Fri, May 08, 2015 page5

• FEATURE: Unconventional musician determined to push issues

  • By Ye Kuan-yu and Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter, with staff writer
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  In a departure from mainstream pop music, veteran independent musician Hsiao Fu-te (蕭福德) in his decades-long career has made music concerned with the issues facing people on the bottom tier of society.

  With his grizzled hair hanging loose at shoulder length, the 50-year-old artist described himself as someone who tries to “present the resolute spirit of rock ’n’ roll from a gentle perspective.”

  Born in a Christian household in Changhua County in 1965, he grew up listening to gospel music until rock ’n’ roll came into his life, he said.

  

  Musicians Hsiao Fu-te, right, and Jutoupi, second right, perform in a Taipei studio on April 18.

  Photo: Yeh Kuan-yu, Taipei Times

  He came across an eye-opening performance that introduced him to the world of rock ’n’ roll when he was a high-school student in Tainan, and he later learned to play bass and discovered a wide range of musical genres, including heavy metal, blues and jazz, he said.

  Like every young person of that time, he yearned for the bright future seemingly promised by the metropolis and went to Taipei to start his career as a salesman after he finished military service, he said.

  He played music in restaurants and bars after work, but viewed performing as just an interesting sideline, until a friend sent his demo tapes to UFO Records — the predecessor of Warner Music Taiwan — whereupon the company offered Hsaio his first record contract.

  Shortly before the release of Hsiao’s first album in 1992, musician Lim Giong (林強) made his debut with the game-changing album Marching Forward (向前走) in 1990, which revolutionized the music scene by introducing Taiwanese themes into pop-rock culture, Hsiao said.

  While Hsiao might well have ridden that wave, he chose “to care for the toiling masses” and adopted a much more difficult approach instead, he said.

  “It’s very easy to write a love song. Just [tap into] lovers’ laments and write something personal and sentimental. However, to write a meaningful song that resonates with the audience is very difficult, and that’s what I have been trying to do,” he said.

  His debut album, A Flower on Huasi Street (華西街的一蕊花), was an effort to relate to a campaign to end child prostitution that started in the late 1980s, he said.

  The album’s titular title track is a lyrical description of sex workers in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), where the practice of prostitution was common and where he first lived when he came to the city, he said.

  Outlining the plight of sex workers, the song later became the campaign’s anthem and saw him become a finalist in the Best Lyricist Award in the traditional music category of the Golden Melody Awards in 1993.

  Hsiao said that he insists on singing and writing in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) because he does not speak fluent Mandarin.

  “There’s no way that I can pronounce every word correctly the way people speak Mandarin in Beijing,” he said.

  He loves the distinctive intonation and rhythm of Hoklo, he said, adding that the language gives his work a particular resonance.

  He said that in the early 1990s he had to put up a fight when his agent asked him to appear on television variety shows to gain publicity like his fellow artists did, including Cantonese singer Gloria Yip (葉蘊儀) and Taiwanese boy band the Little Tigers (小虎隊).

  “I am not a regular singer; tell the company not to make me one. Don’t ask me to go on shows that play games,” he said he told his agent.

  At that time, he wrote the song Who is a Hero? (誰人是英雄) to ridicule the now-defunct national assembly, most of whose members remained in their positions from 1947 to 1992 without standing in regular elections.

  “What is real justice? What is the real you? Do you dare to care what happens around you?” the lyrics of the song ask.

  However, lyrics such as these representing the artist’s discontent with social injustice were met with strong objections from the record company, and he was asked to self-censor, Hsiao said.

  Hsiao said his idealism did not make for an easily marketable product, so he turned to independent production after releasing three albums with UFO Records and Rock Records.

  He started a record label with a couple of other musicians in 1996, but later quit due to conflicts, he said.

  He later established the project “Jesus Rocks” with musician Jutoupi (豬頭皮), seeking to redefine church music by connecting Christianity with rock ’n’ roll in an appeal to young people.

  Hsiao said that the pair have performed at churches and protest rallies nationwide for more than a decade, adding “we will be there whenever there is an event in support of minority groups and social justice.”

  He occasionally writes songs or lyrics for other musicians, including a piece used in Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) campaign album Taipei Tone (台北調).

  Saying there is no record label willing to release an album for him and that he has few connections with the industry except via social media concerned with music, Hsiao, with self-deprecating humor, added: “I have nothing but a steady output of musical creativity and social criticism.”
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Chinese technicians join airport MRT project

  • 2

    A train for whom? Is a new monorail helpful for Cairo?

  • 3

    Apple is giving Intel’s turnaround some momentum

  • 4

    Taiwan firms eye Philippines amid shift to non-China supply chains: CIER

  • 5

    Kinmen probes potential Chinese sex spy