They started life in the protest movement that emerged against the Meinung Dam (美濃水庫) in southern Taiwan. They became a symbol of the revival of local Hakka culture and have recently become one of the only Taiwanese folk bands to go on international tour.
They are called Labor Exchange, and their history and their music make up a small but rich chapter in the development of modern Taiwan. In the tradition of the Buena Vista Social Club, director He Chao-ti (
During his acceptance speech at the Golden Melody Awards last year, the band's lead singer Lin Sheng-hsiang (林生祥) emphasized that music is not something for music professionals alone, but is for everyone.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF PTV
Their frequent appearances at community events have underlined their populist credentials. The group received the best produced album and best composition for non-mainstream music for their debut album Let Us Sing Mountain Songs (我等就來唱山歌). They have recently released a second album Night March of the Chrysanthemums (菊花夜行軍).
The band, which sings mainly in the Hakka dialect, is in the vanguard of the movement for the revival of Hakka culture, and are based in the town of Meinung, which after years of economic decline, has been making strenuous and relatively successful efforts to reposition itself as a cultural and tourism center.
Formerly, Meinung drew its wealth from tobacco, and the smoke houses where the leaves were processed are still a distinctive feature of the landscape. Labor Exchange converted one such house into a studio -- bass player Chen Kuan-yu (陳冠宇) is a professional sound engineer -- and the composition of these old structures is said to give their albums a distinctive sound.
The documentary film, titled East of County Highway 184 (縣道184之東), is taken from a song in their new album, a ballad about the beauties of the road that runs through the rolling landscape of the Meinung region. With music that mixes earthy language, traditional tunes and innovative instrumentation -- a tractor engine is used in the title track of Night March -- the band has a broad appeal that extends far beyond that of the Hakka community.
On the web:
http://www.leband.net
“China wants to unify with Taiwan at the lowest possible cost, and it currently believes that unification will become easier and less costly as time passes,” wrote Amanda Hsiao (蕭嫣然) and Bonnie Glaser in Foreign Affairs (“Why China Waits”) this month, describing how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is playing the long game in its quest to seize Taiwan. This has been a favorite claim of many writers over the years, easy to argue because it is so trite. Very obviously, if the PRC isn’t attacking Taiwan, it is waiting. But for what? Hsiao and Glaser’s main point is trivial,
May 18 to May 24 Gathered on Yangtou Mountain (羊頭山) on Dec. 5, 1972, Taiwan’s hiking enthusiasts formally declared the formation of the “100 Peaks Club” (百岳俱樂部) and unveiled the final list of mountains. Famed mountaineer Lin Wen-an (林文安) led this effort for the Chinese Alpine Association (中華山岳協會). Working with other experienced climbers, he chose 100 peaks above 10,000 feet (3,048m) that featured triangulation points and varied in difficulty and character. The list sparked an alpine hiking craze, inspiring many to take up mountaineering and competing to “conquer” the summits. A common misconception is that the 100 Peaks represent Taiwan’s 100 tallest
Yesterday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominated legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) as their Taipei mayoral candidate, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) put their stamp of approval on Wei Ping-cheng (魏平政) as their candidate for Changhua County commissioner and former legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) has begun the process to also run in Changhua, though she has not yet been formally nominated. All three news items are bizarre. The DPP has struggled with settling on a Taipei nominee. The only candidate who declared interest was Enoch Wu (吳怡農), but the party seemed determined to nominate anyone
In a sudden move last week, opposition lawmakers of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) passed a NT$780 billion special defense budget as a preemptive measure to stop either Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) or US President Donald Trump from blocking US arms sales to Taiwan at their summit in Beijing, said KMT heavyweight Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), speaking to the Taipei Foreign Correspondents Club on Wednesday night in Taipei. The 76-year-old Jaw, a political talk show host who ran as the KMT’s vice presidential candidate in 2024, says that he personally brokered the deal to resolve
RSS