youth and political music in taiwan: resignifying the ... · keywords: taiwan, popular music,...

Cross-Currents33|166

YouthandPoliticalMusicinTaiwan:ResignifyingtheNationatInlandRockandTshingsanFest

GraemeRead,AustralianNationalUniversityRead,Graeme.2019.“YouthandPoliticalMusicinTaiwan:ResignifyingtheNationatInlandRockandTshingsanFest.”Cross-Currents:EastAsianHistoryandCultureReview33:166–184.https://cross-currents.berkeley.edu/e-journal/issue-33/read. Abstract

Thisarticleusesmusicalevents inTaiwantoexaminethechangingcontestationofTaiwanese politics. It shows how youth activists remake political practices byconnectingpeople toconstructionsof localculture throughmusicalperformances.Whereas civil society and youth participation in Taiwan’s elections have attractedincreased scholarly attention, this article focuses on politically charged activitiesoutside election campaigns. The article sources politics in musical practices,highlighting localized reproductions of global genres of popular music and itssignificance for Taiwanese youth activism. Drawing on historical analyses of thedevelopment of Taiwanese music throughout the twentieth century as localizingglobal influences in the production of indigenized music, the author argues thatmusic has been more than just a communicative medium for contestingestablishmentpolitics,becauseactivistsuseittoresignifysocioculturalsymbolsandpracticesinproductionsofTaiwaneseidentity.Theauthorexaminestwo2016musicfestivals,InlandRockandTshingsanFest,toanalyzeactiveconstructionsofidentityandpoliticalactionthroughaframeworkofmusicaspolitics.Itdemonstrateshow,byappropriatingspaceandsymbolsofNantouCountyandMongadistrict fornewcultural festivities, activists reterritorialized physical and conceptual terrain toreconnectpeopletoindigenizedconstructionsofTaiwaneseidentities.

Keywords:Taiwan,popularmusic,politics,youth,identity,activism,musicfestival,resignification,indigeneity

IntroductionScholarswritingaboutthepoliticsofTaiwanhavetendedtofocusonrelationsandelectoral trends across the Taiwan Strait. The 2000, 2008, and 2016 elections ofDemocratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Kuomintang (KMT) governments werelauded as milestones in Taiwan’s successful democratization, confirming thetransitionawayfromauthoritarianruleandreinforcinganideologicalcontrasttothePeople’sRepublicofChina(PRC).In2014,theSunflowerStudentmovementandtheelection of independent candidate KoWen-je柯文哲 as themayor of Taipei alsocaptured headlines, with observers citing evidence indicative of a major turningpointinTaiwan’spolitics.InthisnewdemocraticTaiwan,theKMTcanloselong-held“ironblueticket”parliamentaryseatsalongwithalegislativemajority,andactivists

YouthandPoliticalMusicinTaiwan


are allowed to register parties advocating radical unification and independencepositions.Accordingtomanypundits, thecrestof this recent transformativewavewas youth engagement. Youth power (nianqing liliang 年輕力量) occupiedparliament andwonmedia attention, forcing the Legislative Yuan to suspend theCross-StraitServiceTradeAgreement.In2016,youthpowerfurtherswepttheDPPinto executive and legislative power for the first time, with Tsai Ing-wen as itspresident.

One of themore obviousmanifestations of Taiwan’s youth power in politicswastheemergenceofthethirdforceinthe2016elections.Thelabelreferredtoaloose coalition ofminor parties and independent candidates not officially alignedwith the DPP or KMT in contesting the legislature. These groups supposedlyindicatedabreak fromestablishedKMTandDPP-dominated “blue-greenpolitics,”representingyouthdisaffectedbytraditionalpoliticsbutstillpoliticallyengaged.Ofthese parties, only the New Power Party (Shidai liliang時代力量, hereafter NPP)successfully contested the election, winning five seats. The NPP consistentlycapturedmedia spotlights as the proclaimed representatives of youth power andthe party promoted their activist roots, explicitly linking their formation to theSunflower movement and other social movements. This article develops ourunderstanding of this aspect of Taiwan’s changing sociopolitical landscape byfocusing on music and politics as practiced after NPP and DPP electoral success.MusichasbeenanintegralelementofelectoralmobilizationforboththeKMTandDPP, deployed variously as campaign songs, television advertisements, rallyperformances,andsoon.Althoughthetwo2016musicalfestivalsdiscussedinthisarticle were neither campaign performances nor official party events, theyneverthelessheldsignificanceforboththeNPPanditscoredemographic,aswellasforscholarsofactivistcultureinTaiwan.

