Spare a thought for the stars of the show at the the 21st Golden Melody Awards (第二十一屆金曲獎) ceremony, which took place at Taipei Arena (台北巨蛋) on Saturday night. Not only did they do battle for the top slots, they had to contend with inclement weather, preventing many from showing off their carefully preened plumage on the red carpet. And as if it couldn’t get any worse, the ceremony ran over time, with some awardees complaining that their acceptance speeches were unfairly cut short while A-listers were given as much time as they liked.
Pop diva Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹), better known as A-mei (阿妹), was crowned the biggest award winner to date, picking up top honors in six categories, including Best Mandarin Album, Best Mandarin Female Singer and Best Song for her concept album A-MIT (阿密特, also the name of her alter ego). She broke the record Jay Chou (周杰倫) set with his album Fantasy (范特西), which garnered five awards in 2002.
“God, this [award] is so hard to get,” said A-mei, after receiving her second Best Female Singer trophy in eight years.
Nominations in the prestigious Best Mandarin Album and Best Song categories were dominated by familiar faces such as Cheer Chen (陳綺貞), Tanya Chua (蔡健雅) and Karen Mok (莫文蔚).
Having garnered six nominations, young songstress Hsu Chia-ying (徐佳瑩), aka Lala Shu, was a sure winner in the Newcomer category. The song I Ride a White Horse, from her self-titled debut album, is a smash hit that combines gezai opera (歌仔戲), pop and references to puppetry.
The hotly contested Best Band Award was handed to indie rock outfit 1976, which beat out two-time titleholder Sodagreen (蘇打綠), and Super Band (縱貫線).
“We have kept playing music for 14 years ... Winning this award may encourage young people to think that it’s great to play music,” the band said.
The biggest surprise of the night came when Yan Yung-neng (嚴詠能) and his band Takaorun (打狗亂歌團) from Kaohsiung beat off Golden Melody regulars Ricky Hsiao (蕭煌奇) and Judy Chiang (江蕙), the uncontested reigning queen of Hoklo music, to take home the Best Taiwanese-language Album gong for their CD Ta Yuan I Chia Nung Chu Lai (大員一家農出來).
Since it was founded in 2005, Yan’s group has been touring the country’s towns and villages, entertaining inhabitants with Taiwanese grassroots music. The T-shirt wearing, barefooted Yan said that many elders in farming villages buy his CD but don’t have the equipment to play it. “So they place the CD on their altar tables and ask the deities to protect my voice,” the musician said. “I make music for those who are farmers like my grandparents. I think we can all learn from their wonderful and humble attitude toward life.”
The ceremony overran, winding up at midnight. While the tedious event was filled with uninspiring performances and loquacious presenters prattling on, a time limit was imposed on the winners’ acceptance speeches. Well, some of them. Many awardees struggled to finish in the designated time. But that restriction wasn’t applied to everyone. Big-name acts, such as A-mei, were given as much time as they wanted.
The unequal treatment didn’t end there. During her acceptance speech after winning the Best Instrumental Album Producer award for Paper Eagle (紙鳶) by jazz ensemble Sizhukong (絲竹空), pianist and composer Peng Yu-wen (彭郁雯) said: “We almost made it to the red carpet. But someone said ‘hurry, she [A-mei] is here,’ and we [were asked] to leave.”
If it’s any consolation, Peng wasn’t the only one who didn’t it make up the red carpet. Heavy rain put the kibosh on the traditional star-studded parade.
The 90m-long red carpet posed a real challenge to stars as they tottered along in the downpour.
Hong Kong actress and singer Mok was among the few who gracefully completed the treacherous walk. “It is quite romantic walking in the rain,” the star said, despite the hem of her haute couture Lanvin evening dress turning into a sodden dishcloth.
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