The Cultural Center in Kaohsiung had a great exhibition on the history of recorded music in Taiwan. There were records going back to before the 1900’s.
But, no samples to hear. Are there any MP3 sites here dedicated to the “public domain” songs and are there any CD collections of the songs that would not be under public domain from the later period?
Unfortunately, I do not know of one. However, I would really like to see a site provide old Taiwanese songs such as U Hiao Hue (Rainy Night Flower), Pang Chhun Hong (Waiting for the Spring Wind), Kio Tio Gua (Calling Me Home), and Mama Chh*ia Li (Mama, Please Take Care).
I don’t think copyright will be an issue, as many of the studios and companies that produced these songs have long since closed, and given Taiwan’s deficient intellectual property laws, the copyrights will have lapsed into public domain. Ie, these songs were produced during the Japanese Era, when ROC laws did not even apply to Taiwan.
Whether the copyright can be passed on to any surviving heirs, after the original entity has closed and after the issuing government has relinquished sovereignty is a highly theoretical question that Taiwanese courts will not be enthusiastic addressing.
If someone is willling to host such a site, I can send my MP3 collection of these songs (for fair use and educational purposes).
At the moment I have more than 100 MB to spare, so I’d be willing to put them on my site for the time being as long as the extra bandwidth doesn’t lead my host to charge me more money. I know of another site with a more appropriate name that could probably be used later. But you or somebody else would have to take care of labeling the songs, because my Taiwanese is almost nonexistent.
Just tell me where to download after you upload the songs.
I love old chinese melodies…soothing…really soothing my eardrums…
ax
[quote=“cranky laowai”]
At the moment I have more than 100 MB to spare, so I’d be willing to put them on my site for the time being as long as the extra bandwidth doesn’t lead my host to charge me more money. [/quote]
OK, thanks for the offer. Give me a few days to dig through my collection. I’m rip a few at a time to MP3 and send them to you. Cheers.
[quote=“bifletor”][quote=“cranky laowai”]
At the moment I have more than 100 MB to spare, so I’d be willing to put them on my site for the time being as long as the extra bandwidth doesn’t lead my host to charge me more money. [/quote]
OK, thanks for the offer. Give me a few days to dig through my collection. I’m rip a few at a time to MP3 and send them to you. Cheers.[/quote]
It has been several months. Have any old songs been ripped and uploaded yet?
Wazai.
Thanks for bringing this up. I too would be interested in taking a listen.
HG
I don’t have any files of my own to put up and haven’t received any yet from others. (But let’s keep 'em legal, if you have something you would like to contribute, as I wish to remain on good terms with my Web hosting company.)
In Carrefour last year they had a compilation of 10 CDs with all these old songs like:
U Hiao Hue (Rainy Night Flower), Pang Chhun Hong (Waiting for the Spring Wind), Kio Tio Gua (Calling Me Home), and Mama Chh*ia Li (Mama, Please Take Care) etc etc
I bought it… can really understand what they are saying… can sing along a bit. My girlfriend loves it though
My KTV party piece is mama cha lee a bwo dung
[quote=“bifletor”][quote=“cranky laowai”]
At the moment I have more than 100 MB to spare, so I’d be willing to put them on my site for the time being as long as the extra bandwidth doesn’t lead my host to charge me more money. [/quote]
OK, thanks for the offer. Give me a few days to dig through my collection. I’m rip a few at a time to MP3 and send them to you. Cheers.[/quote]
Is anything happening with this? I was really looking forward to it.
Here is an article about the history of Taiwanese pop songs from 1932 onwards, with some tantalising audio clips;
Original Chinese version (with more links)
home.comcast.net/~tzeng2/TaiwanP … index.html
English version
home.comcast.net/~tzeng2/TaiwanP … nglish.htm
On a more modern note, has anyone heard of a singer called, I think, Zhang Hui? (I don’t mean Zhang Huimei a.k.a A-Mei). My boss’s husband played me some of her songs and they were great, but I couldn’t find anything on a Google search.
Do you mean Jiang Hui (姜惠)?
Thankyou! Guanxi your way.
Nice links Joesax.
So some guanxi to you too!
HG