After a performance in Tokyo the audience clapped and stamped their feet for fifteen minutes, but no Stevie. So at his recent concert in Taipei nobody was more surprised than Stevie Wonder's own production people when, after the lights began to go up, Stevie, his six-piece band, three back-up singers, and four dancers reappeared on-stage to perform two band-ém-up, bring-the-house-down encores.
When Stevie reappeared, nobody was more delighted than Joanna and Juby Wang, 10 and 13 years old, enthusiastic fans of Stevie Wonder ever since they discovered his music among their mother's compact discs. The two girls had near front-row seats so there was ample opportunity to wave at the band members. They were rewarded for their' enthusiasm at the end of the show when some of the band mingled with the audience to sign autographs, and the sisters even finagled a pair of drumsticks from the percussionist.
From Joanna and Juby's point of view, and judging from the enthusiastic response of the sell-out audience, Stevie Wonder's two Taipei concerts, his first ever in the ROC, fulfilled his promise that he was going to have "a wonderful party with my friends in Taiwan."
The extraordinary excitement generated by Stevie Wonder's concerts, and by the two Tina Turner concerts held in Taipei two months earlier, is due at least in part to the performances being trail-blazing events. These were the first times that pop performers of their magnitude have played in Taiwan. Considering the popularity Western—particularly American—pop music enjoys in Taiwan, it would seem that top-grade rock music stars have been a long time in arriving on the scene.
But in a sense what is happening on the economic scene in Taiwan—a greater flexibility and openness, less caution and more flare, and a conscious trend towards internationalization—is also happening on the cultural scene. Being able to attract the very best in rock and roll, according to some observers, is a very effective if unexpected way of showing the world that Taiwan has arrived.
It is still not an easy process to bring a top pop music star to Taiwan. According to promoters, factors involved include everything from U.S.-Taiwan trade talks to the Ministry of Education's reaction to a rock star's haircut. According to M. C. Lin, Executive Director of the Mandarin Hotel Group and one of the main backers of the Stevie Wonder concerts, U.S. pressure to enforce the copyrights of American artists' music tapes and records sold in Taiwan will have a strong impact on the attractiveness of Taiwan as a concert location for major artists.
"You must remember that for a star like Michael Jackson or Stevie Wonder, the real benefit of a concert tour is that it generates interest in their music, and helps sell records. Up to now, these artists were seeing very little return on sales of their music here, since so many tapes were pirated. Luckily, the situation is changing," Lin says.
Another factor, Lin adds, is that thanks to the relative strength of the New Taiwan (NT) dollar, the costs of sponsoring a major rock artist are more bearable: "Top-level artists are very careful about the production aspect of their concerts, and gelling the equipment they require is expensive-particularly because it's not always available in Taiwan."
Stevie Wonder's concert provides a case in point. Promoters were told that he required a particular brand of monitor unavailable in Taiwan. "In fact, we couldn't find one anywhere in Asia," Lin recalls. "In the end the monitors were rented from Australia and shipped air cargo to Taiwan for the concert."
Lin admits that due to the high production costs and the relatively small size of the concert site (the 10,200 seat China Sports and Cultural Center, owned by the Mandarin Hotel Group), sponsors of Stevie Wonder's Taipei concerts were unable to realize a profit. "We saw this as both a test of our ability to handle the production side of things, and also as an investment," says Ni Chung Hwa Managing Director of Mandala Works, who helped to promote the Wonder concerts. "If a rock legend like Stevie Wonder—who is known to be meticulous on the production side of things—is satisfied, then other artists may say, 'Why not make Taiwan a stop on our next tour?' The profits will come later."
Yu Kuang, publisher of Yu Kuang Music Magazine, the most popular music publication in Taiwan for the 12 to 25-year-old crowd, has been an avid promoter of Western pop music in Taiwan for over 20 years. For two generations of Taiwan teenagers his name has been connected with rock and roll. His television and radio shows introducing the latest on the American top 40 pop music charts are a must for any teenager who has finished his homework. And he is as familiar with his audience as they are with him. "There's been a very big change in young people in the past few years. Kids today are more open, less conservative, and more in contact with Western pop music than their older brothers and sisters in their 30's," he says.
Yu points out that there has also been a change in the official line towards rock and roll groups in traditionally conservative Taiwan: "When I first developed my television show back in 1971, I wanted to introduce what you might call 'early MTV' by showing footage of rock concerts by groups like ABBA and Simon and Garfunkel. But it was no go—the government objected because their hair was too long." Yu, one of the original pop concert promoters in Taiwan, has recently sponsored concerts by such oddly coiffeured artists as Berlin and England's Cutting Crew, not to mention Tina Turner.
But this does not mean that the Ministry of Education, which must approve permits for individual concerts, is about to give the go-ahead to bands like the heavy metal groups now popular in the U.S. The Ministry requires that sponsors submit publicity material, lyrics, and a letter of reference from the American Institute in Taiwan (in the case of an American band), which are then reviewed before approval is given. Stevie Wonder, who in addition to being a rock and roll legend is also known for his charitable activities on behalf of the disabled, was naturally seen as a positive influence on Taiwan youth. However bands like Poison, whose concerts evoke responses from American teenagers like "I had such a good time I broke my arm!" are unlikely to get a leather boot in the door.
Locally, young people tend to view rock and roll more as a constructive means of expressing their viewpoints and the exuberance of being young. "What does it mean when they say the spirit of rock and roll is rebellious? It means that you rebel against what you think is wrong or unfair because you want to express that you care about yourself, your environment, and the people around you," says Hsueh Yueh, a popular Taiwan rock star who looks meaner than he sounds. "Young people in Taiwan today need more outlets for expressing themselves, and more sources of entertainment," Yu says in agreement, "so pop music and concerts· are a positive force in this sense."
More and more young people in colleges and universities are organizing rock bands, or "rock and roll student clubs"—often with the approval and even financial assistance of their schools—as a leisure-time activity. Some even make a little extra pocket money playing local discos and student dances. ICRT, a local English-language radio station, sponsors an annual pop music competition for college bands who must compose and perform their own music. This type of activity, in a society where even four or five years ago private dance parties were frowned upon and rock and roll was considered a waste of time, shows how far rock music has come in gaining legitimacy in Taiwan. Although there still is the odd newspaper editorial linking dancing with degradation of character, these usually draw ironic responses at best from the general public. Dancing has become firmly entrenched on the local scene.
Local record companies have also made a contribution to putting Taiwan youth in touch with some of the best in Western rock and roll. Up until three years ago, music stores were inundated with what is locally known as "soft music"—artists like Air Supply and Lobo. But today one can find everything from Brian Eno to Bruce Springsteen to Johnny Hates Jazz, thanks to innovative local companies like Rock Records (another sponsor of the Stevie Wonder concerts) who have been willing to risk marketing a greater variety of pop.
In Taiwan, rock and roll is here to stay, and the latest generation of aficionados are hoping to catch more of their favorite artists than a flashing smile on a video screen. Through the efforts of farsighted promoters willing to take the risk, and a little more cooperation on the part of the government, other top artists may bring their special caliber of rock and roll to Taiwan's enthusiastic audiences, and incidentally may find themselves saying "Wo ai ni" ("I love you"), just like Stevie Wonder.