Posts tagged ‘taiwan’
Dreaming In Fantasy: Sunset Rollercoaster at Slim’s
Indie pop fans, Sunset Rollercoaster, 2019
Taiwan’s indie music scene is alive and well and we’ve been lucky to be able to see many of its leading proponents here Stateside lately. Recently coming through San Francisco were city pop practictioners Sunset Rollercoaster and they put on an energetic show in front of a sold-out house at Slim’s. The crowd was full of cute Asian indie pop fans speaking drawly Mandarin and the vibe was definitely chill.
Opening the show was Eyedress, aka Idris Vicuña, a Pinoy from Manila by way of Arizona and California. Eyedress teamed up with a rhythm section consisting of a live bass player and a laptop supplying the beats. Ranging from murky pop tunes to more punky songs, Eyedress cranked out a short and lively set that got the crowd going.
Smooth and fluid, Sunset Rollercoaster, 2019
After a nice quick break Sunset Rollercoaster took the stage and the sextet quickly engaged their fans. The band performed both funky instrumentals and English-language songs featuring vocalist and leader Tseng Kuo-Hung, who also kept up a charming patter in English. Although they include a lot of jazzy elements in their set Sunset Rollercoaster isn’t quite manic or obsessive enough about time signatures to be to be math rock, but they do share a similar sound to their compatriots Elephant Gym, who also played Slim’s a few months back. Rather than the jagged and acrobatic time signature changes of Elephant Gym, Sunset Rollercoaster’s switches are smooth and fluid and never interfere with the danceable beats the band lays down. Drummer Lo Tsun-Lung kept a steady and relaxed beat, and saxophonist Huang Hao-Ting easily moved between tenor and soprano, lending a mellow, Kenny G feel to the proceedings. With synthesizer fills by Wang Shao-Hsuan and a bit of throwback cowbell over a bed of bass and guitar, occasionally amped up by a lively guitar solo, the band created a pleasant and agreeable sound.
Mullet and Nautica, Sunset Rollercoaster, 2019
As with the other Taiwanese indie bands I’ve seen, Sunset Rollercoaster’s fashion choices reflected their laid-back aesthetic. Their nerdwear attire included flowery baggy button-down shirts, culottes and khakis. Leader Kuo had a particularly idiosyncratic two-toned mullet and another member sported a throwback red, white, and blue Nautica jacket and white athletic shoes.
The enthusiastic crowd recognized most of the band’s tunes, swaying to the beat and at times lustily singing along. During their last song, an upbeat rendition of their single track I Know You Know I Love You, vocalist Kuo busted out the falsetto and the crowd cheered happily. After ingesting Sunset Rollercoaster’s funky, dreamy bops everyone went home smiling and content.
Whispering Waves: Hush at Bottom of the Hill and Elephant Gym at Slim’s
hush, Bottom of the Hill, 2018
Because its huge and influential neighbor China regards Taiwan as a renegade province, the island nation effectively exists in diplomatic limbo. Taiwan therefore continues to use soft power to try to gain global support in its battle to maintain its sovereignty. The uptick in interest in Taiwanese food in the US is no accident, as evidenced by the recent feature spread on eater.com as well as the incursions of Taiwanese chains such as the upscale bakery 85 degrees. Like South Korea’s successful marketing of hallyu, or the Korean Wave, the government of Taiwan is also supporting these forms of creative and culinary diplomacy as Taiwan works to maintain support around the world in the face of continued reunification pressures from its massive neighbor across the strait.
As part of this, Taiwanese indie rock is starting to be a thing outside of Taiwan. South By Southwest’s lineup has for several years included Taiwan Beats, a showcase for Taiwanese bands playing at the influential rock festival. Notably, this program is sponsored by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, a sure sign of the government’s acknowledgement of the influence of pop culture in increasing Taiwan’s profile and sway internationally. The organization Taiwanese Waves has since 2016 organized a show in Central Park’s SummerStage program featuring a selection of Taiwanese indie bands. Taiwanese Waves has also arranged tours for some of these groups, and including a couple of shows here in San Francisco, with the singer hush last fall at Bottom of the Hill and math rock darlings Elephant Gym last month at Slims.
