Reggae in Taipei takes a break from the sound system and goes live with promoter Islandjam’s mini-festival of bands playing roots, rock steady, ska and dancehall tomorrow night at The Wall (這牆).
The event features seven bands, including headliners Miffer and Carib Rocks of Japan and up-and-coming local acts such as ska and rock steady band Skaraoke, expat roots group High Tide and vocalist Junior Alfa, an expat from Guinea.
Tomorrow’s show will be one of the biggest live reggae events ever held in Taipei, says DJ Taili, one of Islandjam’s organizers and a member of the Jamaican sound system Black Reign International Sound.
With Islandjam, Taili says he wants to bring more visibility to Taiwan’s small but growing reggae scene and to “take it out of the underground.”
His strategy for the event is to give exposure to newer local artists like singers Sunny Smalls and Ice, and to present experienced, professional musicians that “put on a good show.” For such performers, Taili and Islandjam looked to Japan, which has an active scene and where reggae is huge industry.
Taili says he’s confident that Miffer, a popular reggae singer in Japan, will inspire audiences. She sings most of her songs in Japanese and a variety of styles, from roots to the electronic-laced sounds of dancehall. Her impressive vocal range and tight, polished sound can be sampled on her MySpace page.
Miffer will be backed by Tokyo-based band Carib Rocks, which plays rock steady — a classic reggae style originally marked by vocal harmonies — among other versions of the genre.
Carib Rocks writes and performs their own songs, which comprise half of their live sets, says bassist and singer Tori Takashi. The band has some novel cover tunes in its repertoire, including a reggae-techno version of French composer Erik Satie’s Gymnopedies No. 1 and the Beatles’ Tomorrow Never Knows.
Even though live music is the focus tomorrow, selectors from Black Reign International will spin tunes between band sets. Joining them will be Japanese DJs Yahman and Big H, who are credited with helping popularize reggae in Japan in the 1970s, according to Taili.
Dec. 16 to Dec. 22 Growing up in the 1930s, Huang Lin Yu-feng (黃林玉鳳) often used the “fragrance machine” at Ximen Market (西門市場) so that she could go shopping while smelling nice. The contraption, about the size of a photo booth, sprayed perfume for a coin or two and was one of the trendy bazaar’s cutting-edge features. Known today as the Red House (西門紅樓), the market also boasted the coldest fridges, and offered delivery service late into the night during peak summer hours. The most fashionable goods from Japan, Europe and the US were found here, and it buzzed with activity
During the Japanese colonial era, remote mountain villages were almost exclusively populated by indigenous residents. Deep in the mountains of Chiayi County, however, was a settlement of Hakka families who braved the harsh living conditions and relative isolation to eke out a living processing camphor. As the industry declined, the village’s homes and offices were abandoned one by one, leaving us with a glimpse of a lifestyle that no longer exists. Even today, it takes between four and six hours to walk in to Baisyue Village (白雪村), and the village is so far up in the Chiayi mountains that it’s actually
These days, CJ Chen (陳崇仁) can be found driving a taxi in and around Hualien. As a way to earn a living, it’s not his first choice. He’d rather be taking tourists to the region’s attractions, but after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the region on April 3, demand for driver-guides collapsed. In the eight months since the quake, the number of overseas tourists visiting Hualien has declined by “at least 90 percent, because most of them come for Taroko Gorge, not for the east coast or the East Longitudinal Valley,” he says. Chen estimates the drop in domestic sightseers after the
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo, speaking at the Reagan Defense Forum last week, said the US is confident it can defeat the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the Pacific, though its advantage is shrinking. Paparo warned that the PRC might launch a “war of necessity” even if it thinks it could not win, a wise observation. As I write, the PRC is carrying out naval and air exercises off its coast that are aimed at Taiwan and other nations threatened by PRC expansionism. A local defense official said that China’s military activity on Monday formed two “walls” east
RSS