A group of labor activists and musicians issued a CD featuring laborers' songs yesterday to coincide with National Labor Day, which falls today.
"This is a mild protest on behalf of all of Taiwan's laborers," the activist group said.
The CD, titled Laborers' Blues, was produced by the Taiwan Labor Front (TLF,
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Officials at TLF said the lyrics were written jointly by people currently employed as laborers and those who have held labor jobs in the past.
The 10 songs on the album describe a variety of experiences by laborers in different working environments, such as Hakka farmers, Aboriginal workers, snack-bar owners and others.
"In the past, we have published texts for laborers, but since some do not read that well we have tried something else," TLF secretary-general Kuo Kuo-wen (
Kuo said a survey found that karaoke singing and listening to music were among the top five favorite recreational activities of laborers.
"This time, therefore, we chose music as a way to express laborers' feelings and wishes," Kuo said.
Among the 10 songs, however, only two were written by laborers currently working.
"It tells us that the creativity of Taiwan's laborers is still in formation, due to the exploitative circumstances of their employment," said Wang Ming-hui (
The producers said they hoped the CD's release could help achieve a sense of identity among all laborers, through the music.
In fact, collaboration between social movements and musicians is not new. In their own times, the American singers Elvis Presley and Bruce Springsteen were examples of performers who identified with the common worker.
Bono, the lead singer of the Irish pop group U2, was recently invited by an international group called Jubilee 2000 Coalition to protest against the World Bank in a bid to relieve Third World countries' debts.
"Taiwan's popular songs, however, have been thoroughly de-politicized," said music commentator Chang Tie-chih (
"`Laborers' Blues' is meant to appeal to salaried employees," said Chang. "It will probably bomb in the mainstream musical market."
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