Fey, hush, Bottom of the Hill, 2018
hush (birth name Chen Jia-wei) falls squarely into the shoegazer genre, with introspective and somewhat cerebral songs that utilize a dreamy midtempo beat. But hush’s appealingly expressive vocals elevate the his sound beyond the emo. His sweet pure high notes showcased in his upper register and his somewhat fey stage persona made for an engaging performance. Hush was ably backed up by rocking combo of guitars, bass, and drums, with a bit of synthesizer and electronic drum pads thrown into the mix, demonstrating the vitality of Taiwan’s indie rock scene.
Math rock band Elephant Gym is a very different animal than Hush (sorrynotsorry) and their vibrant show at Slim’s captured their engaging stage persona. At first listen Elephant Gym may just seem like jazz fusion (polyrhythmic, unusual time signatures, mostly instrumental) but the ferocity of their live show demonstrated the differences between the genres. Elephant Gym puts on a great show and they definitely put the rock into math rock.
e gym from valerie soe on Vimeo.
Led by bassist KT “Tif” Chang, the trio also includes Tif’s brother Tell Chang and drummer Chia-Chin Tu. The Chang siblings’ mom trained them in classical music and the band has been active since 2012 (with a brief yearlong hiatus in 2014 to allow for compulsory military service), gaining popularity in indie rock circles in Taiwan and throughout Asia. Their US debut took place in 2017 at SummerStage in New York City and their performance at Slim’s was the final show of their first US tour, which also included a stopover at this year’s Taiwan Beats showcase at South by Southwest.
Muscular, Elephant Gym, Slim’s, 2019
Throughout their set at Slim’s they kept up a charming patter in fairly serviceable English, with Tif casually swigging what may have been beer and Tell rolling his eyes at his sister’s antics. But when they got into a groove they shook the house with their bass-driven, angular rock music, surging through several fluid and muscular polyrhythmic numbers. By the end of their set they had the audience cheering for more as Tif moved front and center, flailing wildly on her bass as the band charged through their nimble and energetic closing songs.
Elephant Gym sold out all of their shows on this US tour and hopefully their success portends more indie Taiwanese bands making the trek across the Pacific. Global recognition of Asian rock music is on the upsurge and it’s great to see Taiwan sending some of their best over to the States.
Why LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN still matters: Romance, culture and soft power
Bringing it all back home, LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN
Although the iconic Taiwan Love Boat, with 1200 college-aged Taiwanese American running rampant in Taipei for six weeks every summer, doesn’t really exist any more, the program is still completely relevant in today’s cultural and political climate. Because Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s current president, has yet to agree to the “one-China” principle that claims that Taiwan is a part of the PRC, the cold war between Taiwan and China is hotting up. China is pressuring international airlines to erase the name of Taiwan from any flights to the island nation, US warships are patrolling the straits between the two countries, and more and more of Taiwan’s sparse diplomatic allies are switching support to China, the latest being El Salvador and Burkino Faso. The latter switched because of what some observers describe as “intense pressure” from China to changed alliances, leaving Taiwan with only seventeen diplomatic allies around the world.
A recent New York Times article lauded Taiwan as a new bastion of free speech in Asia, but because of the ongoing tensions with its huge and influential neighbor, Taiwan’s status as a sovereign nation is anything but secure.
The bad blood between Taiwan and China goes way back, with the main source of the conflict beginning in 1949, when the Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces fled from China to Taiwan after their defeat by the Chinese Communist army. This laid the groundwork for the ongoing strife between China and Taiwan that came to a head in 1971 when the United Nations recognized the PRC over Taiwan as the legitimate government of China. Enter the Taiwan Love Boat as one of Taiwan’s main forms of soft power, filling the void of Taiwan’s official diplomatic recognition in the UN and among most nations around the world.
