Taiwan Today

When Chiang Hui (江蕙) released one of her first songs, "You Must Endure," in 1983, the melancholy theme not only drew on traditional Taiwanese folk songs, but also reflected the singer's own life. The words could easily be a description of Chiang's childhood, when she dropped out of school at the age of ten and began earning money for her impoverished family by singing in the winehouses of Peitou, an area near Taipei known as much for its hot-springs resorts as for its prostitutes and gangsters. She stepped into society for the sake of her future Leaving her hometown to travel the world She had no idea her fate would be so bad. However long it may last, she must endure. My dear, my dear, do you understand? Please, you must endure. Women are not without courage Swallow your tears Even though you are full of pain and sorrow No matter how sad, you must endure. Chiang not only endured her tough childhood but also went on to become one of the best-loved singers on the island, popular with older as well as younger listeners. Since she was recruited by talent scouts from Country Records in 1983, at the age of 22, she has released seventeen albums. The latest was this year's Bitter Wine Tango. In 1984 alone, she completed four albums, which helped her win the attention of the influential "Variety Show 100," a weekly TV program. When the show voted her one of the year's top-ten most popular singers, she was the only one in the group who sang in Taiwanese rather than Mandarin. From then on, she was at the forefront of an important trend that brought Taiwanese-dialect songs into the popular music market. In the media, she became known as the "Queen of Taiwanese Music." Chiang has continued to earn accolades over the years: In 1990, she was named Best Female Singer of the Golden Melody Awards, Taiwan's version of the Grammies. And her 1992 album My True Feelings Come Out After Drinking sold 900,000 copies, making it one of the top sellers of all time in Taiwan. Last year's Put Aside My Feelings was also a big hit, selling 600,000 copies. "She's undoubtedly the most popular Taiwanese singer there is," says Tevin Don (董天文), the supervisor of the Chinese music section at Tower Records, one of the island's largest record retailers. What has remained constant over Chiang's recording career is her lilting, sorrowful voice. "Chiang Hui's strong points are her ability to sing her lyrics very clearly and with emotion," says songwriter/producer Yao Chien (姚謙), who has worked with the singer on her last three albums. Yao says her voice is particularly suited to Taiwanese songs, which are traditionally more bittersweet than Mandarin tunes. Taiwanese popular music, he explains, first took shape during the Japanese occupation. It thus took on the influence of Japanese folk music, with its deep-throated, trembling voice style, as well as themes that reflected the hardship and oppression of people in Taiwan at that time. Similarly, many of Chiang's songs tell tales of unhappy marriages and broken hearts, or they relay stories about bargirls or gamblers, about people leading lives of struggle. Her song titles reflect a strong yen for the melancholy: "Uncontrollable Longing," "Fading Love," and "I Miss You in My Dreams." Like most artists of her genre, Chiang does not write her own material. She uses a mixture of songs written for her by professional songwriters and old Taiwanese songs set to a modern beat. "She's not afraid to add new elements to traditional songs," Yao says. Her singing is backed up by Western-style instruments ―guitar, bass, electric keyboards, drums, violins― as well as the erhu, a high-pitched, often mournful-sounding Chinese stringed instrument. To a Western ear, the rhythms of Chiang's music sometimes sound upbeat and bouncy, but the underlying lyrics are always sorrowful. Tevin Don says that in an industry in which most singers are "60 percent image," Chiang is more substance than style. "She's not the 'idol type,' like most singers," he says. "People become more enraptured by her music than by her image." In the past, her audience was made up mostly of people in their thirties or older, but recently she has tried to attract younger listeners as well. One way she has done this is by using songwriters who made their names working with well-known singers in the more mainstream Mandarin pop market. In addition, she has shifted away from the old-fashioned Japanese voice style that was more appreciated by older generations. Says Yao, "Young people who used to listen only to Mandarin songs are now listening to Taiwanese songs because of her."