Separate rap and pop
The 32nd Golden Melody Awards ceremony was on Saturday, and Taiwanese singer Soft Lipa (杜振熙) walked away with the Best Male Mandarin Singer and Best Mandarin Album awards for his album Home Cookin’ (家常音樂), fending off strong competition from Singaporean singer J.J. Lin (林俊傑) and Taiwanese singer Wu Qing-feng (吳青峰).
Curious, I looked for Soft Lipa’s music online and discovered, to my surprise, that the award-winning album was Taiwanese rap.
Rap music is a rhythmical singing technique and music style that emerged from the US in the 1970s as part of the hip hop scene. It was originally performed by members of the African-American community on the streets, singing about their take on politics and social issues, and their place in the hierarchy. It is an entirely imported genre from a specific culture.
Strictly speaking, “Taiwanese rap” is neither “singing” nor “music,” and should not qualify for the Best Mandarin Album or Best Male Singer awards, due to the way in which the tracks are composed and performed: The way the notes are used to convey the music is very different from traditional music or conventional pop songs.
Regardless of how the music is described, the tracks on Home Cookin’ are essentially just a string of chanted words over a simple rhythmical background of beats.
Of course, art and music covers a very broad spectrum, and sometimes it is not easy to classify styles into genres, but if the Golden Melody Awards is to change due to commercial or political considerations, I feel that the organizers should create separate categories for Mandarin, Taiwanese and Hakka music, and add a “Best Rap” category, so that singers and musicians who have long devoted themselves to producing traditional or more conventional music would not be left wondering what is going on, and music fans can continue appreciating outstanding local music and songs.
English playwright William Shakespeare left behind many classic phrases, and his “all that glitters is not gold” hits the nail perfectly on the head here.
Fang Pin-sheng
Taipei
Leaders must do better
What a disappointment to read the article “DPP pans KMT for Tsai vaccine rumor” (Aug. 24, page 8) and feel that Taiwan’s political leaders have sunk to the same abysmal level of those here in the US.
Come on, people. The world — Taiwan, the US, everywhere — has enough problems with the COVID-19 pandemic. Your loyal followers, regardless of political affiliation, deserve better than this. We need reassurance that, when this horrible plague is finally over, our individual and collective worlds will once again return to “normal,” whatever that normal might be.
However, let us not forget that, as duly elected representatives of whichever side of the political aisle you champion, you are hopefully looked up to as genuine leaders and not looked down on as schoolyard bullies. Even my students behave more professionally than you. Enough is enough.
Kirk Hazlett
Tampa, Florida
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