Inthisarticle,Iarguethatmusicwasmorethanjustacommunicativemediumfor contesting establishment politics, because activists strove to resignifysocioculturalsymbolsandpracticesinproductionsofauthenticTaiwaneseidentities.Iexaminetwomusicalevents—InlandRock(Neidiyaogun內地搖滾)andTshingsanFest (Qingshan ji青山祭)—as case studies of music as politics, wherein politicalpracticewasreformedbeyondelectoralpartypolitics.Politicalpracticeshereweredynamic, participatory processes enacted through semi-structured festivals.Although these festivalswerenot counterculturalutopian fairsperformingexplicitideals, they retainedcarnivalesqueaspects.Thesewere spaces inwhichorganizedinterests cooperated to break down barriers segregating politics from everydayexperiences, thereby remaking the sociocultural as political. Activists intended toinvert the Republic of China (ROC) hegemonic order and, through localization,reconnectyouthstotraditionalyetcosmopolitanTaiwaneseculture.Thesefestivalswere thereforemore than justmusical or political occasions, and eachwasmorethan justasavehicle for theother.Rather, the festivals themselveswerepoliticalexpressions reflexively producing readings of history and society asmusic, sound,andorganizationofpeoples.

NationalidentityisacommontopicofdiscussiononthepoliticsofTaiwan.The“long shadow of Taiwan’s one-party legacy” (Mattlin 2011) still looms overdemocraticTaiwan,emerging inobservancesof the228Massacreof February28,

GraemeRead


1947, divisive debates on transitional justice, and contested reviews of historycurricula.Nationalidentityisessentiallypresentedasaconvenientmetricbywhichtomeasurethepulseofpoliticsandpredictthedirectionofsociety:themoreyouthsidentify as “Taiwanese” instead of “Chinese,” the more supportive they are ofindependenceinsteadofunification,themore“green”theyouthvote(Ihara2017).At a more critical reading, mobilization of national identity delimits a positivistinterpretation of identity and categorical “Taiwanese-ness” often justified withquantitative data. Identities—whether cast as national, Taiwanese, Chinese, orotherwise—are,ofcourse,morecomplexanddynamicthanthisreductiveframing.ThisarticletakesaqualitativeapproachtoanalyzingpoliticsandidentitiesinTaiwan,criticallyquestioning therelationshipbetweenmusicandactivism inyouthculturetocontributetodiscussionsofpoliticsinTaiwan.

SocialmovementshaveanimportantpositioninTaiwan’sdemocratizationandcontinue to influencepolitics in thepost-authoritarianera.Historically, the riseoftheantinuclearenvironmentalmovementplayedakey role inopeninguppoliticalspace for voices contributing to democratization, influencing theDPP to adopt anunequivocal antinuclear stance (Ho 2003, 685). The lateMa Ying-jeou era (2012–2016) culminated in the 2014 Sunflower movement and the KMT’s resoundingelectoraldefeat(Fell2017).SuchmovementshavecontributedtoTaiwan’sdiverseand flourishing civil society—itself a highly contested concept in Taiwan studies(Weller 1999), reflected through characterizations of “ecumenical nationalism”(Madsen2007,139),“civicnationalism”(Cole2015),and“ethnicnationalism”(ShenandWu2008),amongothers.Further,nationalidentityandnationalismsinTaiwanoperate inpluralist spheres touchingmarginalizedandminorityconcerns—suchaslabor,aborigine,andgenderandsexuality—,complicatingnarrativesandconflictsofideologies. Rather than wade into theoretical arguments on party-dependentmovements,however,thisarticlefocusesontheroleofmusicinshapingidentitiesand ideological frameworks in youth activist cultures. If the politics of identityprocessesadvocate toconnectpeople to ideologicalcultures, thenmusicholdsanimportantbutunderstudiedposition in forgingandmaintainingsuchcultures.Thisrelationshipbetweenmusicandactivistculture inTaiwanwasevident in thepost-2000environmentalmovement(Ho2014,975)and,asIargueinthisarticle,outsidesocialmovementsasevidentinmusicfestivalsheldafterthe2016elections.

