An eclectic variety of musicians and dancers will be performing as part of this year’s Asia-Pacific Traditional Arts Festival, which opens tomorrow at the National Center for Traditional Arts in Yilan County.
As with past festivals, the Council for Cultural Affairs has cast its net wide in determining the “Asian” countries and cultures to be included, with musicians and dancers from Syria among those in this year’s line-up.
However, that works out for the best as far as audiences are concerned, because while the schedule may resemble a variety show, where else would you be able to see a Sufi dancer spinning, Indian gypsies singing and dancing and indigenous dancers from Sabah in Malaysia all in one day?
The first group of artists, who will be performing tomorrow through Oct. 5, are Persatuan Seni Budaya Sabah, a music and dance group from Malaysia; the Musafir Gypsies of Rajasthan, India, who first appeared at the festival in 2003; Abo Khalil Al Kabbani from Syria, which is made up of musicians from the Arab Institute of Music in Damascus and a Sufi dancer; and two local groups: the Sepiuma Tribe Choir from Taiwu Township (泰武) in Pingtung County and “Sound of Ocean” Amis Musical Group.
A second set of performers will give shows from Thursday through Oct. 10: the Xinjiang Awaty Dolan Muqam, who are Uigurs from China; the Japanese Puppet Theater (Bunraku) Ensemble; the Trimurti International Music Group from India and Taiwan, the Taipei Puppet Theater and Meinong Hakka’s Bayin Music Ensemble.
Several craftspeople will also be on hand to give demonstrations, including the body painting of Rajasthan; traditional hand beading from Sabah, making bamboo mouth harps by Taiwanese Aborigines, making of the Uigurs’ Qanun and Aijek instruments and the art of traditional Taiwanese puppet head painting.
The center’s exhibition hall is also hosting a special show on the Japanese arts of the Meiji period, although it runs through Jan. 8. The festival shows begin at 10am and run throughout the day, with the last performance starting at 4pm. Notices posted at the National Center for Traditional Arts will give the final rundown for each day’s schedule. Performances will be held in the theater, concert hall, covered stage and Wen-Chang Temple, while the craft demonstrations will take place on the first floor of the theater hall.
Admission to the center is NT$150 per person.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS