The Huashan Cultural and Creative Industry Center (
Co-sponsored by six government bodies, including the Council for Cultural Affairs (
Established last year, the TMCIAA was the brainchild of local folk legend Chen Ming-chang (
"As a group of musicians not associated with the mainstream record industry, we figured that we would have a more powerful voice if we worked together to promote live music," said James Chu (
Along with being a venture that could make or break the TMCIAA's relationship with government bodies, the three-day concert also marks the long-awaited return of live music to Huashan after a series of headline making events forced authorities to revoke the venue's music license.
The venue's history as a site for large-scale music events began three years ago, when the Taiwan Rock Alliance (
Coinciding with the revocation of the site's license to hold large-scale music festivals was the forced closure of Huashan's popular venue/bar the Music House (
"We decided to put the dance music segment on in the early afternoon so the authorities wouldn't get the impression that we were holding an Ecstasy party," Chu said. "The music must stop by 10pm. If it doesn't, we will get complaints from nearby residential areas and we'd like to avoid this as we want to be able to hold concerts at Huashan] in the future."
While numerous government bodies have been happy to back the event and have their names plastered all over promotional material, financial assistance has been minimal. Financial backing from both government departments and the private sector has been impossible to secure. Much of the capital needed to rent sound equipment and to pay the performers has come out of the association's small coffers.
"After the flurry of summer festivals big name companies didn't have any funds left to sponsor us. Taiwan Beer had used all its money and 7-11 was the same," Chu said.
The association is so strapped for cash that each of the acts will receive the same performance fee of NT$5,000, whether they are big-name crowd pullers like Wu Bai and China Blue, Luo Ta-you (羅大佑) or lesser- known acts such as BB Gun (BB彈) and Electric Eyed Beauty (電眼美女), will all receive the same performance fee of NT$5,000.
Organizers may have dubbed UBU 2004 a "festival," but the three-day event differs somewhat from other popular multi-day outdoor events such as Formoz and Ho-Hai-Yan. Time constraints resulting from the strict performance guidelines and the large number of acts due to appear means the event resembles a showcase rather than a festival.
Each of the 50 acts has been given time to perform just four or five tunes and many of the bands have chosen to double-up and perform sets with other artists in order to increase the lengths of their performances.
Heavy rockers The Chairman (
What: UBU 2004 Taipei: First Indie Music Festival (硬地音樂展都會嘉年華).
Where: Huashan Cultural and Creative Industry Center (華山創意文化園區), Silian Building (四連棟大樓). The arts center is located at 1, Bade Road, Sec 1, Taipei, (北市八德路一段1號).
When: Friday, Nov. 19 through Sunday, Nov. 21.
Tickets: Three day passes cast NT$700 and single day entry costs NT$250. Both are available at the gate.
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