At Taiwan’s premier music competition, artists went political with their tunes and lyrics.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Social actions have lengthy used music to unfold messages and rally assist. Musicians from throughout Taiwan gathered within the southern port metropolis of Kaohsiung lately to attempt to remind individuals of the precarious geopolitical state of affairs through which they discover their island. Ashish Valentine studies.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
ASHISH VALENTINE, BYLINE: Final weekend, tens of 1000’s of followers gathered to see a number of the greatest Taiwan’s music scene has to supply. The competition, which acquired some native authorities funding, took over the most important harbor in Taiwan – therefore its identify, Megaport.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
VALENTINE: Though they got here right here to blow off steam, escalating tensions between Taiwan and China have been on many followers’ and artists’ minds. Final month, Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, labeled Beijing as a, quote, “hostile international pressure.” Many bands urged followers to remain united, saying this is not the primary time Taiwan’s individuals have risked their lives for a greater future.
Taking the stage on the competition’s second day, rock band Sorry Youth stunned everybody midway by means of their set by debuting a cartoon primarily based on a narrative even a child may acknowledge. Three little pigs – Taiwanese pigs, that’s – discuss concerning the information, whereas a sure huge, dangerous wolf lurks within the background.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR #1: (As character, by means of interpreter) You guys actually assume there will be a conflict?
VALENTINE: They discuss sending their youngsters overseas earlier than the third little pig interrupts, saying they need to keep and defend their house.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR #1: (As character, by means of interpreter) However what will we do? We’re simply regular individuals. What energy do we’ve?
UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR #2: (As character, by means of interpreter) Only one peculiar particular person has no energy. However what about 10,000 peculiar individuals, 100,000, one million? So many individuals sacrificed themselves so we will stay the way in which we do now. The remaining is as much as us.
VALENTINE: The band launched right into a music known as “Justice In Time.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SORRY YOUTH SONG, “JUSTICE IN TIME”)
VALENTINE: It pays tribute to generations of activists who resisted 4 many years of dictatorship, which solely led to 1987, and guarantees that future generations will hold their hard-won democracy protected. They weren’t the one artists who nervous a few potential Chinese language invasion. Hip-hop artist Yang Shu-ya’s single “2045” wonders what struggling for democracy would imply in Taiwan if every part burns to ashes.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “2045”)
YANG SHU-YA: (Rapping in non-English language).
VALENTINE: She imagines Taiwan as a conflict zone underneath Chinese language occupation, fundamental freedoms gone. Not everybody enjoying at Megaport was so ahead, although. Yang says it is a results of bigger tensions within the music scene.
YANG: (By means of interpreter) So many artists from Taiwan resolve they should go to China to develop their careers.
VALENTINE: The end result, she says, is simply a handful dare to talk up overtly. However Yang says she has no real interest in going to China or enjoying by their guidelines.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
YANG: (By means of interpreter) There’s by no means been a separation between music and politics. Music is political.
VALENTINE: For most of the artists and followers at Megaport, they’re going to use the competition to have a good time and protest for so long as they will.
For NPR Information, that is Ashish Valentine in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content might not be in its ultimate kind and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability might differ. The authoritative report of NPR’s programming is the audio report.
