Three bands from Taiwan will participate in a music festival in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, this month, as part of efforts to promote Taiwanese music in the southeast Asian country, the Taiwanese organizers said yesterday.
Electro-rock band Go Chic, electronic music band Olivia Yan X Utopia and punk rock band 88balaz (88 Guava seedz) are scheduled to perform at Java Rockin’land at Carnival Beach in Ancol on June 22 and June 23.
The visit is part of a government effort to promote Taiwanese music abroad. Under the program, three Taiwanese bands — The Chairman, TRASH and Guntzepaula — performed at Music Matters Live in Singapore from May 21 to May 24.
Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development Director Chu Wen-ching (朱文清) said his bureau has helped send Taiwanese bands to major music festivals and trade fairs in countries such as the US, the UK and Japan over the past years.
“Southeast Asia has a large Chinese population and enjoys close musical ties with Taiwan,” he said, expressing optimism that the Taiwanese bands would make an impact on Indonesian music fans.
Go Chic lead vocalist Ariel Zheng (鄭思齊) said that her band performs more often in US and European music festivals, so the trip to Indonesia will be a good opportunity for them to learn about different styles of music and expand their audience in Southeast Asia.
ICON Promotions general manager Jesse Liu, a consultant for the Taiwanese delegation to Singapore and Indonesia, said organizers have selected Indonesia as one of the destinations due to its large population and music market.
Some record companies are already in talks with the three Taiwanese bands that performed in Singapore about releasing their albums there, Liu said, expressing hope that the trip to Indonesia would facilitate similar deals.
Java Rockin’land, one of the biggest rock festivals in Southeast Asia, attracted about 60,000 people in 2011.
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