This article treatsmusic asmore than just a lyrical text joinedwith sound toconstitute an independent meaning. Music can have power in daily life as socialactorsactivelyconsumeandcriticallyengagewithpopularmusicinvaryingcontexts(Kotarbaetal.2013).Musicaltexts,then,readthroughcontextualizedsensibilities,emerge from specific understandings to engagewith discourse practicesmuch asanyotherculturaltext,becausesocialactorsconveyandreproducethroughmusicaffectandmeaninginnewsocialandhistoricalcontexts.Thisperspectiveinterpretspeople’s consumption and reproductionofmusic as contributing to collective andindividualidentities,andtherebyasasignificantforceinpoliticaldiscourse(Taaffee2004).Thisarticleunderstandsmusic’scapacitytoengageactorsasauniqueformfor interpretation, because the combined soundand lyric components areneithersolely experiential nor historical (Bennett 2000). If lyrics as political text can betransformed, through sound, to becomemusicwith political readings, thenmusic



with political readings can be transformed, through political action, to becomepolitical music. This theorization of music provides for a rich set of researchmaterials,aspopularmusicandyouthactivisminTaiwanfosterinteractionbetweenglobalandlocalforcesfacilitatingheterogeneousvoicesandactions.

This articledrawson fieldworkdata includingparticipantobservationat bothfestival sites.Researchersaiming to illuminate thepoliticsofpoliticalmusicareatrisk of reducing the field of inquiry to lyrics as text and audiences as numbers.Participantobservationallowsforadeeperandmorenuancedmeansofresearchingtemporary sites of live musical performances. It facilitates participation as anaudiencememberinthethickofthecrowd,aswellasprovidingthemeansto“stepout”foractiveobservationofbothaudienceandperformance.Atthecenterofthecrowd, the participant is subject to the emotive waves and movements of theaudience as much as the performative power of the musicians on stage. Whenmusicians are shouted down by their audiences, or when the crowd responds inritualisticactionstoaperformer’smusicalsignals,theparticipantcanbesweptawayincollective(e)motion.Theparticipantisphysicallyandemotionallyexposedtotheaffective power of performance from dynamic positionality unavailable to theobserver.Theresearcherasobserver,however,perceivesthroughalenssegregatedfromtheagencyofthecrowd,positionedasadetachedresearcherdescribingandrecording broader views of site activity. The flexibility and duality of participant-observer sensitivities can reveal complexperformer-audience interactions thatareespecially important at popular, political music festivals wherein participants canembodypoliticalactioninvaryingwaysbeyondjustlyrics.

Complementing these “thick” inquiries through direct observation of the twolivesitesanalyzedinthisarticlewereinterviewswithfestivalorganizers,performers,and participants. Aside from being another avenue for access to fieldwork data,interviews provide additional context for interpretation of primary observation.Interpretation not contextualized with performer and audience perspectives risksflattening subjectivitiesand subsumingvariousexperiencesunder the researcher’sown. Interviewees shared their perspectives through tailored semi-structuredinterviews in which specific questions were guided by a framework of themes.Interviewees were asked about their personal, musical, and political backgroundsand interests, as well as their engagements with the relevant music festival. Thesemi-structured interview allowed for flexibility in pursuing new topics or detailsraisedby theparticipant,but remainedcenteredon the interviewee’s relationshipwith music and politics. This format was crucial to exploring differences andinteractionsamongorganizer,performer,andaudience.Intervieweeswereselectedbysignificanceandimportanceatthefestivals—forexample,headlineacts,primaryorganizers, andhardcore fans.Aside fromdirectobservationsand semi-structuredinterviews, secondary materials such as third-party interviews and advertisingmaterialsalso informedmyanalysisof thetwofestivalexperiencesand filledgapsleftbyprimarysources.

Beforeanalyzingtheseobservationsandmaterials,however, it isnecessarytofirst contextualize the social and musical histories informing the events by (1)reviewing the development of Taiwanese music through the martial law anddemocratizationperiods,highlighting theemergenceofan indigenizingmovement

GraemeRead


strivingtoengagemusicallywithsocialandpoliticalactivismasmeansofadvocatingTaiwanese identity, and (2) buildingon this historical context by examining InlandRock andTshingsan Fest as specific sitesofmusical activism. In analyzing the twoevents, the article examines spaces, marketing, music, lyrics, and performances,thereby interpreting political music as a cultural form beyond the isolatedinterpretations of political texts. It theorizes these festivals as sites of musicalpracticesconstitutingreflexive,interactiveconstructionsofTaiwanesehistoriesandcultures,therebyreproducingpoliticsofidentity.

