Windmill (風籟坊), a rock trio performing in Kaohsiung tomorrow and Pingdong on Sunday, is something of a rarity in Taipei’s indie scene today: The group’s lead singer and guitarist Chris Lin (林育詳), writes and sings in Hoklo, commonly known as Taiwanese.
But the band, which combines catchy modern rock hooks, Neil Young-inspired guitar distortion and a folk songwriter’s sensibility, didn’t start out this way when it formed in 2007. The three bandmembers originally followed the cue of many Taipei indie bands, penning their first songs in Mandarin.
Those songs didn’t “feel right” to Lin, and bassist Sky Tai (戴杏芳) agrees. “Chris sings very well in Taiwanese. In Mandarin he doesn’t sound as good. When he sings in Mandarin, he’ll sing off key,” she laughed.
Of the tracks on Windmill’s first release, Demo I (Demo 甲), fans and friends seemed to remember the only Hoklo tune, The Lin Family (林家事誌), Tai said.
This encouraged Windmill to switch to mostly Hoklo lyrics on its second release, Demo II (Demo 乙), which is currently the best-seller at White Wabbit Records (小白兔唱片). (Tai happens to be the store manager but insists she “doesn’t dare” mention her band to customers.)
Windmill is far from the first band to sing in Hoklo, but the group is expanding its use beyond traditional nakashi-based dirges, mainstream Taiwanese pop and the campy humor and parody associated with pioneers of the indie scene such as LTK Commune (濁水溪公社) and The Clippers (夾子). Windmill’s sound is clearly inspired by Western indie rock, and it’s easy to pick out some of the influences they list on their Myspace site: Galaxie 500, Wilco and Pavement.
Demo II covers themes that ought to resonate with any Taiwanese person in their 20s and 30s. Doors (過重門) touches upon the generation gap within a family and a teenager’s coming of age, 1982 (民國7十1) recalls a childhood memory of Taiwan’s east coast, Long Distance Call (長途電話) is about leaving home and adjusting to life in the city.
Lin, a 30-year-old who grew up in Hualien and Yilan, says that singing in Hoklo feels like his “real self.” He is attracted to the language of his household and childhood for its “sounds” and “especially the rhythms.”
He says that Hoklo works especially well in expressing sentiments about family and home, topics that interest him most in songwriting. He discovered the language’s “energy and power” during university, after adapting a Hoklo poem as lyrics for a folk song.
The reaction to Windmill’s music on one Internet bulletin board dwelled on the novelty and surprise of a non-mainstream band “singing in Taiwanese.” And there is another advantage to their choice of language, says Tai.
“Our songs with Taiwanese lyrics, you can let your parents listen to them. Or your grandparents. They’ll know what their children and grandchildren are up to,” she said.
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