Tue, Jul 30, 2024 page3

• Council promotes Hakka Eight-Tone music to the youth

  • Staff Writer, with CNA
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  A staple of temple events and festivals for more than a century, “Hakka Eight-Tone” (客家八音) bands have long been fundamental to the cultural identity of the Hakka people in Taiwan.

  The distinctive, sharp, sometimes even shrill sound of this eight-instrument band centered around the suona, a traditional Chinese woodwind instrument, can invariably be heard during celebratory events big and small in Taiwan’s ethnic Hakka communities.

  However, with changes in habits and the diversification of religious beliefs, the popularity of the unique genre has been on the decline in recent decades, sparking concerns that it could soon die out.

  

  A sheet music on the “Hakka Eight-Tone” is pictured in an undated photograph.

  Photo: CNA

  To prevent that, a number of Taiwanese musicians of Hakka ethnicity and the Hakka Affairs Council have been working to preserve the genre by promoting it to the younger generation.

  “Eight-tone” refers to the eight materials the instruments were traditionally made of — gold, stone, silk, bamboo, gourds, soil, leather and wood — although the instruments and repertoires have changed over time.

  Eight-Tone expert Peng Jun-yang (彭峻暘), more commonly known as Sakyou, said being an “Eight-Tone musician” was once a proper profession and respectable career choice rather than a part-time vocation that could be picked up as a hobby on a whim.

  The declining number of temple festivities in Hakka-populated locations such as Hsinchu County, however, have led to fewer gigs and lower income streams for professional Eight-Tone musicians, contributing to the traditional art’s descent into obscurity.

  Peng, an apprentice to a number of Eight-Tone experts such as suona master Tien Wen-kuang (田文光) 10 years ago, and other musicians are searching for new ways to promote the style in hopes of preserving, if not reviving, such bands.

  He also wants to give the genre a modern flair and create new tunes and styles while still passing it on through schools.

  At a recent recital, Peng invited brass instrument musicians to jam with his band, bringing a jazzy twist to the traditional genre.

  He also spends time at schools in Hsinchu County’s townships to bring Eight-Tone to the ears of Taiwan’s Hakka youths, hoping to attract the attention of the younger generation.

  Tien is the chief of one of, if not the oldest, Taiwanese Eight-Tone bands.

  Founded in 1921, the seasoned troupe is honored as one of Hsinchu County’s most accomplished performance groups and is still actively involved in local festivals and celebrations to this day.

  Modernization has led to a decrease in religious celebrations and cultural festivities that highlight Eight-Tone bands, Tien said, but the Ministry of Culture has stepped in with funding to present Eight-Tone music lessons at Zhubei’s Hakka heritage buildings every Sunday.

  Lovers of the music form who have become his students range from ages 25 to 78, and have brought new life to the old musical art, Tien said.

  One such student is Lu Pei-ju (呂佩儒), a graduate of Taipei National University of the Arts, who is an expert in piano as well as the erhu, a two-stringed bowed Chinese instrument.

  She said she developed an interest in Eight-Tone after being introduced to it when she was a university student.

  After becoming Tien’s student, she said she became enamored by the versatility of Eight-Tone, as it can change from soft, gentle melodies to hard, aggressive rhythms.

  Her love for the music form led to her helping Tien’s band publish a song book which details the genre in words and in the traditional script Eight-Tone was written in before sheet music became the international norm.

  Aside from the music book from Tien’s band, the council has been archiving traditional Eight-Tone tunes, which it described as the most definitive artistic representation of Taiwan’s Hakka music culture.

  The council has also compiled 76 popular Eight-Tone tunes from across Taiwan into one music book, accompanied by digitized music files of the songs.
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