The music of A Moving Sound (AMS, 聲動樂團), one of Taiwan’s best-known contributions to the World Music scene, sounds as fresh and unique as it did when I first saw the group perform at The Wall in Taipei many years ago, so it comes as a shock to realize the band is 18 years old and going stronger than ever.
The exact age was the subject of a brief, spirited debate between founders Mia Hsieh (謝韻雅) and Scott Prairie during a video chat last week, after I said that they were coming up on their 20th anniversary.
Prairie said it was only 19 years, and after a bit of back and forth between them, Hsieh declared it was 18.
Photo courtesy of A Moving Sound
“We are an old boat, but we have new energy,” Hsieh said with a laugh.
The reason for the chat was the two free concerts the group will give in New Taipei City, one this weekend at the Tamsui Library, and one next month at the New Taipei City Xinzhuang Culture and Arts Center.
While Prairie and Hsieh remain the heart and soul of the group, the line-up of the other members has changed over the years amid competing demands for the talents of traditional musicians and percussionists, or a need to find more stable jobs.
Photo courtesy of A Moving Sound
From percussionist Alex Wu (吳政君), Lo Tang-hsuan (羅堂軒), Hsieh Hua-chou (謝華洲) and Wang Pei-chun (王珮君) in the early years to Pan I-tung (潘宜彤) on the zhongruan, Chen I-fang (陳依芳) on the erhu and percussionist Yeh Po-tsen (葉柏岑), the line-up has remained flexible, as have the instruments they play.
Chen Chih-ling (陳芷翎), who, along with Scott, plays the zhongruan as well as the liuqin, Chung Yu-jui (鍾於叡) on the erhu and percussionist Chen Yu-hsin (陳淯歆) have been playing with group for a few years now.
“It’s evolution, we can literally be the parents of the new people,” Prairie said, prompting laughter from Hsieh.
My question about how they found new collaborators brought more laughter.
Prairie said the traditional musician circle is not that huge, so they usually get referrals.
He said the group is doing the best it ever has internationally, adding “it’s taking off.”
“We have gotten a new manager — Sue Bernstein of Bernstein Artists in New York — we have been trying to get her for six or seven years. She’s got the perfect roster — hybrids, evolutions of culture,” he said.
He credits the group being picked for one of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals showcases in 2017, noting that the association’s showcases are really hard to get into.
“We got into two of the showcases, so that launched us, we got some more shows and we got this agent,” he said.
Bertstein has already lined up dates next spring for them at the Eastman School, Symphony Space in Manhattan, the University of Texas Dallas and Lawrence University.
Normally the group tours internationally in the fall, but they will be staying in Taiwan for the next few months instead, including a performance on Sept. 8 at the Taoyuan Land Art Festival (桃園地景藝術節).
Prairie said they are in “a shift mode.”
“We are taking this time to do more creative work, Hsieh said. “It has been a long journey.”
While Hsieh credits Prairie for all the promotion work for the group over the years, he credits her for most of their new music.
“In the past, I created the foundations and then the others added layers ... but now she is doing most of it,” he said.
Hsieh said her vocals have change from more abstract to using more Chinese and Taiwanese and the focus is more on connections with Taiwan. They have also become more earthy, she said.
“One new song I wrote in Chinese, about immigrants, about my parents. Like many others they came from China,” she said. “In Taiwan there are a lot of immigrants, a lot of energy, respecting and accepting people from other countries.”
Another one was inspired by the annual Matsu pilgrimage, she said, noting that it uses made-up language, but it brings in Beiguan music, temple music, gongs.
One song was inspired by the scrap metal collectors — it is about recycling broken hearts, Prairie said, adding that the lyrics are in Taiwanese and English.
“Taiwan is an island nation, open to lots of outside influence, world music, we wanted to focus on that openness that allows for integration,” Prairie said. “It is one of the most wonderful things about Taiwan, it is also smart, part of the basic DNA.”
“For our music, we are not part of any one social movement, we just want to honor social responsibility and humanity,” Hsieh said. “We hope our music makes warm connections.”
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located