Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) yesterday announced a concert, titled “Formosan Baseball Saga” (台灣棒球 音樂詩篇), scheduled for Oct. 14 at the National Concert Hall which journeys through the history of baseball in Taiwan.
The concert is being organized in partnership with the Octangle Male Choir, CPBL told a news conference.
The league said music is deeply rooted in the history of Taiwanese baseball since it first became the nation’s pastime.
Photo: CNA
CPBL added that in each baseball fan there exists at least one quintessential song that defines a generation.
With people associating certain moments in Taiwan’s baseball history with specific tunes, music eventually became a staple in the sport, going as far as to develop special songs for certain players and unique numbers to provoke opponents.
The upcoming musical feast seeks to put as many of these tunes together as possible to present a never-before-seen musical performance, the CPBL said.
The choir’s head, Cheng Mu-chun (鄭睦群), said that he is also a baseball fan and played the sport at amateur level.
As such, this collaboration with the CPBL is a dream come true, Cheng said, adding that an indication from league commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) that he was interested in making the musical performance a reality was very meaningful.
Cheng said the first act pays tribute to the sport’s history in Taiwan, for example with the school song of Taiwan’s Kano baseball team, the first team from Taiwan to make it to the championship game of Japan’s prestigious Koshien high school baseball tournament during the Japanese colonial era.
Another example is Chen 52 (曾經瘋狂), a song written by Taiwan rock band Fire EX. (滅火器) to commemorate the retirement of Taiwan’s legendary indigenous batter Chen Chin-feng (陳金鋒).
The second act of the performance focuses on baseball’s domestic and international presence, with the choir performing baseball tunes from the US and Japan before singing the songs of all six of Taiwan’s current professional teams.
A celebrity sportsman invited to the news conference was Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) of the CTBC Brothers, who is to retire at the end of the year.
Chou told the presser that the baseball-related song that is most significant for him is Set Out Again (再出發) by Taiwanese singer Richie Jen (任賢齊) and Malaysian singer Aniu (阿牛), since Chou himself is one of the many baseball players featured in the song’s music video.
Chou also said that the power of music can be very effective, noting that he often used it to hype himself up but also calm his nerves before and during important games such as the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
According to the CPBL, tickets to the concert are to go on sale on Friday at 12pm over ticketing Web site Opentix and purchases made before Sept. 14 would enjoy an early-bird discount.
SCENARIOS: A potential conflict with Beijing would not be similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China would target energy and food supplies, a researcher said China is likely to continue using economic and cyberoperations against Taiwan to force it to capitulate without resorting to a military attack, Fox News reported yesterday, citing the outcome of a tabletop exercise. Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) earlier this month held a tabletop exercise in Taipei focusing on Beijing’s use of economic and cybercoercion against Taiwan. The FDD mentioned an “anaconda strategy,” in which Beijing would likely use cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns followed by a blockade or other measures to strangulate Taiwan, rather than attempting an invasion, the report said. A large-scale cyberattack would be
China sent 50 military planes and vessels to the vicinity of Taiwan in the 24 hours starting at 6am on Friday, while President William Lai (賴清德) was visiting Kinmen for the first time since taking office in May to mark the 66th anniversary of the 823 Artillery Bombardment. Flight paths released yesterday by the Ministry of National Defense showed that 38 military aircraft were detected in Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the highest number recorded in recent weeks. The figure included 32 that crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or its extension. Of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft
Former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley yesterday called for more international backing for Taiwan and a coordinated pushback against China’s claims over the nation. “The United States should elevate Taiwan on the world stage. You should no longer be silenced in global affairs,” Haley told an audience at the Ketagalan Forum, a Taipei conference focused on security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. She called for Taiwan to become a full member of the UN, even though it is being blocked by China from representation in international bodies. While the US does not formally recognize Taiwan, it is the nation's strongest
Kanye West on Wednesday announced the cancelation of the Taiwan part of the “Vultures Listening Experience” event, but said that the cancelation had nothing to do with him or his team. The US rapper, also known as Ye, was to hold the event with musical partner Ty Dolla $ign on Sunday at the Taoyuan City Stadium. The rapper had previously said he wished to travel to the event with his wife and eldest daughter. Ticketing Web sites had posted special notices about the event, calling it “a listening and fashion party,” not a "regular concert.” As of press time, no other information was known