FIR's (飛兒樂團) self-titled debut album, released in 2004, blasted the pop trio to the top of the Mando-pop music scene. Since then, all four of the group's albums have topped charts in China, Hong Kong and its native Taiwan. Tomorrow night, the band, comprised of producer and keyboardist Ian Chen (陳建寧), vocalist Faye (飛) and guitarist Real (阿沁), will hold its first-ever concert at the Taipei Arena (台北小巨蛋). Stefanie Sun (孫燕姿) and lead singer Shin (信) of Shin Band (信樂團) will make guest appearances at what promises to be a packed house.
Warner Music, the group's record company, has pulled out all the stops to ensure the debut concert is grand and spent over NT$3 million on the members' garb alone. This includes a futuristic LED-rigged costume to be worn by Faye, said to be inspired by an as yet undiscovered planet, and symbolizing infinite possibilities embodied in the combo's music, according to the record company's publicity bumf.
Technical difficulties have yet to be overcome to conceal six large batteries and 3m wires inside the outfit. Assuming that the petite vocalist can change outfits in three seconds as planned without tripping over the wiring, the threesome will play their signature mix of Mando-pop, J-pop, rock, jazz, blues, dance and world-music tunes.
Since the concert is dubbed as part of a world tour, Warner Music said the act will travel to other cities, but did not specify which, though it's safe to say they'll probably all be Earth-bound.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not