Veteran composer Weng Ching-hsi (翁清溪) died in August last year at the age 76, but the news was not made public until earlier this week.
Attorney Hsu Tse-yu (徐則鈺), who represented Weng in his copyright lawsuit against Leico Record Factory Co three years ago, confirmed Weng’s passing, saying the composer’s wife, Chen Li-hua (陳麗花), had informed him of the news in a telephone call in August.
Music Copyright Society of Chinese Taipei staff member Cheng Ting-ling (鄭婷玲), who is in charge of the copyrights on Weng’s songs, also confirmed his death.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Cheng said the organization had announced on its official Web site that Chen was entitled to inherit Weng’s music copyrights, so long as she presented relevant documentation to finalize the inheritance procedures.
Both Hsu and Cheng said they did not know the reasons why Weng’s family kept his death from the public.
News of Weng’s passing did not come to light until a documentary filmmaker contacted the family in March this year because he wanted to use the composer’s songs in his movie.
“Where there are ethnically Chinese people, there are sounds of Wang’s songs being sung. His works have left an indelible imprint in the memories of people of my generation. How come no one was aware of the passing of such an important musical figure?” the filmmaker said.
Since entering the music industry at age 16, Weng composed more than 1,000 songs under various pseudonyms, including Tang Ni (湯尼), Po Tu (波度) and Kuang Yang (光陽).
His most famous works included The Moon Represents My Heart (月亮代表我的心) and The Story of a Small Town (小城故事多), both of which were sung by Teresa Teng (鄧麗君).
Weng won the award for Best Original Film Song at the 18th Golden Horse Awards in 1981 for his work on the Taiwanese movie My Native Land (原鄉人), and was honored with the lifetime achievement award at the 10th Golden Melody Awards in 1999.
He also garnered the best music award for the Taiwanese film Lament of the Sand River (沙河悲歌) at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival in 2000.
Taiwanese director Lee Hsing (李行), whose work Posterity and Perplexity (碧雲天) brought Weng into the movie industry, said it was regrettable that Weng’s family did not notify him of Weng’s death.
Lee said he had invited Weng to compose music for his stage play Summer Snow (夏雪) in 2011, but he later resigned due to physical ailments.
“I had tried to visit Weng at his home in June last year after learning that he had some heart problems, but Chen refused to let me in, saying that Weng’s ‘sickly appearance’ was unfit for a visit,” Lee said.
Lee said he had made several telephone calls to Weng’s landline afterward, but they always went unanswered.
However, there is speculation the family decided to keep Weng’s death a secret because of the substantial royalties he received for his works each year and a dispute over how to distribute them.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS