There are rock 'n' roll bands that sing about revolution, but only one can claim to have actually inspired one. They are the Plastic People of the Universe, whose Velvet Underground-influenced, psychedelic art rock the Czechoslovak Communist regime found so threatening that in 1977 it sentenced them to prison for "organized disturbance of the peace."
The case attracted international attention and became a rallying point for Charter 77, a civic movement that ultimately overthrew Communism in Czechoslovakia. The Plastics - who play tomorrow night at The Wall - even coined the name for their country's peaceful democratic transition in 1989: the Velvet Revolution.
On Monday, the band participated in a talk as part of this year's Spirit of Taiwan (正義無敵), the latest name for the Taiwan Rock Alliance's (TRA) annual music festival held to commemorate the 228 Incident. They sat down in an auditorium at Eslite's Xinyi branch, joined by Chinese dissident Wang Dan (王丹) and several figures from Taiwan's indie-music scene. The panel was supposed to discuss transitional justice, or how a country comes to terms with past human rights abuses and moves on.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF TRA
"We lived under a Communist regime. If you want to ask us how was it, how it will be, we are ready to answer your questions," said frontman Vratislav Brabenec in his opening remarks. Brabenec was jailed at least 70 times before emigrating to Canada with his wife and daughter in 1983.
But not everyone in the audience of mostly university students wanted to talk about politics. The first person to ask a question noted that most Taiwanese bands break up after a few years. He wanted to know how the Plastics had managed to stay together for four decades. Another said he liked heavy metal and asked what Czech metal bands were good.
When asked about their experiences under Czechoslovakia's Communist government, Brabenec, bassist Ivan Bierhanzl and Eva Turnova, who joined the band 10 years ago, gave thoughtful answers.
"The Communist Party feared us because we are poets," said Brabenec, whose long white beard and round glasses made him look like an aging John Lennon. "We were pushed to be in the political field because of the process against musicians in the Czech underground movement."
But it wasn't until late in the evening that an attempt was made to draw a connection to Taiwanese politics. And the person who made the connection was a Taiwanese politician.
"It seems that in our society in Taiwan people are [more] reluctant to appear politicized or to take a position on matters related to social justice," said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴). What can a government do, she asked, to encourage a sense of transitional justice among artists?
Brabenec responded by saying artists themselves should speak out against the government.
Ko Ren-jian (柯仁堅), singer for indie-rock band LTK Commune (濁水溪公社), said he was impressed by how the Plastics sang about Communist politicians being afraid of artists.
"Bands in Taiwan are a little bit tired about the [domestic political] situation," he said. "The politicians here are not afraid of the bands. They're not afraid of anything. I think it's hard for us to make a change. That's just my personal thought about the difference between [your country] and Taiwan."
"If you cannot tell the truth, don't be an artist," Brabenec said.
That was about as far as anyone seemed interested in going with what was supposed to be the topic of the evening. Not even Wang, the leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, could steer the discussion back to the issue.
"I don't understand so much about rock 'n' roll music, but in my knowledge I think it has a lot to do with rage and anger," he told the band. "But you don't look like you're angry at all. What has changed throughout these years as you grow in age? Do you stop being so angry? Or are you still angry, and if so why?"
Turnova was the first to respond. She said anger was the other side of sex, then took a dig at her bandmates' age.
"I don't agree, but I like sex," Brabenec said, drawing laughter from the audience.
Despite their role in changing European history, the Plastics never considered themselves to be a political band; they have always maintained that they just wanted the Communist regime to leave them alone.
"It's some kind of joke of history that our band became political," said Bierhanzl after the conference was over. "We are just guys who want to play music.
Also See: National Palace Museum hits the road
May 11 to May 18 The original Taichung Railway Station was long thought to have been completely razed. Opening on May 15, 1905, the one-story wooden structure soon outgrew its purpose and was replaced in 1917 by a grandiose, Western-style station. During construction on the third-generation station in 2017, workers discovered the service pit for the original station’s locomotive depot. A year later, a small wooden building on site was determined by historians to be the first stationmaster’s office, built around 1908. With these findings, the Taichung Railway Station Cultural Park now boasts that it has
Wooden houses wedged between concrete, crumbling brick facades with roofs gaping to the sky, and tiled art deco buildings down narrow alleyways: Taichung Central District’s (中區) aging architecture reveals both the allure and reality of the old downtown. From Indigenous settlement to capital under Qing Dynasty rule through to Japanese colonization, Taichung’s Central District holds a long and layered history. The bygone beauty of its streets once earned it the nickname “Little Kyoto.” Since the late eighties, however, the shifting of economic and government centers westward signaled a gradual decline in the area’s evolving fortunes. With the regeneration of the once
The latest Formosa poll released at the end of last month shows confidence in President William Lai (賴清德) plunged 8.1 percent, while satisfaction with the Lai administration fared worse with a drop of 8.5 percent. Those lacking confidence in Lai jumped by 6 percent and dissatisfaction in his administration spiked up 6.7 percent. Confidence in Lai is still strong at 48.6 percent, compared to 43 percent lacking confidence — but this is his worst result overall since he took office. For the first time, dissatisfaction with his administration surpassed satisfaction, 47.3 to 47.1 percent. Though statistically a tie, for most
In February of this year the Taipei Times reported on the visit of Lienchiang County Commissioner Wang Chung-ming (王忠銘) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and a delegation to a lantern festival in Fuzhou’s Mawei District in Fujian Province. “Today, Mawei and Matsu jointly marked the lantern festival,” Wang was quoted as saying, adding that both sides “being of one people,” is a cause for joy. Wang was passing around a common claim of officials of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the PRC’s allies and supporters in Taiwan — KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party — and elsewhere: Taiwan and
RSS