A country’s level of democracy is reflected in the development of its performing arts, Deputy Minister of Culture Hsiao Tsung-huang (蕭宗煌) said yesterday, ahead of the 30th Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music in Taipei on Aug. 10.
The arts are the most important aspect of a nation’s soft power and traditional arts are the essence of its culture, Hsiao said.
“In Taiwan, we have cultural heritage from China, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, which has produced a melting pot of cultures and acceptance of them,” Hsiao said. “Against that background, we can see great diversity in traditional arts in Taiwan.”
Photo: CNA
The development of a country’s performing arts reflects its level of democracy, he said.
The awards honor artists, groups and works that have contributed to Taiwan’s diverse, creative and rich cultural heritage, organizers said.
“Artists, promoters and people who work in the traditional and cultural performing arts” will be among the winners, National Center for Traditional Arts director Chen Chi-ming (陳濟民) said.
The Taipei Philharmonic Chamber Choir’s album Image Taiwan II has been nominated for six awards — best cover art, best performance, best recording, best composition, best lyrics and best producer.
The theater production The Cursed Royal Family by the Tang Mei-yun Taiwanese Opera Company has been nominated for best ensemble performance, best script, best actor and best music design.
Singing Organ in the Rainy Night by Gwhyenth Chen (陳毓襄) has been nominated for best art music album, best album producer, best recording, best musical performance and best arrangement.
Sound engineer Yeh Chwei-ching (葉垂青) and playwright Wang An-chi (王安祈) will receive special awards for their “contributions and achievements in the fields of traditional and artistic audio publishing, and theatrical performing arts respectively,” the Ministry of Culture said.
In 2014, the event was separated from the Golden Melody Awards and have since been run by the National Center for Traditional Arts.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious