Music stars gathered in Taipei yesterday to honor the industry’s top acts at the 20th Golden Melody Awards (金曲獎) ceremony.
Billed as the most important award in the Chinese-language music world — with entrants from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere — the awards recognize achievements in 23 categories, including popular, traditional, classical, religious and Aboriginal music.
Taiwanese singer Crowd Lu (盧廣仲) was a double-winner, walking home with the Best Composer and the Best New Artist awards for his album 100 Ways of Life (一百種生活).
PHOTO: REUTERS
After winning the coveted Best Band category, A-hsin (阿信), lead singer of the Taiwanese pop band Mayday (五月天), said that “being beaten out repeatedly is the best practice for winning.”
The panel of judges, drawn from all fields in the music business, chose Weng Li-yong for (翁立友) the Best Taiwanese Male Singer award over veteran singers Shih Wen-bin (施文彬) and Chen Lei (陳雷). Huang Yi-ling (黃乙玲) won the best Taiwanese Female Singer.
Wu Yu-hsuan (巫宇軒) won the Best Lyrics award for the Taiwanese song Jia Ni Lan Lao Lao (甲你攬牢牢), while Judy Chiang’s (江蕙) album of the same name won the Best Taiwanese Album award.
The Nanwan Sisters (南王姐妹花), a trio of Puyuma (卑南) singers from Taitung, took top honors in both the Best Aboriginal Album and Best Music Group categories for their eponymous album.
Atayal singer Inka Mbing’s album Gaga won her the Best Aboriginal Singer award.
Hakka singer Liu Shao-hsi (劉劭希), who has picked up three Golden Melody Awards in past years, won this year’s Best Hakka Singer category.
The Best Hakka Album went to Rice & Love (愛吃飯), which included musical elements from folk, bossa nova, mountain songs of Hakka people and traditional songs of the Amis tribe to present the beauty of a simple life and a love of the land.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AP
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he