Whether you like or dislike Tiger Huang’s (黃小琥) music, one thing is for certain: she is always entertaining. A veteran singer in the Mando-pop industry, Huang finally became a household name a few years ago after she landed a role as a judge on the TV talent show One Million Star (超級星光大道).
This newfound fame rejuvenated what had been a sagging career. Last month, Huang released Simple, Or Not (簡單/不簡單), her first new album in eight years.
Huang will present a mini concert titled 2010 Tiger Full Throttle Not So Simple (2010琥力全開不簡單演唱會) tomorrow at Legacy Taipei to promote the album’s release. She also performs regularly on Monday nights at EZ5 Live House in Taipei.
A straightforward, take-no-prisoners kind of gal, Huang is best known as the acid-tongued judge on One Million Star who spews scathing criticism at the show’s impressionable young contestants. She was no less straightforward during a phone interview with the Taipei Times on Tuesday.
“I have a very eclectic style on this new album. It’s not just love songs anymore,” Huang says. “There is funky dance, R ’n’ B and even rock songs.”
Winning the Best New Comer gong at the 1990 Golden Melody Awards for her debut album Not Just Friends (不只是朋友) failed to propel Huang to the fore of the music world. An odd figure in a Mando-pop landscape populated with photogenic, prepackaged idols, she was mostly overlooked by the major labels and spent much of her career recording more cover albums than original releases.
Performing on the pub circuit to cultivate a fanbase earned Huang the moniker of “the Queen of Pubs” (Pub女王), a singer with a smoky voice that conveys the aura of a woman who has been places and seen things.
Despite a lack of quality original songs, Huang manages to put her personal stamp on every cover she’s interpreted with her distinctively throaty, soulful voice and jazz-infused phrasing. Her virtuosic renditions of classic tunes in both Chinese and English have endeared her to audiences in the know.
When asked how she would describe her voice, she responds somewhat tersely, “Get my CDs and listen to them. I don’t know how to describe it.”
Pressed further, she relents and answers, “It’s unique and very low. Actually my voice is husky but not low. I can sing in very high notes.”
Asked how she feels about her newfound fame as a TV talent show judge, she responds, “These are all platforms. I simply need a platform.”
When asked what oldies she intends to tackle at tomorrow’s concert in addition to her new songs, she hisses, “I can’t tell you that, and this information is of no use to you anyway.”
Asked what music projects she intends to pursue in the future, such as theater, she moans, “You’re probably too young to know this. I’ve done theater, actually, but nobody knows.”
For her highly acclaimed concert in 2008, Huang made headlines when she tackled Jolin Tsai’s (蔡依林) Dancing Diva (舞孃) and No Mercy (愛無赦), complete with all of Tsai’s dance moves. Last year, Tsai sent a gift card challenging Huang to have a go at her song Butterfly (花蝴蝶), according to media reports.
Asked which of Tsai’s songs she might consider tackling again, Huang snarls, “Whether I hold a concert or not is not related to Jolin Tsai. Jolin Tsai does not affect what songs I want to sing!”
What was the population of Taiwan when the first Negritos arrived? In 500BC? The 1st century? The 18th? These questions are important, because they can contextualize the number of babies born last month, 6,523, to all the people on Taiwan, indigenous and colonial alike. That figure represents a year on year drop of 3,884 babies, prefiguring total births under 90,000 for the year. It also represents the 26th straight month of deaths exceeding births. Why isn’t this a bigger crisis? Because we don’t experience it. Instead, what we experience is a growing and more diverse population. POPULATION What is Taiwan’s actual population?
After Jurassic Park premiered in 1993, people began to ask if scientists could really bring long-lost species back from extinction, just like in the hit movie. The idea has triggered “de-extinction” debates in several countries, including Taiwan, where the focus has been on the Formosan clouded leopard (designated after 1917 as Neofelis nebulosa brachyura). National Taiwan Museum’s (NTM) Web site describes the Formosan clouded leopard as “a subspecies endemic to Taiwan…it reaches a body length of 0.6m to 1.2m and tail length of 0.7m to 0.9m and weighs between 15kg and 30kg. It is entirely covered with beautiful cloud-like spots
For the past five years, Sammy Jou (周祥敏) has climbed Kinmen’s highest peak, Taiwu Mountain (太武山) at 6am before heading to work. In the winter, it’s dark when he sets out but even at this hour, other climbers are already coming down the mountain. All of this is a big change from Jou’s childhood during the Martial Law period, when the military requisitioned the mountain for strategic purposes and most of it was off-limits. Back then, only two mountain trails were open, and they were open only during special occasions, such as for prayers to one’s ancestors during Lunar New Year.
March 23 to March 29 Kao Chang (高長) set strict rules for his descendants: women were to learn music or cooking, and the men medicine or theology. No matter what life path they chose, they were to use their skills in service of the Presbyterian Church and society. As a result, musical ability — particularly in Western instruments — was almost expected among the Kao women, and even those who married into the family often had musical training. Although the men did not typically play instruments, they played a supporting role, helping to organize music programs such as children’s orchestras, writes
RSS