Introduction: There’s little, if not none, doubt that culture is the foundation of the identity of any ethnic group. The meaning of the word “culture”, when concerning identity issues, actually includes many elements. For example, language is definitely a very important element of culture. Then there’s food & drink, philosophy towards life…etc. There’s also a very obvious, or audible, element is music.
Especially for we Formosans, the progress of the evolution & development of local popular music style is somehow synchronized with the development and changes of local society and culture. And certainly, with the changes in our culture comes the changes in our identity. That suggests the progress of the construction of our identity may be observed by looking at the changes of what kind of music people on this island listen to.
Yet, we must remember that the idea of “we” was and still is under construction. So we can keep a fairly open mind while examining the facts, the changes in our music, culture and ultimately our identity. Now, if we want to discuss such question, the question about the construction of our own identity, we must first recognize one very important fact. That is we Formosans are a relatively new “group of people” (should we call ourselves as a race?), we can still see the scars of those changes in our society and of course our culture very clearly in modern history. In the past 100 years, we had been strongly influenced by at least two different cultures. First was the Japanese colonization, then, especially in recent years, the invasion of American & Western culture that comes with the unstoppable train of so called Globalization. In these two cases, we can see what happened when this young and still developing culture of ours meets the challenge of such fully grown and dominating cultures - they, the American and Japanese culture steam rolled over our culture, reshaped it and left some permanent marks in our identity.
“Our” Music - Taiwanese Music & Japanese Colonization: Before we start to examine the “permanent marks”, we must try to reach back into the past as far as we can. So the first stop for the epic journey of tracing the path of the foot step of Taiwanese music is to take a look at some natural folksongs.
By definition, natural folksongs, like natural folklores, cannot be trace back to one single composer or author. Natural folksongs were sung and passed down by people through one generation to another. One perfect example is “思想起”.
“思想起” is actually only a rhythm and the first few words in each stanza of it’s lyric. As long as the singer follows the rhythm and starts every stanza of the lyric with “思想起” (remember, to recall), the singer can claim that he or she is singing the song. One of the many different versions of the song goes like this: “思想起 祖先艱心過臺灣 不知臺灣生做啥款 思想起 海水絕深反成烏 在海山浮漂心艱苦 思想起 烏水要過幾層 心該定 遇到颱風攪大湧 有的抬頭看天頂 有的心想那神明.” This version of lyric is dealing with some historical materials. Another more relaxing, down to the earth version that deals with everyday life of the people goes like this: “思想起, 山頂傳來唱歌聲, 予君聽到真驚訝一聲兩聲叫阿兄, 害君牽牛呵未行. 思想起, 上山揀柴娘歹命, 不知阿君彼山行, 舉頭來看沒君影, 滿山牛母叫子聲” (胡紅波). Other examples of typical natural folksongs that are still popular nowadays is “天黑黑” and “一隻鳥仔哮啾啾”.
The common themes in these songs are the ancient Chinese style melodies and the free yet very grassroot lyrics. These characteristics provide very bright, colorful and obvious contrast when being compared with the songs that were composed by the music workers during Japanese colonization.
When we are talking about Taiwanese music of that time, we must not fail to mention 鄧雨賢 and his works. He was born and raised in Taiwan in the very early 20th century. So he was born as Japanese and had Japanese education. We know that Imperialism and Colonialism are all about remodeling and reshaping an area and its native people into a certain shape that they could be used as a market and provide service to the dominating empire or country. In most of the cases we can see the colonized people and their cultures are being hammered into the similar size and shape of their rulers. That happened to Taiwan in 1895~1945 as well. 鄧雨賢 and his works reflected such phenomenon.
If we just try to play several of his most popular works, such as “雨夜花” and “望春風”, then think about the natural folksongs mentioned early we can immediately find that they are very much different. Furthermore, we can try to recall some of the famous Japanese songs of that time. For example, songs like “何日君再來” and “夜來香”, which sang by the legendary Japanese singer 李香蘭. We shall have no trouble to determine that 鄧雨賢 and his works were strikingly similar to the popular Japanese songs of that time. Yet both “雨夜花” and “望春風” are being considered as classic Taiwanese songs. That is the Japanese element in our music. That was the permanent mark the Japanese left behind after they tried to reshape our culture.
