The family of late singer-songwriter Hung Yi-feng (洪一峰), who was known as “the king of the Formosan song,” will be holding a tribute concert in Taipei on Wednesday next week, but is falling well short of the money it needs to organize the event.
The tribute is expected to cost at least NT$10 million (US$324,000), but the organizer, the Hung Yi-feng Cultural Inheritance Foundation, is still NT$6 million short after some civic groups that initially pledged financial assistance pulled out.
STARS
To pay respect to Hung, who died of pancreatic cancer in February at age 82, his family is inviting a group of A-list stars and groups, including Jay Chou (周杰倫), Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹) and Mayday (五月天), among many others, to perform at the free concert at the Taipei Area.
SHORTAGE
The foundation has only raised NT$4 million, but needs another NT$6 million to cover the cost for rent, stage, equipment, musicians and other expenses even though the performers are not charging for their appearance.
TAKING, BUT NOT GIVING
Earlier, some private enterprises and social groups had promised to support the foundation and its concert. However, most did not keep their promises. Several had already taken concert tickets in exchange for their sponsorship, but the money never materialized, organizers said.
Starting at 10am tomorrow, people interested in attending the concert can obtain two tickets by showing their ID card at the service desk of the Taipei Arena.
However, to resolve the financial difficulties, the organizer has called on fans to pre-order Lian Hua (戀花), a tribute album produced by Hung’s son, Eric (洪敬堯).
People who pre-order two copies of the new album will receive two tickets for the tribute concert. The album is scheduled to be released on Friday.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
IDENTITY SHIFT: Asked to choose to identify as either Taiwanese or Chinese, 83.3 percent of respondents chose Taiwanese, while 8.4 percent chose Chinese An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese, 71.5 percent, think that Taiwan should compete in international competitions under the name “Taiwan,” a Taiwan Brain Trust survey published yesterday showed. Referring to Taiwan’s victory last month at the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12, the survey results showed that 89.1 percent of respondents said that Taiwan’s exceptional performance in sporting competitions furthers national unity. Only 18.8 percent of respondents supported Taiwanese teams’ continued use of the name “Chinese Taipei” in international sporting competitions, the survey showed. Among Taiwan’s leading political parties, the name “Team Taiwan” was supported by 91.1 percent of self-identified Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters,
RSS