N Taiwan Society to select 100 best songs of Taiwan

The pro-independence Northern Taiwan Society (台灣北社) yesterday announced that it will ask 100 "children of Taiwan" in October to choose the 100 songs that best capture Taiwan's spirit as part of its efforts to push for cultural localization.

"Culture is a field that the Northern Taiwan Society will work on in the future and songs are part of Taiwan culture," said the society's president, Wu Shuh-min (吳樹民).

"We hope that all Taiwanese people will gain confidence in themselves and get a better understanding of the land they are living on in the selection process," Wu added.

The campaign will be the highlight of the second Taiwanese Culture Day on Oct. 13, according to Yang Chyi-wen (楊其文), a society member in charge of organizing the event.

Yang, who is also director of the Performing Arts Center at the Taipei National University of the Arts, said the society will first establish a selection committee that will be responsible for short-listing 300 to 400 songs.

Yang said the committee will not set any restrictions on the time when the songs started to appear in Taiwan or the regions where they originated.

Under these guidelines, the songs may include those passed down from the Dutch colonial period, the Japanese colonial period and those brought to Taiwan from China by the former KMT government, Yang said.

In addition to Hokkien-language songs, they may also include songs in Hakka and Aboriginal languages, Yang added.

After the songs have been selected, the society will have 100 "children of Taiwan" choose the final 100 "songs of Taiwan."

Besides President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), these "children of Taiwan" will include heads of local cultural bureaus and people familiar with folk music.

From the 100 songs, residents of each county and city around Taiwan can vote online for the top 10 songs that represent the area where they live.

The Northern Taiwan Society was founded in June last year.

The group's founding captured considerable attention mainly because it marked the first joint appearance of former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and President Chen after Lee's retirement, which substantiated the existence of the so-called "Lee-Bian alliance."

Though it does not hide its views on political issues, the group has stressed that it prioritizes culture over politics.