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.
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