Maybe, just maybe, the naive notion that music, including even the saccharine tunes of Mando-pop, is safely outside the realm of politics will be tossed out the window after Chang Hui-mei's (
The controversy stirred up when Chang, who's better known as A-mei (阿妹), was basically chased out of Hangzhou by a gaggle of banner-waving students. There was, however, some anxious speculation early this week as to which Taiwanese singers may be next to suffer a blockade on performances and endorsements in China, including Lee Hom Wang (王力宏), Jay Chou (周杰倫), Jolin Tsai (蔡依林), Mayday (五月天), Richie Ren (任賢齊), Alec Su (蘇有朋) and Wu Bai (伍佰) all of whom have been accused in at least one Chinese venue of being DPP supporters. Strangely, no one mentioned Samingad (紀曉君), who sang the national anthem at this year's inauguration. Then again, practically no one's ever heard of Samingad even though she's one of Taiwan's best singers who gained what little fame she has the hard way -- by singing in bars at night and holding down day jobs.
PHOTO :TAIPEI TIMES
As a contrast, and for an example of the easy path to success, look to the new hot band F.I.R., which appeared out of nowhere and is now sitting cozily atop the charts in Taiwan. Their ascendancy has been so vertical even fans are wondering how genuine they are. The Great Daily News (
Holding on to the bottom rung of the pop charts is Jordan Chan (陳小春), whose latest album Black Hole (黑洞) is getting some apparently ineffectual non-stop promotion on Taipei's city buses. Pop Stop caught up with Skot Sukuyama, who arranged one song on the album and was involved in the making of the album from its early stages almost half a year ago, to ask why Jordan's album just isn't taking off. "Basically, it sounds like Frankenstein looks," he said.
While working on the album, the producers provided Sukuyama with some interesting and rather telling guidance on the sound they were hoping to achieve. "They said, `We want it to sound like an elephant and The Matrix," and I was like, "An elephant is an animal and The Matrix is a movie. It doesn't make any sense."
But that's what they wanted.
So that's what they got: an album jam-packed with clashing styles that simply don't come together in a very musical way.
Things looked bad this week for Rock Records, as well, which was featured in a front-page story of Wednesday's Apple Daily (
A spokesman for the label is reported as saying the affair will be cleared up within a week.
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50