At Taiwan’s premier music competition, artists went political with their tunes and lyrics.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Social actions have lengthy used music to unfold messages and rally help. Musicians from throughout Taiwan gathered within the southern port metropolis of Kaohsiung just lately to attempt to remind folks of the precarious geopolitical state of affairs through which they discover their island. Ashish Valentine studies.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
ASHISH VALENTINE, BYLINE: Final weekend, tens of 1000’s of followers gathered to see a few of the greatest Taiwan’s music scene has to supply. The competition, which acquired some native authorities funding, took over the biggest harbor in Taiwan – therefore its title, Megaport.
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VALENTINE: Though they got here right here to blow off steam, escalating tensions between Taiwan and China have been on many followers’ and artists’ minds. Final month, Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, labeled Beijing as a, quote, “hostile international power.” Many bands urged followers to remain united, saying this is not the primary time Taiwan’s folks have risked their lives for a greater future.
Taking the stage on the competition’s second day, rock band Sorry Youth shocked everybody midway by their set by debuting a cartoon primarily based on a narrative even a child may acknowledge. Three little pigs – Taiwanese pigs, that’s – speak in regards to the information, whereas a sure large, dangerous wolf lurks within the background.
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UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR #1: (As character, by interpreter) You guys actually suppose there will be a struggle?
VALENTINE: They speak about sending their youngsters overseas earlier than the third little pig interrupts, saying they need to keep and defend their dwelling.
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UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR #1: (As character, by interpreter) However what will we do? We’re simply regular folks. What energy do we have now?
UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR #2: (As character, by interpreter) Only one abnormal individual has no energy. However what about 10,000 abnormal folks, 100,000, 1,000,000? So many individuals sacrificed themselves so we will stay the way in which we do now. The remaining is as much as us.
VALENTINE: The band launched right into a track known as “Justice In Time.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SORRY YOUTH SONG, “JUSTICE IN TIME”)
VALENTINE: It pays tribute to generations of activists who resisted 4 many years of dictatorship, which solely resulted in 1987, and guarantees that future generations will hold their hard-won democracy protected. They weren’t the one artists who apprehensive a couple of potential Chinese language invasion. Hip-hop artist Yang Shu-ya’s single “2045” wonders what struggling for democracy would imply in Taiwan if every little thing burns to ashes.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “2045”)
YANG SHU-YA: (Rapping in non-English language).
VALENTINE: She imagines Taiwan as a struggle zone below Chinese language occupation, fundamental freedoms gone. Not everybody taking part in at Megaport was so ahead, although. Yang says it is a results of bigger tensions within the music scene.
YANG: (Via interpreter) So many artists from Taiwan resolve they should go to China to develop their careers.
VALENTINE: The consequence, she says, is just a handful dare to talk up overtly. However Yang says she has little interest in going to China or taking part in by their guidelines.
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YANG: (Via interpreter) There’s by no means been a separation between music and politics. Music is political.
VALENTINE: For most of the artists and followers at Megaport, they will use the competition to rejoice and protest for so long as they will.
For NPR Information, that is Ashish Valentine in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
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