admitted the opening had been rushed. "It was opened a bit early, but not too early. If we waited until everything was ready to start operation, that day would never have come. You can never say an archive is complete," Hsu said.
"It's true that we don't have everything. But we already have over 20,000 items so why not let people use them as soon as possible? Some people said our shelves were not full, but even if they are, they won't satisfy every reader. It's hard to say when the library will be complete, but we're making efforts step by step," Ke said.
Wang believed that opening the archive will speed the expansion of its collection.
"The opening was a bit rushed but if we waited for the collection to be complete, we don't know how long we would have to wait. Academics have been anxious to see it established for a long time. Its collection is not enough, but at least now that it's opened, it's subject to public scrutiny, and that will probably help beef up the collection more efficiently.
"What it needs now is people's faith in it. If those who have done their field work and research are willing to share their collection with the archive, its collection will grow," Wang said. "Its goal to internationalize its collection and plan for exchanges with ethnic music institutes abroad are in the right direction," Wang said.
The Research Institute of Musical Heritage and its Ethnic Music Archive are located at 26 Hangzhou N Rd, Taipei (
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