Music stars gathered in Taipei yesterday to honor the industry’s top acts at the 20th Golden Melody Awards (金曲獎) ceremony.
Billed as the most important award in the Chinese-language music world — with entrants from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and elsewhere — the awards recognize achievements in 23 categories, including popular, traditional, classical, religious and Aboriginal music.
Taiwanese singer Crowd Lu (盧廣仲) was a double-winner, walking home with the Best Composer and the Best New Artist awards for his album 100 Ways of Life (一百種生活).
PHOTO: REUTERS
After winning the coveted Best Band category, A-hsin (阿信), lead singer of the Taiwanese pop band Mayday (五月天), said that “being beaten out repeatedly is the best practice for winning.”
The panel of judges, drawn from all fields in the music business, chose Weng Li-yong for (翁立友) the Best Taiwanese Male Singer award over veteran singers Shih Wen-bin (施文彬) and Chen Lei (陳雷). Huang Yi-ling (黃乙玲) won the best Taiwanese Female Singer.
Wu Yu-hsuan (巫宇軒) won the Best Lyrics award for the Taiwanese song Jia Ni Lan Lao Lao (甲你攬牢牢), while Judy Chiang’s (江蕙) album of the same name won the Best Taiwanese Album award.
The Nanwan Sisters (南王姐妹花), a trio of Puyuma (卑南) singers from Taitung, took top honors in both the Best Aboriginal Album and Best Music Group categories for their eponymous album.
Atayal singer Inka Mbing’s album Gaga won her the Best Aboriginal Singer award.
Hakka singer Liu Shao-hsi (劉劭希), who has picked up three Golden Melody Awards in past years, won this year’s Best Hakka Singer category.
The Best Hakka Album went to Rice & Love (愛吃飯), which included musical elements from folk, bossa nova, mountain songs of Hakka people and traditional songs of the Amis tribe to present the beauty of a simple life and a love of the land.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AP
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two