Soft power, 1990s style, LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN
Soft power as defined by political scientist Joseph Nye is diplomacy through attraction and persuasion, as opposed to “hard power,” or diplomacy through coercion and strength. The Love Boat’s brand of cultural exchange, which presents a highly appealing, enticing, and sexy version of Taiwan, is in opposition to the more overt political pressure that China practices. Referring to Taiwan’s soft power push, the Brookings Institute recently stated, “Though less measurable than the number of diplomatic allies it maintains or international conferences it attends, such goodwill—or “soft power”—may prove every bit as valuable for strengthening Taiwan’s standing over the long run.”
In the late 1960s Taiwan’s government established the Expatriate Youth Language and Study Tour as an outreach program designed in part to convince Taiwanese youth in the US, Canada, and Europe to support Taiwan in its ongoing conflicts with China, and after the UN kicked Taiwan to the curb in 1971, Taiwan’s government ramped up its support for the Study Tour. Around the same time, many Taiwanese were immigrating to the US and raising families there. But parents found that their American-born kids were growing up speaking English, watching Western television, and a lot of times, marrying non-Taiwanese mates. Thus many Taiwanese immigrants sent their American-born children on the Study Tour in hopes that they would learn more about their Taiwanese heritage and perhaps meet their ideal Taiwanese American mate.
The Study Tour’s high-minded cultural aspirations included Mandarin-language classes, martial arts, and brush painting, but the program’s popularity among young Taiwanese Americans came from another source: its reputation as an excellent place to hook up and find romance. Because of this, the Study Tour is more commonly known by its nickname, the Taiwan Love Boat. LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN looks at the multifaceted aspects the program, both as a government-sponsored cultural exchange and as a rollicking summer trip famed for romantic opportunities. The Love Boat is also an example of Taiwan’s soft power at its finest.
Culture by day, party by night, LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN
LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN investigates the ways in which the Love Boat uses soft power to gain support for Taiwan. Many Love Boat alumni who were born and raised in North America were so affected by their summer sojourn on the Love Boat that they resettled in Asia. Conversely, as a result of their involvement with the Love Boat, some Taiwanese-born counselors and staff migrated to the US and live and work there today. Other participants met on the Love Boat and eventually married. And many more continue to foster deep friendships that started decades before on the Love Boat.
Justin Tan falling in love, LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN
As Love Boat alumnus Justin Tan recalls,
“While I was there, I just remember I felt a very deep connection to Taiwan. I was like, ‘What is happening to me right now? Am I falling in love with this country?’ And I was, I was absolutely like falling in love with the culture, the people. To me at that time in my life it was like the coolest country ever, the Taiwanese were the coolest people ever.”
Congresswoman Judy Chu, LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN
As a content producer for the popular website buzzfeed.com, Justin Tan has a significant platform for boosting his love for Taiwan, thus increasing Taiwan’s pull on cultural trends. Perhaps more significantly to Taiwan’s government, other Love Boat alumni have risen to political influence in the US, including Congresswoman Judy Chu, who went on the Love Boat in the 1970s. She now represents the 27th Congressional district in the US House of Representatives and is a staunch supporter of Taiwan, sitting on the Congressional Taiwan Caucus. Congresswoman Chu was interviewed for LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN and will appear in the finished film.
So although it may seem like an innocuous place for Taiwanese American kids to hook up and party, in fact the Love Boat is a much more subtle and clever tool in Taiwan’s diplomatic arsenal. Lacking the economic, political, or military sway of China, Taiwan instead has chosen to achieve influence by other means. By examining the Love Boat’s efforts to win over young, impressionable Taiwanese Americans and their families, LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN enlightens and educates viewers about this brilliant and subtle form of soft power diplomacy.
On location, LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN
LOVE BOAT: TAIWAN is about to wrap up production, with a shoot in Taiwan in late November of the wedding banquet of a couple who met on the Love Boat and are now getting married. We’re now in the thick of an indiegogo campaign to raise funds for postproduction and with luck the film will be completed in 2019. We need to raise at least $20,000 to hire an editor, sound designer, composer, computer graphics designer, and more, so please go here to join in supporting the film and to bring this important story to the screen. Any help is much appreciated!
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