In recent decades, Taiwan has seen the emergence of a vibrant indie music scene. Inspired by the island’s diverse cultural traditions and influenced by foreign musicians and genres, independent artists are increasingly challenging the dominance of the country’s internationally renowned Mandarin pop music industry. In an effort to boost the professional growth of gifted indie musicians and concert technicians, the Ministry of Culture’s Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development (BAMID) has established programs that subsidize album production costs, enable emerging artists to participate in overseas festivals, and help lighting and sound engineers attend master classes and workshops abroad. Among the many individuals and groups who have benefited from these measures are rapper Dwagie, aboriginal band Matzka, and lighting designer Kuo Xiao-cheng (郭效承). By kick-starting the careers of artists and industry specialists such as these, the BAMID is seeking to cement the nation’s status as a hub of musical creativity.
Born in southern Taiwan’s Tainan City in 1979, Tseng Kuan-jung (曾冠榕) developed a passion for hip-hop during his teenage years, idolizing American rappers like Ghostface Killah, Method Man and Nas. “Rap songs aren’t just a form of entertainment, but can be used to spread positive messages,” says the musician, who is known by his stage name Dwagie. “I wanted to make the genre more relatable to Taiwanese audiences, so I tried my hand at writing rap lyrics in local languages.” By his late teens, he was performing rap songs in both Mandarin and Holo, which is often called Taiwanese and is the language of Taiwan’s largest ethnic group.
Aboriginal band Matzka (Photo courtesy of Everything But The Culture Ltd.)
In 2002, Dwagie, then a university student, was signed by a record label and released his debut work, Lotus from the Tongue, which was billed as the first-ever Chinese-language rap album. While the record received positive reviews, some of the songs he released in subsequent years caused controversy as they addressed politically sensitive issues. As a result, his label voided his recording contract.
It would be nine years before he released a follow-up album, 2011’s People, with help coming from a somewhat unlikely source. Production costs for the record were subsidized by the now defunct Government Information Office, whose responsibilities for film, music, radio and television development were transferred to the BAMID when the office was dissolved as part of a government restructuring program in 2012.
On his second record, Dwagie again examined political and social issues, such as environmental destruction and human and animal rights. The rapper even managed to convince revered spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to appear in the music video for the record’s title track. People was a huge critical success for the artist. In 2012, it was nominated for Best Mandarin Album at the Golden Melody Awards—Taiwan’s foremost ceremony for recognizing achievements in music—and earned him the prizes for Best Album, Best Hip-hop Album and Best R&B Single at the Golden Indie Music Awards. Both of these awards shows are organized by the BAMID.
At the end of 2013, Dwagie released his third album, Refuse to Listen, which was also partially funded by the bureau. For the record, Dwagie got the opportunity to work with one of the artists he revered growing up—hip-hop icon Nas. “He’s my idol, so having the chance to collaborate with him was beyond my wildest dreams,” he explains.
Lighting designer Kuo Xiao-cheng (Photo by Chin Hung-hao)
Last October, Dwagie received sponsorship from the BAMID to participate in the CMJ Music Marathon in New York, performing during Taiwan Music Night at the city’s Highline Ballroom. “That was my first time taking part in an international music festival and it’s really motivated me to reach out to a global audience,” notes the artist, who now plans to release an English-language EP in the United States this year. “Without government funding for production and marketing, it’s difficult for indie artists like me to boost our career prospects.”
In recent years, numerous Taiwanese musicians and bands have gotten sponsorship from the BAMID to go on international tours or take part in festivals abroad. Indie group Matzka from Taitung County, southeastern Taiwan first received funding to tour overseas in 2010, when it performed in Latin American countries including Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay and Peru. Since then, the group has gotten financial support to appear at several music festivals, including Midem in Cannes, France in 2012, Liverpool Sound City in the United Kingdom in 2013, and Canadian Music Week in Toronto in 2014. “It’s an honor representing Taiwan at these events,” says guitarist Sakinu. “We’d never have been able to travel to so many countries without government support, and the overseas tours have provided great sources of inspiration for our music.”
