Hundreds of young people were head-banging hard at the free stage of the Megaport Festival (大港開唱), the largest annual music event in Taiwan, held in Kaohsiung (高雄) at the end of last month.
Southeast Asian Punk quintet Southern Riot played several songs that really got the crowd going.
“I can’t understand what they say, but I feel their spirit,” says Lai Chien-te (賴謙德), an audience member from Tainan, sporting a Mohawk-hairstyle, boots and a Sex Pistols t-shirt.
Photo: Muhammad Irfan
Southern Riot is an Indonesian band based in Pingtung. The group was formed by several migrant workers and they’re not the only outfit of their kind to be made up of migrant workers. In fact, music made by that community is becoming quite a thing on the sonic landscape. Last year, Jubah Hitam, an Indonesian metal band based in Chiayi, also formed by Indonesian migrant workers, found themselves under the spotlight on the Megaport stage.
Fred Hsieh (謝宗翰) and Shawn Hsu (許瀧尹), the program directors of Megaport, say the participation of the migrant worker community at the festival reflects the social reality in Taiwan. They say Megaport is committed to giving different groups of people the space to express themselves musically and tell their story.
“I believe that bands formed by migrant workers and those formed in their home countries will have very different perspectives... which I think is something that Megaport Festival can continue to explore,” Hsu says.
Photo: Muhammad Irfan
Taiwan is geographically close to Southeast Asia, so the festival organizers hope Megaport can be a starting point for Taiwan’s younger generation to step out of their comfort zone and get to know their regional neighbors a bit better.
CULTURAL EXCHANGE
Wu Ting-kuan (吳庭寬), a cultural activist and researcher of the music made by migrant workers in Taiwan, appreciates Megaport commitment to cultural exchange and diversity. Before Megaport, migrant workers could only perform at corporate events, providing little scope for interacting with the local scene, he says.
“Their performances were not considered as primary content but only to promote the ideology of multiculturalism by the government, NGOs or companies, which is different from Megaport’s focus on their music,” Wu says.
Wu also appreciates how accepting local music fans are. However, he feels that by simply labelling them as “a migrant worker band” there is still some othering going on. Wu says that in the context of the music community, it would be better if bands were not categorized by their ethnic or class identity but simply by their music.
As a person who loves punk music, Lai says Southern Riot surprised him by the quality of their songs and hopes their presence on the festival bill will shine a more compassionate light on Taiwan’s migrant workers generally.
“Awareness of migrant workers and the issues they face is increasing,” says Lai. “But Taiwan has a lot of internal problems, including how migrant workers are treated.”
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