Pop Culture - Westernized Music: Then, in 1945, with the end of World War II, the Japanese left Taiwan. And the Japanese hand this island to the government of the Republic of China. Japanese Empire was no longer the ruler of this island. Yet their culture, their influence, the permanent mark they left behind will be there forever. The Japanese culture still is a dominating and overwhelming force, and it still influence’s Taiwan’s music industry. But this will be discussed later. Now, it’s Chinese’s turn to manipulate the culture of this island.
After the WWII, especially after 1949, the entertainment business in China had profound influence to the local music market. When the ROC government fled to Taiwan, some parts of the entertainment & cultural industry move to Taiwan as well. Movie, music, and other cultural industry and workers pour into this tiny island. With them, came the westernized, Shanghai style of music.
Much of the so called Shanghai style of music was founded in the early 20th century. In that period of time, Shanghai shared the fate of Taiwan, as a colony of different countries and it’s culture was greatly influence by those foreign cultures. The one obvious difference was Shanghai and it’s culture was directly exposed to the Western culture. If we take a look at songs sang by 白光, we should be able to pick up the elements of Western music with in most of her songs.
A very large part of Shanghai’s entertainment business in the early 20th century was about high class night clubs. Lots of 白光’s greatest hits were based on Western dance music that fit the overall theme and mood of such night clubs. Take her “魂縈舊夢” as an example, even the most numb and dull person can listen to that song, and quickly relate the rhythm and the beat within the song with Tango.
So, that’s the kind of music that being introduced to Taiwan in the 1950’s, music from a former playground of old empires. The significance of such event was the music industry in Shanghai brought in the music that was influenced by the western world to Taiwan. And it’s a great opportunity for us to observe, to see how dominating cultures change the faces of local cultures. The colonists and their empires not only rule their colonies through the guns and canons they brought with them. The most important thing about colonization is to instill the culture and value to the locals. We see that Shanghai and Taiwan were both colonized by dominating countries and their cultures. So, the music styles of Shanghai and Taiwan in the early 20th century reflected the influence of their colonizers. And when the cultural industry of Shanghai poured into Taiwan, it overwhelmed the local cultural industry as well. As mentioned before, this was the process of the construction of a very young culture. Our identity, the identity of we Taiwanese was again being reshaped and perm pressed by dominating culture.
So, that’s what happened to our music in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The western music, instead of Japanese music, was dominating this land. The next notable event was the campus folksong movement and the Movement of the Renaissance of Chinese Culture in the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Whenever we talk about the development of local culture after WWII, we must not ignore the influence of the enforcement of Martial Law and the era of White Terror. The music industry in Taiwan would have received more new ingredients from the western world and their music. And it had been proved that the locals can accept Shanghai style of westernized music. But the political restrain and manipulation limited such development. Throughout the 70’s and 80’s, when the American and European societies were smoking weed and chanting slogans such as Make Love Not War while listen to Hippie songs, we the Taiwanese were “motivated” by our government to rebuild our traditional Chinese values.
That was why when the western world was indulging in the rock music and hippie songs, our music style were still free from such influences. It was almost like trying to have a confession while the neighbors are throwing an orgy party. During this period of time, songs such as “讓我們看雲去” were dominating the music market.
Although those songs and music can be described as a part of the overall scheme of the government that was trying to reshape our culture, just like our old colonial masters did to us, they still had very positive meanings. It was the first time that we, thought led by a non-democratically elected government, were trying to find out who we are and what we are. In the same time within the cultural industry and the circles of cultural workers, we, for the first time, were having an intense debate on the definition of local culture (本土文學論戰). Famous poets such as 余光中 were all involved. The campus folksong movement and it’s products were also part of the debate.
Then suddenly the restrictions imposed by the enforcement of Martial Law were snapped by the end of 1980’s. Almost immediately the music industry and the public’s music preference went back to it’s normal, natural track and opened it’s arms to the western and even Japanese music. Rhythms and melodies of western pop music now dominated the products of the local music industry. And simultaneously Japanese style of music can be found in local music market again. Songs by中島美雪 (Nakajima Miyuki) and 美空雲雀 (Misora Hibari) were often being directly translate into local languages and sang by local singers. But the most worth-mentioning event in the recent years is the influence of Rap music to local music style.
