The Golden Music Exposition, an annual music festival that precedes the Golden Melody Awards, opened yesterday at the Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei.
Fifty live houses, as well as music, cultural, creative and consumer electronics companies, have set up booths at the expo to showcase their products, organizer the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development said.
Now in its third year, the festival will hold about 50 concerts by various singers and groups, including Taiwanese singer-songwriters David Tao and Debbie Hsiao (蕭賀碩); Hsiao’s band Shuo & Cool Humor (蕭賀碩與冷笑話樂團); rock bands io (io樂團), FUN4 and Exit (出口); and Taiwanese singer Tito Tang (湯宇歆), whose music fuses Latin music with Hakka-language lyrics.
To strengthen its links to schools, the six-day expo will also provide platforms for student singers and bands to perform, bureau head Chu Wen-ching (朱文清) said.
In addition, the festival will offer autograph sessions with singers and groups; an exhibition showcasing more than 20,000 records; and music forums attended by Taiwanese and international music professionals, Chu added.
Among the many music-related films and TV shows that will be screened at the expo are a musical television drama, a 3D romantic musical and a TV series documenting the work of local musicians and bands, organizers said.
Chu said the bureau is aiming to turn the festival into an international platform that showcases and facilitates copyright trading in popular Taiwanese music.
“We hope to promote Taiwanese popular music abroad through this platform,” he added.
The expo will run through Sunday.
The Golden Melody Awards ceremony, billed as the biggest music awards event in the Chinese-speaking world, is to be held on Saturday at the Taipei Arena.
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