At a funeral in rural Changhua County, musicians wearing pleated mini-skirts and go-go boots march around a coffin to the beat of the 1980s hit I Hate Myself for Loving You. The performance in a rural farming community is a modern mash-up of ancient Chinese funeral rites and folk traditions, with saxophones, rock music and daring outfits.
Da Zhong (大眾) women’s group is part of a long tradition of funeral marching bands performing in mostly rural areas of Taiwan for families wanting to give their loved ones an upbeat send-off. The band was composed mainly of men when it started 50 years ago and has evolved into an all-women ensemble.
“I constantly try to innovate, come up with new ideas, and adapt to modern times,” said band manager Hsu Ya-tzu, 46, whose mother-in-law founded the group. “I want to break away from rigid traditional mindsets to keep this profession relevant.”
Photo: AFP
Starting before dawn, the women marched in formation playing their saxophones and a drum as the leader twirled her baton and blew a whistle.
The music was loud enough to wake the nearby living as they led the coffin and mourners to a cemetery or crematorium where traditional funeral rites were performed.
“It felt like a celebration, almost like a joyous occasion rather than a funeral,” said mourner Hsiao Lin Hui-hsiang, 74, as his family cremated an elderly relative.
“Since she lived past 90, it was considered a happy farewell.”
Funeral director Chang Chen-tsai said marching band performances were supposed to “liven up the atmosphere” of funerals and were usually reserved for the old.
“It should be lively, it cannot be too quiet,” said Chang, 64, who has been organizing funerals for 40 years.
LIPSTICK, WHITE BOOTS
It was still dark out when Hsu pulled up in her van at a meeting point to collect other band members for an early morning gig. The women aged from 22 to 46 applied lipstick and pulled on white boots before grabbing their instruments and walking to the covered courtyard venue where mourners gathered near the coffin.
Hsu’s mother-in-law, Hung Sa-hua, recalls being one of the only women in the funeral marching band profession when she started her own group in 1975.
As the male performers got old and retired, she replaced them with women, which customers preferred, the 72-year-old said.
For Hung, the band was an opportunity to make some extra money after she married her husband and to get out of the family home.
“If I never went out and always stayed at home, I wouldn’t have known what was happening in society,” Hung said.
‘CONSTANTLY INNOVATING’
Taiwan’s funeral marching bands are rooted in Chinese and folk rituals, and during the last century began using Western instruments, said Wu Ho-yu, 56, a high school music teacher who has studied the tradition.
“Since people appreciate its entertainment aspect, bands continue following this style, constantly innovating to offer something even better,” Wu said.
Hsu said the band had changed with the times. Many years ago, for example, the women wore trousers but now super-short skirts were acceptable. Finding new performers was a challenge due to the early morning starts, said Hsu, who has expanded into birthday parties, company year-end events and grand openings.
“Nowadays, fewer and fewer people are willing to enter this industry,” she said. “We are all getting older, but this job needs young people to carry it forward, it requires energy, and only with energy can it truly shine.”
Hsu said she introduced rock songs — such as I Hate Myself for Loving You by US band Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Leaving the Face of the Earth (Jump!) by Taiwanese group Mayday — into their repertoire to give their act a more contemporary sound.
Some elderly mourners initially objected, but younger ones embraced it.
“As long as it’s a song the deceased wanted to hear, anything is okay,” Hsu said.
“The old traditions, where certain songs were considered taboo, no longer apply.”
Wooden houses wedged between concrete, crumbling brick facades with roofs gaping to the sky, and tiled art deco buildings down narrow alleyways: Taichung Central District’s (中區) aging architecture reveals both the allure and reality of the old downtown. From Indigenous settlement to capital under Qing Dynasty rule through to Japanese colonization, Taichung’s Central District holds a long and layered history. The bygone beauty of its streets once earned it the nickname “Little Kyoto.” Since the late eighties, however, the shifting of economic and government centers westward signaled a gradual decline in the area’s evolving fortunes. With the regeneration of the once
Even by the standards of Ukraine’s International Legion, which comprises volunteers from over 55 countries, Han has an unusual backstory. Born in Taichung, he grew up in Costa Rica — then one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — where a relative worked for the embassy. After attending an American international high school in San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, Han — who prefers to use only his given name for OPSEC (operations security) reasons — moved to the US in his teens. He attended Penn State University before returning to Taiwan to work in the semiconductor industry in Kaohsiung, where he
On May 2, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), at a meeting in support of Taipei city councilors at party headquarters, compared President William Lai (賴清德) to Hitler. Chu claimed that unlike any other democracy worldwide in history, no other leader was rooting out opposing parties like Lai and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). That his statements are wildly inaccurate was not the point. It was a rallying cry, not a history lesson. This was intentional to provoke the international diplomatic community into a response, which was promptly provided. Both the German and Israeli offices issued statements on Facebook
Perched on Thailand’s border with Myanmar, Arunothai is a dusty crossroads town, a nowheresville that could be the setting of some Southeast Asian spaghetti Western. Its main street is the final, dead-end section of the two-lane highway from Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city 120kms south, and the heart of the kingdom’s mountainous north. At the town boundary, a Chinese-style arch capped with dragons also bears Thai script declaring fealty to Bangkok’s royal family: “Long live the King!” Further on, Chinese lanterns line the main street, and on the hillsides, courtyard homes sit among warrens of narrow, winding alleyways and
RSS