Written by Hegerová Terézia. Fire EX. started their career in 2000 as an indie punk rock band from Kaohsiung. The four members are singer Sam, bassist Pipi, drummer Wu Ti and guitarist Oreo. The group at first performed only covers, but later started to produce their own songs. They say that their style was influenced by many other singers and bands, especially those from the US like Blink 182 and Green Day.
Written by Zuzana Shejbalová. Teresa Teng, in Mandarin Deng Lijun 鄧麗君, was a Taiwanese singer and one of the ‘Five Great Asian Divas’ of the 1970s and 1980s, alongside Judy Ongg, Agnes Chan, Ou-Yang FeiFei and Yu Yar. She was born on 29 January 1953 and unfortunately died at only 42 on 8 May 1995, suffering an asthma attack while on vacation in Thailand. She remains one of the most successful singers of the Mandarin-speaking world.
Written by Chen-Yu Lin. 30 years since inception the Awards are still presented by the Ministry of Culture, but have also become a stage where musicians are free to make political statements.
Written by Maggie Yang. Given the reality that music promotion cannot completely rely on the government’s cultural policy and subsidy, more professionals based in overseas countries are dedicating themselves to increasing Taiwan pop music’s global visibility and audibility. The three speakers I invited to the talk were from academia and industry. What they have done in the past years has exceeded the government’s capability and had a real impact for Taiwan’s artists and the music industry. Through their efforts, and those of other artists and promoters, Taiwan’s pop music is being heard on some of the biggest stages in the world.
Written by Eden Townend. This is a clear manifestation of this mutually beneficial relationship at work. CD REV align their content with the CCP’s values and preferred narratives pertaining to Taiwanese reunification, and the CCP in turn provide the rap group with the necessary tools to be successful.
Written by Rowena He. The hijacking of history by the Chinese Communist Party, together with the manipulation of nationalistic sentiments, promotes historical amnesia, fosters a narrow and xenophobic nationalism, impedes reflection on historical tragedies and injustice, and stokes enthusiasm for China’s growing international assertiveness. And such state-sponsored made-in-China nationalism, compounded with the soft power exported through agencies such as Confucius Institutes, has profound implications for the future of China, its relationship with Taiwan, and the world.
Written by Paris Shih. The gay history of Jolin Tsai was not only a gay thing. It was also a generational thing. For every Taiwanese gay man growing up in the late 90s and the early 2000s, there was a Jolin Tsai. It was both personal and political, individual and communal.
Written by Matt Taylor. In part one of this two-article feature, where we are trying to understand the impact of the November 2018 same-sex marriage
As Taiwan’s LGBT community reels from the result of the referendum, they can find solace in the rich collection of Taiwan’s LGBT music cannon. Those songs that saw the community fight against discrimination, against inequality, and espouse the values of freedom, individuality and defying the status quo have an even more important meaning now than they did before.
Written by Chen-yu Lin Other than being known as the production centre for Mandopop in its heyday, in recent years, Taiwan has also a burgeoning
Written by Eric Scheihagen Whenever Taiwanese popular music of the 1980s, Taiwanese singer-songwriters or indeed the history of Mandopop in Taiwan in general is being
Written by Chen-Yu Lin. The night of 20th June 2018 was one of the most significant nights of my life when I finally managed to see No Party for Cao Dong playing live at the
Taiwan Insight 