Good Taiwanese Music

[haokaiyang]

Hey, I'm new here, so I guess I should say hello first. So, hello. I've lived in Taiwan for over five years, but this is my first time on Forumosa.

I'm hoping to get in touch with some fellow fans of Taiwanese music. My favorite is Wu Bai--his concert in October rocked--but I also like Zhang Zhenyue (張震嶽), Lu Guangzhong (盧廣仲), Kimbo/Hu Defu (胡德夫) the Puyuma aborigine, and Dai Peini (戴佩妮), who's actually Malaysian but I love her anyway. I've got about six Wu Bai albums, but I still don't have all his songs--in fact, I'm missing a few of my favorites, like Suanle Ba (算了吧) and Duanle (斷了). I found a post on here from a couple years ago with an English translation of Air Raid Siren (空襲警報), and I want to echo that it's an awesome song--I liked it so much that I learned to sing it in Taiwanese. By the way, going to KTV with Taiwanese friends is one of my favorite things to do here, but I've only met one foreigner ever who actually knew a lot of Taiwanese songs. There have to be more of you out there.

I'm also wondering how you guys buy Taiwanese music. I don't like to violate copyright, so most of my music is from albums I bought in record stores here, but I'd really like to be able to buy individual songs online. I've tried to subscribe to kkbox, but their Chinese-language software turns into gobbledygook (亂碼) when I install it on my computer (I use an American version of Vista). Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Mindy.]

Unfortunately I'm not in Taiwan, but I enjoy a lot of Taiwanese music. Sodagreen (蘇打綠) is quite good, I think... one of my favorites. They play folky pop rock.

Oh oh oh oh...... - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZHjYkx7RoE
飛魚 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIKxJeaT5Ak
他夏了夏天 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7KpTmxZJLE
小宇宙 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HiN1CjaAGA

[djkonstable]

hey can you post some links or some youtube for the taiwanese bands you like?

[haokaiyang]

Hey Mindy, thanks for the links to the Sodagreen videos! I have a few of their songs (小情歌、頻率、這天、小情歌) on my computer already, but none of the ones you linked to. Their videos and lyrics are really cool--they have a style all their own. I especially liked the fourth song, 小宇宙.

djkonstable: Absolutely. Here are the KTV videos for some of my favorites:
冷水澡 (Cold Shower) by 黃立行 (Stanley Huang): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPOLebYeNRs
純真年代 (Age of Innocence) by 伍佰 (Wu Bai): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFVSNlCpklI
空襲警報 (Air Raid Siren) by Wu Bai (in Taiwanese): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq_J7yucleE
黑色吉他 (Black Guitar) by 蕭煌奇 (Xiao Huangqi, in Taiwanese): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrC_6-H830Y
自由 (Free) by 張震嶽 (Zhang Zhenyue): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZk2RK-Agrc
返去故鄉 (Going Home) by Wu Bai (in Taiwanese): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA-IGUF5V6A
愛瘋了 (Mad Love) by 戴佩妮 (Penny Tai): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrHzQrknNnw
好想要揮霍 (Longing to Do Something Extravagant) by 盧廣仲 (Lu Guangzhong): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpeDQyUh9pc

And, for good measure, an aboriginal song not available at KTV:
Beautiful Rice Sprouts, sung by Kimbo (胡德夫, in Puyuma): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_vaMgHDVfI

There are a whole bunch of other songs I love, but this should suffice for now.

[mahkie]

A tight website for TW gigs is http://gigguide.tw/

Also, a great overview of good Chinese/TWese music is here at this thread on another board:
ni hao!! it's the china/taiwan music effortthread la^^

[Philosopher]

Considering you enjoy Penny Tai, I would suggest Abin Fang (方炯鑌), who Penny endorses (their music is somewhat similar as well, at least imo).

[GRC22]

And, for good measure, an aboriginal song not available at KTV:
Beautiful Rice Sprouts, sung by Kimbo (胡德夫, in Puyuma): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_vaMgHDVfI

I saw Kimbo play live. Feel that his style of singing and playing the piano is very similar to Elton John (or vice versa). Your thoughts?

Keep adding to the list. You inspired me to buy my first Taiwanese artist CD. (been 5 years since a last bought a CD)

Would also like to buy single songs.

[catfish13]

The song "看得最遠的地方" by 張韶涵 didn't sound too bad after you got over the initial annoyance of having it come on the radio at random places every five minutes.

http://tw.music.yahoo.com/hot/album/son ... D57ED570P4

[candro]

Maybe some of you can help me. I'm wanting to get a friend of mine a CD of aboringal or Taiwanese folk music. Something really traditional sounding and not cheesy (but still beautiful), if possible. Can anyone recommend anything? And where would I buy such a CD?

[haokaiyang]

Sorry, I didn't check this thread again until late last night.

Philosopher: I just listened to 壞人 and 暗示, but they were a little soft for my tastes. Does 方炯鑌 have any rock songs? I'm inclined to be skeptical of the tastes of the artists I like, considering that 張震嶽 likes 方大同 (Khalil Fong) but I saw his concert at Simple Life last year and didn't like it at all. And speaking of odd combinations, at his last concert, Wu Bai sang a song he wrote for 王心凌 (Cyndi Wang), of all people. Now that's weird.

GRC22: I'm envious that you got to see Kimbo play live! I would love to see him perform. But I've never thought about whether he's similar to Elton John--I guess maybe they do play the piano in the same 隨興 sort of way, but it seems like Kimbo has a deeper, more resonant voice than baritone Elton. Also, it's hard to separate them from their respective cultural contexts, which are very different. By the way, what album did you buy? I'm really curious.

catfish13: Agreed. It's so catchy! I've only listened to it once, but the chorus is already stuck in my head.

candro: If you were in Taiwan, I'd tell you to go to a record store and ask for recommendations, but since you're not, I'm not sure what to tell you. Kimbo is the only aboriginal singer I know. His album, "In a Flash" (匆匆), is very much worth buying, but besides one song in Puyuma, one in Taiwanese and one in English, all the songs are in Mandarin, although the style still feels very aboriginal. I particularly like "Pacific Wind" (太平洋的風), "Flying Fish, Clouded Leopard, Taipei Basin" (飛魚 雲豹 台北盆地), and "Why?" (為什麼). Also, the liner notes have pictures, background info and English translations of all the songs. If you google the album online, I assume you'll be able to find a way to buy it.

Here are a few more song links. The theme for today is songs Wu Bai wrote for other singers and then "recycled" (利賽可, he calls it) for himself at concerts.
我不是天使 (I'm No Angel), sung by 那英 (Na Ying): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50bgS6e-1t0
And the Wu Bai version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXTzC15prS8 (I love the guitar riff!)
如果這都不算愛 (If None of This Counts as Love), sung by 張學友 (Jacky Cheung): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWO82hVkJiE
And the Wu Bai version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d7VpEkBf1c
世界第一等 (Number One in the World, in Taiwanese), sung by 劉德華 (Andy Lau): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpg4QoFR1OY (Hilarious video!)
And the Wu Bai version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_OVDrnurcc

I'll leave you to figure out for yourselves which song he wrote for 王心凌. (I don't particularly like it.)