On Tuesday Julio Iglesias, one of the world’s most romantic crooners, will bring his charm to the Taipei Arena. Iglesias is the ageless Spanish heartthrob who has released 80 albums, selling more than 300 million records over the past four decades. As one of the top five best-selling music artists in history (according to Sony Music), he has conquered fans worldwide with his sultry vocals and sexy persona.
“Music is my life,” Iglesias told The Taipei Times in an e-mail interview. “Music is a universal language, which turns into a magic bond between people all over the world.”
The concert is part of Iglesias’ 45th anniversary world tour, and will mark his fifth visit to Taiwan. The sex symbol is known for delivering Latin pop, sultry salsa numbers, piano-driven love odes and staggering ballads.
Photo Courtesy of Dada Arts Promotion
The superstar won a Grammy for his Latin album Un Hombre Solo (A Man Alone) in 1988 and numerous other music awards around the globe. He has performed duets including My Love with Stevie Wonder, All of You with Diana Ross and To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before with Willie Nelson.
Iglesias has delivered songs in 14 languages. Asked about his willingness to tackle different languages, he said: “It is not easy, it requires many hours and the patience of a good teacher. But singing the lyrics in people’s mother tongue helps you communicate better with them.”
The music icon will perform songs from his latest album Numero 1, backed up by a 23-person music team. This release includes all the signature hits from his career but are re-recorded and re-arranged.
“I truly believe I sing better now than years ago,” the singer said. “I am sure this will be a very emotional concert. I love you (Taiwan).”
It is jarring how differently Taiwan’s politics is portrayed in the international press compared to the local Chinese-language press. Viewed from abroad, Taiwan is seen as a geopolitical hotspot, or “The Most Dangerous Place on Earth,” as the Economist once blazoned across their cover. Meanwhile, tasked with facing down those existential threats, Taiwan’s leaders are dying their hair pink. These include former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), among others. They are demonstrating what big fans they are of South Korean K-pop sensations Blackpink ahead of their concerts this weekend in Kaohsiung.
Taiwan is one of the world’s greatest per-capita consumers of seafood. Whereas the average human is thought to eat around 20kg of seafood per year, each Taiwanese gets through 27kg to 35kg of ocean delicacies annually, depending on which source you find most credible. Given the ubiquity of dishes like oyster omelet (蚵仔煎) and milkfish soup (虱目魚湯), the higher estimate may well be correct. By global standards, let alone local consumption patterns, I’m not much of a seafood fan. It’s not just a matter of taste, although that’s part of it. What I’ve read about the environmental impact of the
Oct 20 to Oct 26 After a day of fighting, the Japanese Army’s Second Division was resting when a curious delegation of two Scotsmen and 19 Taiwanese approached their camp. It was Oct. 20, 1895, and the troops had reached Taiye Village (太爺庄) in today’s Hunei District (湖內), Kaohsiung, just 10km away from their final target of Tainan. Led by Presbyterian missionaries Thomas Barclay and Duncan Ferguson, the group informed the Japanese that resistance leader Liu Yung-fu (劉永福) had fled to China the previous night, leaving his Black Flag Army fighters behind and the city in chaos. On behalf of the
The captain of the giant Royal Navy battleship called his officers together to give them a first morsel of one of World War II’s most closely guarded secrets: Prepare yourselves, he said, for “an extremely important task.” “Speculations abound,” one of the officers wrote in his diary that day — June 2, 1944. “Some say a second front, some say we are to escort the Soviets, or doing something else around Iceland. No one is allowed ashore.” The secret was D-Day — the June 6, 1944, invasion of Nazi-occupied France with the world’s largest-ever sea, land and air armada. It punctured Adolf
RSS