The red carpet rolls out for Golden Melody Awards

By Max Woodworth
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, May 29, 2005, Page 17

Above, Sun Shu-mei was elected best Taiwanese female singer. Top, Jay Chou.

A late afternoon thunderstorm interrupted the red-carpet celebrations, but otherwise the 16th Golden Melody Awards took place yesterday without a hitch in Kaohsiung, declaring the year's queens and kings of Chinese-language pop music.

The nominees this year in the popular music categories contained many familiar faces, including Jay Chou (周杰倫), Stanley Huang (黃立行), Biung (王宏恩), Wang Lee-hom (王力宏), Stefanie Sun (孫燕姿) and Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹). This year, however, Sheng Xiang and Water 3 (生祥與瓦窯3), a Hakka band, was honored with the most nominations -- seven -- more even than the perennial Golden Melody winner Chou, who this year had six nominations.

Following through on their many nominations, Sheng Xiang and Water 3 took one of the evening's first popular music awards, handed to Chung Yung-feng (鍾永豐) for best lyricist.

F.I.R. took the Best Mandarin Newcomer.

Speaking backstage after being handed the award, Chung said, "The fact that I've won this award shows the importance that society now places on the Hakka and other minority groups. This gives me a really great feeling of acceptance." The band later also won the Best Hakka Album Award.

The Golden Melody Awards the Chinese pop music industry's equivalent of the Grammy Awards in the US are held annually to award professionals making music in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka and any of Taiwan's Aboriginal languages. A 36-judge panel is assembled by the Government Information Office, which sponsors the awards.

Wang Shi-xian was judged best Taiwanese male singer.

This year, awards were given in a total of 33 categories, 22 of them in pop music and 11 in classical, tribal, religious and children's music, as well as a special award to honor someone for lifetime achievement in the musical arts. This year's nominees were drawn from 6,208 entrees.

Before the evening's proceedings, thousands of teenagers had braved the intermittent rain showers, crowding the area in front of the city's monumental cultural center to see their favorite stars enter the venue in one of the event's most anticipated rituals. Wang Lee-hom wowed the crowds in a full white get-up decked out with hip-hop-style shiny jewelry and mirror sunglasses.

Matthew Lien took an award in the world music category for his album A Journey of Water.

Most of the grand entrances, however, were of the glamor variety, with men and women alike dressed in classy formal wear. Stanley Huang (黃立行) and Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) were the popular favorites on the red carpet, eliciting ear-splitting roars from the throngs of teenagers.

Two of the ceremony's three hostesses Lin Chih-ling (林志玲) and Patty Hou (侯佩岑) also drew gasps on the red carpet. Lin appeared in an ethnic dress wearing about NT$17 million of Harry Winston jewelry, while Hou dazzled with an uncharacteristically racy open-back dress and bedecked with about NT$25 million of Harry Winston jewelry. Later, Lin and Hou performed a Moulin Rouge-themed dance routine that heated things up and elicited a hilarious grin from Hou's boyfriend Jay Chou sitting in the audience that was broadcast live.

The third hostess, popular TV show presenter Momoko Tao (陶子), chose a different tack and started the evening off by appearing on stage in a panda outfit. She struck several awkward notes during the ceremony, however, by mimicking Aboriginal singers' accents and making off-color remarks about their dancing, singing and drinking skills.

That move broke the ice for a uniquely smooth and upbeat ceremony, despite the continued downward trend of album sales that plagues Taiwan's music industry.

Sales of popular music are down more than 60 percent since hitting a high mark in 1998, leading to a few appeals during the night for people not to buy pirated goods.

In the evening's most sentimental moment, the late comedian Ni Min-jan (倪敏然) and his 10-year-old son Ni Jia-shen (倪嘉升) won the award for best theatrical album in the classical portion of the awards.

Judy Chiang (江蕙), the undisputed reigning queen of Taiwanese-language music, proved her mettle again this year, taking the Best Taiwanese-language Album. Chiang is such a dominant force in the Golden Melody Awards that this year she only submitted material for the best album category, leaving others to compete in the Best Taiwanese-language Female Singer category. This year's was her seventh award.

The three-piece pop-rock band F.I.R won the Best Newcomer Award.

Outspoken singer Lotayu (羅大佑) took the night's award for best composer, for his album Beautisland (美麗島). The award surprised some some people because he has been scathing of the current administration. When asked if he had any more sharp words for the government after receiving the award he chose to hold his tongue. "Everything there is to say I've said in the album," he said.

Winning the Taiwanese Female Singer Award was Sun Shu-mei (孫淑媚), who told reporters backstage that the night for her was filled with irony. "My father didn't want to come because he said every time he comes I lose. And this time I really won. Thanks Dad for not coming."

American new-age musician Matthew Lien took an award in the world music category for his album A Journey of Water, which traces metaphorically through music the flow of water from the mountains of Ilan County to the Pacific Ocean.

The alternative songstress Sandee Chen, who had three nominations and on the red carpet dismissed off-hand the notion that she might be nervous about getting an award, received the Best Producer Award. The Aborignal pop rock group Power Station took top honors in the hotly contested Best Duet Group category, beating out the poular group S.H.E and Stanley Huang with Machi.

This year marked the third time that the Golden Melody Awards were held in the southern city of Kaohsiung.