The Human Rights Festival, set to open early next month, is to begin with a live concert featuring award-winning and up-and-coming artists from Taiwan’s independent music scene, said the main organizer, the National Human Rights Museum.
The concert, to be held at the Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park in New Taipei City next Saturday evening, is to start with Hakka singer-songwriter Wen Yin-chang (溫尹嫦), better known by her stage name, Misa, festival curator Yen Hung-ya (閻鴻亞) told a news event on Wednesday.
Wen, praised by critics for her poetic lyricism, won her first Golden Melody Best Hakka Album and Best Hakka Singer awards in 2020 for The Ship of Fools (戇仔船).
Photo: CNA
Following Wen’s set, another Golden Melody winner, Balai (巴賴), is to put on a performance inspired by his hometown in Taitung County and sing in his mother tongue, Paiwan.
Other artists on the lineup are Wang Yu-jun (王榆鈞), who has frequently fused her music with artistic projects, and TUDI-VOICE (農村武裝青年), or Armed Youth, a rock band known for weaving its activism into music.
The artists selected for the opening show have often explored the issues of “human survival” and “the right to live” in their work, said Yen, better known as Hung Hung (鴻鴻).
Through the creations of this young generation of artists, who were all born after the lifting of martial law in Taiwan in 1987, stories from the White Terror era — a period of political repression by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government from 1949 to 1992 — could be memorialized and passed on, Yen said.
The two-month event is also to touch upon human rights issues concerning indigenous and disadvantaged peoples in Taiwan, as well as pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, through a selection of theatrical shows, dance performances, screenings and a photo exhibition, he added.
The photo exhibition, titled “Shooting as Disclosing — PAN Hsiao-Hsia x KO Chung-Ming,” brings together decades of works by Taiwanese photographer Pan Hsiao-hsia (潘小俠), who passed away in July, and his counterpart from Hong Kong, Ko Chung-ming (高仲明).
Both Pan and Ko have used their photography to gently light up those living in the shadows, such as homeless people, residents in rural and often impoverished areas, and masked protesters, curator Beatrice Hsieh (謝佩霓) said during a brief interview with Central News Agency.
Their works have not only captured decisive moments and fulfilled the “newsiness” required in documentary photography, but also demonstrated skill and artistry, Hsieh said.
Taiwanese troupe One Player Short Ensemble (三缺一劇團) is to stage their new show, Son of Formosa (來自清水的孩子), an adaptation of a four-volume comic book of the same title about White Terror-era political prisoner Tsai Kun-lin (蔡焜霖), who passed away in September.
The show, suitable for children aged seven and older, tells Tsai’s life story, especially his love of books, through a performance incorporating puppets and other objects — techniques used frequently by the Taiwan-based group, director and playwright Ho Hsiang-yi (賀湘儀) said.
Tsai’s life was intertwined with books, Ho said, pointing to how he was imprisoned for taking part in a reading club and how he founded a children’s magazine 10 years later, after being released.
Despite what he had undergone, Tsai remained warm-hearted and committed to sharing books with others, the director said, adding that that was the message the show seeks to convey.
All of the shows at the festival, which are to run through Jan. 14, are free, but visitors are required to register on the event Web site.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese