Taiwanese pop

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Taiwanese Pop is a popular music genre sung in the Taiwanese language (Min Nan). It is referred to as Tai-pop and sometimes Hokkien pop. The genre is not the same as Mandarin pop music from Taiwan. However many Mandarin pop singers from Taiwan also cross-over into Taiwanese pop genres as well, and there is increasingly more Mandarin pop influence in Taiwanese pop. Taiwanese music development took a set back during the years of Martial Law in Taiwan. Upon the lifting of Martial Law in Taiwan, multiple artists began to produce Taiwanese song tracts and entire albums in Taiwanese.

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[edit] Terminology

While Cantonese, Mandarin and Taiwanese are all derived from the same Sino-Tibetan languages family, Taiwanese pop is not classified within c-pop. The historical origin of Taiwanese pop comes from a Japanese enka base instead of a Chinese shidaiqu base[1][2]. Music of this category are sometimes called "Aboriginal Taiwanese pop" to distinguish it from Mandarin pop music in Taiwan[3].

[edit] History

[edit] Origin

While Taiwan music have existed before the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, the "father of Taiwanese pop" or "New Music" is considered to be Chang Fu-hsing in the 1930s[1].

[edit] 1950s: Political interference

After the Kuomintang relocated from mainland China to Taiwan, the phase of White Terror would began. The process started in 1949 with the proposal of a martial law. All facets of Taiwanese culture that were not of Han Chinese origin were under scrutiny. In particular, the KMT government discouraged use of the Taiwanese language[1], See here. As a result, native Taiwanese pop music was no longer in development.

[edit] 1960s: Censorship

In the 1960s, Taiwan Television station for example could air no more than 2 Taiwanese pop songs a day[1].

[edit] 1980s: Lifting of martial law

The Republic of China would lift martial law in 1987 and allow native Taiwanese culture to reintegrate into society. When Taiwanese music was no longer restricted, the gap between old enka-style Taiwanese pop and modern 1980s mandopop songs was tremendous. Because of this, Taiwanese pop was thought of as music for the older generations[1][2]. This is unusual since popular music is almost globally associated with youth.

Blacklist Studio would release the first native Taiwanese album in a mandopop-dominant market in 1989. One famous male singer from the 1980's is Long-Hong Hong who is famous for his Taiwanese "One Umbrella" song and also produces Taiwanese Christian song albums too.

Feng Fei-Fei is a famous Taiwanese singer from the 1980's who is a Mandarin pop singer, but also has albums in Taiwanese too.

Jody Chiang is Taiwan's most famous singer and is often referred to as the Queen of Taiwanese pop music. She has many albums and compilations that date from the 1980's to the present. She can be referred to as the Taiwanese equivalent of Teresa Teng (below).

Stella Chang (Zhang Qing-Fang)(Jhang Ching-Fang) has produced albums entirely in Mandarin and entirely Taiwanese. She made her debut singing Taiwan's ming-ge (National, ROC) songs and is a Mandarin pop singer, but branched out into contemporary Mandarin and Taiwanese songs to reflect her heritage.

Teresa Teng, although of Taiwanese mainlander heritage, is also known to have songs in Taiwanese. Unfortunately, these songs have not made it to CDs like her Japanese, Mandarin, and Cantonese songs have. Although Teresa Teng is better known for her Mandarin albums, her songs were also influenced by Japanese Enka style and by older Taiwan ming-ge songs.

Chen Ying-Jie, is a famous female singer of Taiwanese Hakka heritage, who has also produced albums from the 1980's through the 1990's like Jody Chiang. One of Ying-Jie's famous songs is "Hai-Hai Ren Shen".

Other famous Taiwanese singers include Zhang Xiu-Qing (Jhang Shiou Ching) from Pingtung, Taiwan, who is famous in the early 1990's for her song "Che Zhan" (Train Station).

[edit] 1990s: Re-Integrate

In 1990 Lin Qiang launched the first successful Taiwanese album under Rock Records. It also broke away the tradition by having a new-ballad style instead of the old-enka style[2].

In 1993, Taiwan's government opened up the broadcasting of TV or radio programs to languages other than mandarin[4]. Chang Yu-Sheng would also discover A-mei (Note: A-mei has Taiwanese aboriginal heritage, but her music is predominantly mandarin and is actually classified as Mandarin pop, not Taiwanese pop).

[edit] Present

[edit] 2000s

Recently, native Taiwanese pop have been re-integrating into c-pop. A-mei would be labeled an Asian hero worldwide for promoting cross-trait pop music representing aboriginal Taiwanese pop with mandopop success. Her popularity however was criticized by the Communist Party of China for promoting any sort of Taiwan independence[5].

The most popular Taiwanese female singer to date is Jody Chiang (Jiang Hui) from Chiayi, Taiwan, who has numerous Taiwanese albums dating from the early 1980's. She is the equivalent of Teresa Teng, except for Taiwanese music.

Current Taiwanese pop music is becoming more influenced by Mandarin pop. Artists such as Phil Chang, Jolin Tsai, Eric Moo and Mayday are known to have Taiwanese songs in their albums.

[edit] Artists

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Taiwanese Pop Songs History. "Taiwanese Pop Songs History." Article. Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
  2. ^ a b c Broughton, Simon. Ellingham, Mark. Trillo, Richard. [2000] (2000) World Music: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides Publishing Company. ISBN 1858286360
  3. ^ Time Magazine. "[http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/heroes/amei.html Time Magazine]." Asian Heroes: Both sides now. Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
  4. ^ Reed, Barbara Edith. Davison, Gary Marvin. [1998] (1998). Culture and Customs of Taiwan. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313302987
  5. ^ News BBC. "News BBC." China bans Taiwans Madonna. Retrieved on 2007-05-03.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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