Karen Mok (
The awards recognize the highest achievements in dozens of categories of popular, as well as classical, religious, traditional and Aboriginal music, as judged by a panel of judges drawn from all fields in the music business. Despite the inclusion of non-pop acts, the event is the most important award in the Chinese-language pop music world with entrants from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere.
Originally scheduled to take place in May, the ceremony was finally held after a three-month delay caused by the SARS epidemic. Last night's event went off without further delays and almost barely a mention of the sickness that forced it to be held in August instead of in spring.
There were few surprises among the winners, with Mok and Chan taking the singer honors and Texas native eVonne winning the Newcomer of the Year Award and SHE taking home the best Best New Singing Group Award. Chan was a double winner last night, taking home the best album award along with his singer of the year award. Chan and Mok, both from Hong Kong, are among the most prolific stars in Mando-pop but faced tough competition from long-time favorites like Jackie Cheung (
The one unexpected moment of the evening came when President Chen Shui-bian (
The Golden Melody Awards is an invitation-only event attended mostly by industry insiders, so for thousands of music fans the main draw of the event is the red carpet entrance that all the attending stars walk down. Under yesterday's beating sun, fans began crowding the walkway outside of Taiwan National University's new gymnasium at about 3pm for the best view.
The awards last year were dominated by Jay Chou, but this year awards were distributed more evenly to different artists and their producers, lyricists and songwriters. He didnt seem too bothered to be passed up at this years event. Arriving at the venue, when asked what he expected at the ceremony, he simply said "it'll be alright."
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be