Rap music was the music style created by the African Americans that rose in the early 1990s’. In it’s early days it remained a highly ethnical music that only sang and appreciated by African Americans. And the early attempt of introducing Rap music, by a small group of local music workers led by 豬頭皮 and 羅百吉, to Taiwan was a failure. But when Rap music became popular and started to make its way into the mainstream American music market and industry, everything just changed. Once the Rap music was accepted by the general American public, it spread in the speed of sound with the help of the trend of Globalization. The expansion, merging and acquisition of globalized American entertainment corporations became perfect vehicles for the seeds of Rap music to thrive in almost every corner of the world. Now we can hear Justin Timberlake rapping, and Jay Chou (周杰倫) rapping.
The success of Rap music represents the rise of multiculturalism and the merging and reshaping of different cultures around the world. We can say that Globalization destroys native cultures but it also brings new elements to our culture. Such success should be a very inspiring surprise to us, because it proved that a minor ethnic group can still has it’s own voice. 2Pac and Little Biggie could never imagine how popular Rap music has become. Yeah, they might not quite enjoy Justin Timberlake and his white boy rap technique.
The Construction of a New Identity: So, now we can find all sorts of music in our music market now. The Japanese elements in our music are very much alive. Songs like “人生” by 黃妃 and other famous songs by local superstar 江蕙 are still using Japanese rhythms and melodies. Jay Chou (周杰倫) and Jolin Tsai (蔡依琳) are rapping. Even the music style of traditional Chinese opera can be seen in newly produced popular songs. “霍元甲” by Jay Chou (周杰倫) serves as a great example. We can hear Jay rapping with the background music similar to that of the Chinese operas. And the old Taiwanese folksongs are being used in the making of new songs as well, just listen to 孫燕姿 (Sun, Yan-Tzu) and David Tao’s (陶喆) interpretation on “天黑黑” and “雨夜花”.
What does this mean? What does such mixed and complex preference of music tells us? In a way it demonstrates the fact that we are still a work in progress. Our identity and our culture are still being carved and modified. We are just like the Americans in the 18th and 19th century. Our culture and identity has not yet being firmly established. That’s why our identity, the idea of “we” are still open to modifications. Like Emerson described in his “American Scholar”, we must not panic in this kind of situation.
Yes, there are possible controversies even when we simply call ourselves Taiwanese. And we are challenged by the dominating cultures brought forth by the trading wind of almighty Globalization. But there’s nothing to be afraid of; we had been through this before. We lived through Japanese colonization; we lived though the chaos after WWII and the Martial Law. We will live through this and adding new elements to our culture every step we take and gradually find who we are and what we are. There’s event an pre-existing model for us to follow, just look at the rise of the United States and American culture and the teachings within Emerson’s “American Scholar”, and look at how the songs of those black American ghetto boys conquering the world. Just like 2Pac said, “Wars come and go, but my soldier stay eternal”, one day we will find our values and identity, after we battled through the storms. That’s why we incorporate so called mother language education into our education system. That’s why we must not afraid of challenges from different cultures, no matter it comes from the phantoms of our own past or modern outside world. We must confront with them, with open arms and positive attitudes.
And one day, when it’s all over, we will be able to say “Yes, we are Formosans, the sons and daughters of aboriginal tribesmen, pirates, peasants, soldiers of defeated army and Dutch/Spanish/Japanese colonists. Here we are, singing our songs, songs of our culture. Our voice may not be loud but it’s steady and clear. And Yes, we are Formosans.”
Acknowledgments
I tried my best to make this paper a serious research paper but I can’t. It’s well beyond my ability to discuss the issues of our identity academically.
Professor 胡紅波 of the Chinese Department, National Cheng Kung University provided some very important point of view about natural folksongs.
Works Cited
胡紅波. 由民間文學觀點看《思想起》的演化. http://ws.twl.ncku.edu.tw/hak-chia/o/ou-hong-pho/su-siong-ki.htm. June 1995.