Matzka is named for its lead vocalist and also consists of Sakinu and bass player Nawan. Matzka and Sakinu are Paiwan, while Nawan is from the Puyuma tribe. Formed in 2008, the band found almost instant success, grabbing the top prize that year in the aboriginal-language category at the Taiwan Original Music Awards, an annual competition organized by the BAMID in which aspiring musicians who create works in Holo, Hakka and aboriginal languages compete live against each other.
The cover of Dwagie’s third album, Refuse to Listen (Photo courtesy of Dwagie)
The group has earned praise for fusing traditional tribal music with reggae. The trio’s upbeat songs, which are also influenced by hip-hop, jazz, rock, and rhythm and blues, contain catchy, humorous lyrics in Mandarin and the Paiwan language about issues such as relationships and tribal culture.
In 2010, Matzka released its self-titled debut album, which earned the group the prize for Best Band at the 2011 Golden Melody Awards, as well as nominations at the 2011 Golden Indie Music Awards for Best Band, Best Live Performance, Best Rock Album and Best Rock Single. Its second album, 089, came out in 2012, with a portion of the production costs funded by the BAMID. The title for the record is the area code for Taitung County.
Sakinu says the recognition the band has received at the three government-organized awards shows has significantly enhanced its media exposure, helping the trio secure more opportunities to perform and spreading awareness of its distinctive sound. “We don’t want to limit our work to a certain style, but rather want to combine different genres with the tribal music we grew up listening to,” the guitarist explains. “We want to create a signature sound so audiences immediately know it’s us when they hear our songs.”
Matzka’s second album, 089, was released in 2012. (Photo courtesy of Everything But The Culture Ltd.)
Due to the growing importance of concerts in the contemporary music industry, the BAMID’s talent cultivation programs are also fostering the professional development of production engineers and technicians. Despite being only 30 years old, lighting designer Kuo has amassed a huge amount of professional experience, and has received funding from the BAMID to attend several training programs and workshops in the United States. After graduating from the Department of Drama and Theatre at National Taiwan University, Kuo was involved in lighting design projects for a number of big events in Taipei, including the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2009 Summer Deaflympics as well as concerts at the 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition and for the Republic of China’s official centennial celebration in 2011. Since late 2009, he has worked at Legacy Taipei, one of the country’s largest music venues, and has taken part in the production of more than 400 live shows.
In order to receive sponsorship from the BAMID to attend overseas workshops, industry specialists must submit grant proposals and detailed resumes listing their educational backgrounds and professional experience. The bureau convenes a screening committee once a year to review the submissions and award funding. Kuo has received grants from the bureau in each of the last three years.
In 2012, he traveled to New York to attend classes in lighting, sound and video design taught by industry experts including Jules Fisher, a renowned lighting designer who has won nine Tony Awards for his work in the field. “I’ve admired Fisher since I was a university student and was thrilled to see him in person,” he says. “Those training sessions consisting of lectures, panel discussions, trips to musicals and backstage tours were really enjoyable and informative.” In the following two years, Kuo received funding from the BAMID to visit trade shows in Las Vegas so he could attend master classes and workshops and keep abreast of the latest technological advances in the industry.
Kuo designed the lighting for the White Party event, organized by theLOOP Inc., at New Taipei City Exhibition Hall last year. (Photo courtesy of theLOOP Inc.)
Now the production manager at Legacy Taipei, Kuo is enthusiastic about sharing the knowledge and skills that he has acquired. “I’m really grateful to have gotten these grants and feel obligated to give back by helping cultivate new talent,” he notes. He plans to organize lectures and workshops at Legacy Taipei this year for audiovisual engineers and students interested in pursuing a career in event production.
The lighting designer notes that although album sales have fallen in recent years, audiences at concerts have been growing steadily, and therefore singers and bands are placing a greater emphasis on enhancing the overall quality of their live shows. “I want to help the local industry adopt the most advanced audio, lighting and video technologies,” he says. “I think this is possible as the government’s incentive programs are boosting the professional growth of many technicians and fostering the development of the music sector as a whole.”
Write to Kelly Her at kher@mofa.gov.tw