The 110th birthday of Teng Yu-hsien (鄧雨賢), known as the father of Taiwanese folk songs, will be marked in June with an exhibition showcasing his original scores, photographs and collections at the National Central Library in Taipei.
Born in 1906 in Taoyuan during the Japanese colonial period, Teng first encountered Western music when studying at Taipei Normal School in 1921. He left a teaching position in 1929 to study music composition in Japan.
Several of Teng’s works remain popular to this day, including April Rain (四月望雨), Sadness in a Moonlit Night (月夜愁), Yearning for Spring (望春風) and Flowers in a Rainy Night (雨夜花).
The exhibition will showcase Teng’s manuscripts of Lonely Flower (閒花嘆) in their entirety for the first time, said his grandson and exhibition curator Teng Tai-chao (鄧泰超).
Scored for the violin, piano, saxophone and other musical instruments, Lonely Flower was the first Taiwanese song that incorporated the Western concept of chamber music, marking a new epoch in Taiwanese music’s landscape, Teng Tai-chao said, adding that the sheet music to be exhibited is also the most completely preserved of the composer’s surviving scores.
Another highlight of the exhibition will be Teng Yu-hsien’s photographs taken with musician Jiang Wen-ye (江文也), one of the first classical musicians of Asian descent to gain international recognition and a close lifelong friend of the composer, Teng Tai-chao said.
Residents’ Song (市民之歌), which was composed by Teng Yu-hsien’s teacher, Ichijo Shinzaburo, for Taipei residents and thought to be lost for a long time, will be played at the exhibition.
The show will also include a set of rare phonograph records of Japanese military songs adapted from Teng Yu-hsien’s most popular hymns, which were recast for propaganda purposes by the Japanese government in an apparent effort to “Japanize” Taiwanese.
Teng Yu-hsien was indignant at the Japanese abuse of his musical legacy and left Taipei for Hsinchu to serve as a primary-school teacher. He died of dysentery at the age of 39.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
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
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US. She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm. Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail
Shih Hsin University President Chen Ching-he (陳清河) yesterday issued a public apology for comments made in his commencement speech last week, stating that he has asked the school to suspend his duties and halt his wages for two months as a show of contrition. At the commencement ceremony on May 30, Chen said, “If you don’t manage your time well, or your own emotions, or your health, then I am telling every one of you — put a quick end to ‘you,’ because the world has no need for ‘you.’” The comments have sparked significant controversy online, and Chen through an open
RSS