I am continually surprised and loving the quality of musicians I see in different live music places in Taiwan.
From lounge music to heavy metal to jazz music to pop music.
The musicians skills are off the charts. The singers are okay in Taiwan but the but the musician skills are phenomenal.
Watch a piano player or a saxophone player or lead guitar player and you will understand what I mean.
I sometimes wonder what is the ratio of musicians to the general population because it seems like so many people play an instrument and many people play an instrument extremely well.
I travel the world a lot and I see Philippine bands in many places and rightfully so because the singers are so great. But the musicians don’t even come close to Taiwan musicians.
Funny to say I have the exact opposite opinion about Taiwan.
I think Taiwan has a woeful lack of live music and musicians and music in daily life.
I guess when they are good they are really good but not many people here play musical instruments for a laugh.
When I grew up almost everybody I knew played musical instruments (mostly guitar but also piano, cello, keyboards, accordions, violins…even spoons and Jews harps) often learning themselves or from their friends. Doesn’t matter if they were talented or not.
I do come from a culture where playing music, singing and dancing is pretty engrained though.
Taiwan does have phenomenal street dancers though!
If fun music while enjoying a few drinks is what you like, I think the level of musicianship in Taiwan is not bad at all. Here’s an aboriginal group called Boxing playing at a venue in Taidong (鐵花村).
[quote]
I CAUSED A SCENE TODAY IN THE PUBLIC
Today I got very angry and upset for the first time in public in front of a crowd.
What started out as a nice day, I thought it would only get better by attending the street performance artist’s exam in Taipei. Everything seemed nice when I saw the performers were all prepared in their provided locations around the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall. But after I saw the head of the judge panel treated the street performers while performing, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.
Let me explained: each performer had to pay to register for the license exam. They were given 3 minutes to present their work(s) hoping they’d get a lisence so they can earn some sort of living from their passion. This one particular judge (pictured) leading the group seems impatiently listen and watch the street performers. It barely hit the one minute mark, he aggressively cut into the song of a singer and told the performer “many singers sing in different languages like English etc, sing in another language!”(I paraphrased with my bad Chinese translation). Then the singer started singing in Taiwanese language. But barely two sentences, he talked to another judge barely paying attention to the performer this head judge basically just left and gestured to the rest of the group to follow him.
The singer sang barely a minute and a half (they were promised 3 mins and they kept being interrupted by this judge). Bare in mind, this judge is earning a wage while these hopeful performers were paying him to be there. He basically did the same thing over and over again disregarding the artist’s intent and hard work. Not a single word of appreciation. He just acted as he was a big boss looking down on these petty performers. He chatted as he wished and walked away without saying a “thank you” or a gesture of acknowledgement. A percussionist kept being interrupted asking him to do something different. Then he just left after the third time. The rest of the judges just followed.
So, i approached him politely asking for his name and his business card. I told him I wanted to talk to him one on one in the future. Degradingly he asked me who I was. I could see in his eyes that he saw a young man who looked like a student to him. But I was not and am not. I am a 40 year old dance artist, filmmaker and educator that have taught around the globe and in many prestigious colleges and festivals.
He didn’t want to give me his business card. He seemed annoyed and surprised that someone spoke up. So I said I can give him my contact info but we needed to talk on how the exam went.
The way Taipei city exams the performers today was both disrespectful and insulting to the arts community in general. I didn’t want to say this all out. But he left me with no choice.
I told him, for one, the way he treated the performers was disrespectful. As an educator I could not be quiet when I see something like that. Second, the process of the exam is not doing the art community any justice. If he cannot see the artists as a human being first, then what does it say about his view on the Arts. I could see him pissed off. But again he left me with no choice. He was very degrading towards these performers. As an artist myself and an art advocate I had to do something.
The organizer apologized to me said the process needed to go on. I told him I wasn’t trying to stop them. I merely want to know how I could get in touch with them to discuss this. If you know me well enough, you should know my temperament. I am a happy go lucky person. I almost never get angry in the public. But it was genuinely insulting and degrading to every artists based on what I saw today.
This arrogant judge didn’t care of my opinion. I could see it in his eyes. He was basically the superior in his world and his way was the right way. That’s how he had always done it. All the young staffers there were afraid of him. Today he was disrespectful, rude, and arrogant. I really want to know why he does what he does.
After the incident, a few people came up and thanked me for speaking up. They felt the same way but they didn’t have the courage to say it to this judge or the organization that issues these licenses. One organizer from the New Taipei City said even she felt bad seeing how the performers being treated.
I don’t understand why people don’t stand up for each other. The Taipei City has failed their community and even more so to their arts community.
For an organization that is supposed to advocate for the arts, culture and authenticity, they did miserably today. It is like giving an exam to a dog, a cat, a bird and a monkey then telling them that their exam is climbing a tree. It’s absolutely ridiculous.
I left them my contact information. They said they will contact me. If they don’t, this could be an interesting subject for my next film project. A documentary on how these hopeful, aspiring performers being treated.
I am mad and I am angry. I really hope they will change their shallow way of seeing Arts.
P.S. Share or repost in Chinese. They need to change. Thanks.[/quote]
Isn’t this just brilliant? A classic taste of Taiwan tbh.