When Taichung-based acoustic trio Black Lung Inner City Choir heard about a Taiwanese festival in Toronto that was to take place while they were back in Canada on tour, the band jumped at the chance to participate.
“We felt that a band of Canadians that has been playing in Taiwan for five years, returning to their native soil to perform at a Taiwanese festival was just an amazingly interesting cultural and musical exchange,” says vocalist and guitarist Nick Fothergill.
Apparently the organizers of TaiwanFest agreed, and Black Lung’s application was accepted. The festival, which runs through Sept. 21 at Harbourfront Center, has turned into a large cultural event in Toronto. Fothergill says they were “absolutely thrilled to be chosen” and that it was an “amazing opportunity for us both as a band and as residents of Taiwan.” Bandmate Pat Reid agreed, saying that it was, “a beautiful place to play, a great show and a great response from the audience.”
This down-to-earth gratitude and sincere appreciation for their audience and the opportunity to spread their sound is refreshing. While many bands give lip service to their fans, one senses that the Black Lung boys really mean it. Perhaps this has something to do with the simple acoustic music they play, and the delightful harmonies they engage in.
It’s also rare to find a band that doesn’t have an obvious frontman. All three sing. Both Fothergill and Reid play guitar, while drummer Brad Whitmore provides percussion and is “the glue that holds the band together,” says Fothergill. One will bring in a song and sing the main part, while the other two develop harmonies to go along with it. It’s not always easy to have such an egalitarian system, but, says Fothergill, “humans do things in teams; [we] end up better for the contributions of the other band members.”
Something about the acoustic sound and melding of three voices does make this group refreshingly human and accessible.
“My lyrics are like a page out of my diary,” says Fothergill. “Although the names and places are different from yours, I think all the thoughts and themes in people’s personal lives are always going to be similar.” He says he sings to relate that we all share the same “fears, joys, sorrows and triumphs.” A line from his song Heather illustrates this: “If you find you’re second-guessing and wondering what’s right/ Remember we’ve all felt that way sometime in our lives.”
Something that definitely did seem “right” was their participation in TaiwanFest. “After years of learning to speak Chinese in Taiwan, it was a cool thing to be able to address a crowd in our home country in Mandarin,” says Fothergill.
The response from the crowd was great, and the band felt welcomed by other performers, including an Aboriginal choir.
Fothergill says Taiwan’s small size makes it easier for potential bandmates to meet each and connect here than in Canada, and he thinks musicians should take advantage of the rapidly expanding scene in Taiwan and the “nurturing environment” it provides. “A much-needed coming together of expat and local Taiwanese artists is beginning to take place,” says Fothergill. “Once we come together as artists, some very interesting new things can happen. Perhaps even a new world music.”
Behind a car repair business on a nondescript Thai street are the cherished pets of a rising TikTok animal influencer: two lions and a 200-kilogram lion-tiger hybrid called “Big George.” Lion ownership is legal in Thailand, and Tharnuwarht Plengkemratch is an enthusiastic advocate, posting updates on his feline companions to nearly three million followers. “They’re playful and affectionate, just like dogs or cats,” he said from inside their cage complex at his home in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Thailand’s captive lion population has exploded in recent years, with nearly 500 registered in zoos, breeding farms, petting cafes and homes. Experts warn the
The unexpected collapse of the recall campaigns is being viewed through many lenses, most of them skewed and self-absorbed. The international media unsurprisingly focuses on what they perceive as the message that Taiwanese voters were sending in the failure of the mass recall, especially to China, the US and to friendly Western nations. This made some sense prior to early last month. One of the main arguments used by recall campaigners for recalling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers was that they were too pro-China, and by extension not to be trusted with defending the nation. Also by extension, that argument could be
Aug. 4 to Aug. 10 When Coca-Cola finally pushed its way into Taiwan’s market in 1968, it allegedly vowed to wipe out its major domestic rival Hey Song within five years. But Hey Song, which began as a manual operation in a family cow shed in 1925, had proven its resilience, surviving numerous setbacks — including the loss of autonomy and nearly all its assets due to the Japanese colonial government’s wartime economic policy. By the 1960s, Hey Song had risen to the top of Taiwan’s beverage industry. This success was driven not only by president Chang Wen-chi’s
The centuries-old fiery Chinese spirit baijiu (白酒), long associated with business dinners, is being reshaped to appeal to younger generations as its makers adapt to changing times. Mostly distilled from sorghum, the clear but pungent liquor contains as much as 60 percent alcohol. It’s the usual choice for toasts of gan bei (乾杯), the Chinese expression for bottoms up, and raucous drinking games. “If you like to drink spirits and you’ve never had baijiu, it’s kind of like eating noodles but you’ve never had spaghetti,” said Jim Boyce, a Canadian writer and wine expert who founded World Baijiu Day a decade
RSS