The most exciting news on the music scene this week is that the bands Sodagreen (蘇打綠) and Tizzybac will be performing at the Liverpool Sound City Music Festival in the UK today and tomorrow. Sodagreen keyboard player Zephyr Kung (龔鈺祺) was given a special leave of absence from military service to travel to Liverpool for the event. For Sodagreen, this caps yet another highly successful year that sees them entering the Golden Melody Award season with two nominations in the Best Band category (最佳樂團獎) for albums Fever (夏/狂熱) and Spring — Sunshine (春.日光). Band manager Yan Rou-yi (閻柔怡) is quoted in the United Daily News as saying that this unusual double nomination is an indication of the hard work of band members and producer Lin Wei-tse (林暐哲).
The announcement of the nominations for the 21st Golden Melody Awards (第21屆金曲獎) last Friday has sparked fevered speculation. In the China Times, Sodagreen said that they tipped Eason Chan (陳奕迅) as the winner in the Best Male Mandarin Singer category, but declined to be drawn for a tip on Best Mandarin Female Singer, saying the race in that category was too close to call.
Sina.com laments the uninspiring lineup among the male singers, with the all-too-familiar faces of Eason Chan, David Tao (陶吉吉) and JJ Lam (林俊傑). Khalil Fong (方大同) is tipped as a possible winner, and Jam Hsiao (蕭敬騰) is in with a chance, though the Web site suggests he is more popular with audiences than with critics. A surprise omission is Crowd Lu (盧廣仲), who picked up Best Newcomer last year. His latest album Seven Days (七天) only got the nod for Best Music Video (最佳音樂錄影帶獎).
The weakness of the male lineup is highlighted by the fact that all but one nomination in the Best Song and Best Album categories are by female artists. The single exception is Northbound Train (北上列車) by Super Band (縱貫線), a super group alliance of veteran rockers Lo Ta-yu (羅大佑), Emil Chou (周華健), Jonathan Lee (李宗盛) and Chang Chen-yue (張震嶽).
There is a good deal more interest in the Best Female Mandarin Singer category (最佳國語女歌手獎), with indie talent Cheer Chen (陳綺貞) and Deserts Chang (張懸) going up against multiple Golden Melody winners Tanya Tsai (蔡健雅) and Karen Mok (莫文蔚). Pub singer Tiger Huang (黃小琥), whose career has seen a huge revival in the last year, and Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹), in her new A-Mit (阿密特) persona, provide a further level of interest to the competition.
Much excitement surrounds the chances of Hsu Chia-ying (徐佳瑩) aka Lala Shu, whose career was launched when she won the third season of CTV’s One Million Star (超級星光大道) talent show. Her song I Ride a White Horse (身騎白馬) has been a runaway hit, and although her professional career is little more than a year old (her debut album was released in May last year), she has joined the competition with five nominations. Apart from an expected nomination in the Best Newcomer category (最佳新人獎), she is also nominated in the prestigious categories of Best Song (最佳年度歌曲獎), Best Album (最佳國語專輯獎) and Best Songwriter (最佳作曲人獎).
The award ceremony will take place on June 26 with Little S, otherwise known as Dee Hsu (徐熙娣), and Harlem Yu (庾澄慶) as MCs.
The domestic life of Little S continues to be in the news, but the veteran TV personality is not an easy nut for the media to crack. With the dust finally settling on speculation of domestic violence, new reports emerged last week of husband Mike Hsu (許雅鈞) dancing in an intimate fashion with a young woman while out clubbing. At a press conference to promote the Golden Melody Awards, Little S said that there’s nothing wrong with going out on the town. As for the photos, she dismissed them as far too dark to see anything much. Her main interest was in the fashion theme for the award ceremony, which she described as “sexy and revealing.” She will get through four costumes during the course of the evening. As to whether Hsu would attend the ceremony, Little S simply said: “That depends on whether he has any clubbing engagements.”
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
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