Tai Ai-ling (戴愛玲) is not just a pop princess who has inspired numerous tributes on Taiwanese TV’s talent-show circuit, she is also real-life royalty.
Dubbed the “Iron Lung Princess” (鐵肺公主), Ai — who performs tomorrow at Taipei’s Y17 Youth Activity Center (青少年育樂中心) — put her name on the map with her potent delivery of The Right One (對的人), a ballad featuring her highly acclaimed screaming vocals (吼叫唱腔).
“I was born with this voice. It comes from my Aboriginal blood,” Tai said in an interview on Tuesday. “I sang in this screaming vocal style even before I became a career singer.”
Tai was discovered by Keith Stuart, the vocalist for Diplomacy Band (外交樂團) and a well-known pop-producer based in Taiwan. Because of his influence, her early work was focused on a hit-the-high-note vocal style, with Stuart composing the melody to The Right One. Her latest three albums, however, have explored more subtle vocal territory. On Jumping Pain (跳痛), released this May, she broadens her musical palette by flirting with rock, rap and electronica and reveals a rare emotional poignancy in Just Another Look at You (只要再看你一眼), a breathtaking duet with fellow crooner Roger Yang (楊培安).
“I’m not just capable of being explosive. I can be sweet or sad, too,” Tai said. “The more I live life ... the more I am able to convey more complex emotions.”
The Aboriginal diva also known as “Princess Ai” will perform the third and final leg of her Tai Ai-ling Jumping Pain, To Love Bravely tour (戴愛玲【跳痛，勇敢愛】巡迴演唱會) tomorrow at the Y17 Youth Activity Center. In addition to her own trademark power ballads, she will tackle rock songs by Faye Wong (王菲) and A-mei (張惠妹), as well as dance numbers by Lady Gaga and Kylie Minogue.
Tai inherited her princess title from her mother in the matriarchal Paiwan tribe (排灣族), and her next project may pay tribute to her native tongue. “Singing a song in Paiwan is not a question of whether but when,” she said. “I want to do a concept album in the vein of A-mei’s A-mit (阿密特), a cohesive album that can showcase the rocker in me.”
“I also want to hold more stadium concerts to treat my fans,” she continued. “I love performing live so much that if I’m enjoying it and if the audience loves it, I just can’t stop. I’ll go on singing and singing.”
March 24 to March 30 When Yang Bing-yi (楊秉彝) needed a name for his new cooking oil shop in 1958, he first thought of honoring his previous employer, Heng Tai Fung (恆泰豐). The owner, Wang Yi-fu (王伊夫), had taken care of him over the previous 10 years, shortly after the native of Shanxi Province arrived in Taiwan in 1948 as a penniless 21 year old. His oil supplier was called Din Mei (鼎美), so he simply combined the names. Over the next decade, Yang and his wife Lai Pen-mei (賴盆妹) built up a booming business delivering oil to shops and
Indigenous Truku doctor Yuci (Bokeh Kosang), who resents his father for forcing him to learn their traditional way of life, clashes head to head in this film with his younger brother Siring (Umin Boya), who just wants to live off the land like his ancestors did. Hunter Brothers (獵人兄弟) opens with Yuci as the man of the hour as the village celebrates him getting into medical school, but then his father (Nolay Piho) wakes the brothers up in the middle of the night to go hunting. Siring is eager, but Yuci isn’t. Their mother (Ibix Buyang) begs her husband to let
The Taipei Times last week reported that the Control Yuan said it had been “left with no choice” but to ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the central government budget, which left it without a budget. Lost in the outrage over the cuts to defense and to the Constitutional Court were the cuts to the Control Yuan, whose operating budget was slashed by 96 percent. It is unable even to pay its utility bills, and in the press conference it convened on the issue, said that its department directors were paying out of pocket for gasoline
For the past century, Changhua has existed in Taichung’s shadow. These days, Changhua City has a population of 223,000, compared to well over two million for the urban core of Taichung. For most of the 1684-1895 period, when Taiwan belonged to the Qing Empire, the position was reversed. Changhua County covered much of what’s now Taichung and even part of modern-day Miaoli County. This prominence is why the county seat has one of Taiwan’s most impressive Confucius temples (founded in 1726) and appeals strongly to history enthusiasts. This article looks at a trio of shrines in Changhua City that few sightseers visit.
RSS