TaiwaneseMusicThroughout the twentieth century, music in Taiwan underwent nationalizing andinternationalizing processes as part of a complex transition from authoritarianisminto democracy. With the implementation of the KMT’s martial-law governance,musical formswere regulated as artistic expressions serving national interests. Inthe midst of national crisis, cultural policy was intended to eliminate Japanesecolonial legacy, weaken undesirable Taiwanese local traditions, and strengthennationalistChineseidentity(Ho2007,466).InoppositiontotheChineseCommunistParty’s (CCP)CulturalRevolution in thePRCandtosolidify theROC inTaiwan, theKMTlaunchedtheChineseCulturalRenaissancemovement in1966.Aspartofthemovement,popularmusicwasregulatedbypoliciesofsponsorshipandsurveillancecrafted to enable popular Sinicization (Hsin 2012, 29). Music was used todemonstrateasenseofChineseculturalidentityforthepurposesofsupportingROCsovereignty. Sponsorship benefited classical Chinese orchestras, which wereconsidered embodiments of national high-culture aesthetics and became thedominant professionalmusic groups (Ho 2007, 467). Surveillance came in variousforms of censorship, in which local Taiwanese culture and subversive politicalexpressions were repressed in favor of music that engendered a sense of beingChinese.

With growing economic prosperity and increasing dissent against KMTauthoritarian rule, the late 1970s saw a shift away from a strict state agenda forpopular music. Campus Folk music, a style of student songs that emerged onTaiwaneseuniversitycampusesintheearly1970s,hadgrownfromintimatestudentoccasions intoapopularculturephenomenon.Thisnewmovementdidnotopenlyantagonizethestate,butneitherdiditcompletelycomplywithregulatedaesthetics(Farrelly2017,226).ElementsoftheWesterncounterculturemovementwerenowestablished in Taiwan, evident in unkempt youths brandishing long hair, hippieclothing,andrecreationaldrugs.Theseyouthswerefondofthe“simpleandsincere”folkmusicimportedfromtheUnitedStates,preferringsimplemelodiesreflectingonthemes of friendship and families. Yang Hsuan’s 楊弦 1975 performance inZhongshanHallwasabreakthroughforcommercialandculturalinterests.Hismusicdemonstratedthesuccessofanindustrygearedtowardthetastesandsensibilitiesofyoungeraudiences.Asthemovementreachedabroaderaudience,debatearoseonthenatureofCampusFolk ’s“Chineseflavor”(zhongguowei中國味)butdrewfew public conclusions beyond the complexities of promoting Chinese culture inTaiwan (Farrelly 2017, 226). The songs of this era were reflective of these



complexities, includingpredominantlyMandarin lyricsbutaddressing local themesaccompaniedbyinstrumentationderivedfromWesternfolkmusic.

Taiwanese-language music—that is, Hoklo/Hakka/indigenous peoples’languages—wasrepressedundermartial lawas inferioranduncouth.ScholarMei-fen Hsin argues that Taiwanese-language songs from the 1970s produced bothsensesofbeingChineseandotherness,thusembeddingsocioeconomictensionsinthe music (Hsin 2012, 231). Taiwanese songs from this transformative periodexpressed cultural conflict entangled with the effects of colonial modernization.Although there is littleevidence to suggest seedsofactive resistance, thesesongsdemonstrated changes in musical concepts and technology as part ofindustrializationandglobalization.Therefore,whenLeeShuang-tse李雙澤madehisnow-mythologized1978callforTaiwaneseto“singyourownsong”(changzijidege唱自己的歌),asopposedtoEnglish-languagesongsimportedfromothercountries,the plea manifested public articulations of local Taiwanese themes in Mandarin(Farrelly2017,238).Lee’ssong“Formosa”(Meilidao美麗島),whichdepictedlivedrealities of agricultural society linked to Taiwanese ancestors, was censored thatsameyearforbeingalmostsubversive.However,throughthe1980s,thelocalizationmovementbeganshiftingpower towardTaiwan-centrichistoriesandcultures.Thepolitical movement located its roots in the Japanese colonial era (1895–1945),claiming heritage in Taiwanese activists in the 1920s and 1930s who lobbied forincreased Taiwanese autonomy and their contemporary equivalents advocatingdecreased cultural ties with China (Ho 2007, 467). In this context, localizationdescribesempowermentof (re)emerging localmusiccultures,characterizedbytherecognition and maturation of Taiwanese languages, melodies, themes, andinstrumentation. Yet, as demonstrated by the Campus Folk movement, thisreemergencedidnotoccurinisolation.

With the end of martial law in 1987, two distinct commercial categories ofpopularmusichademerged:Mandarin-languagemusicsupportedbythestateandyounger intellectual audiences, and Taiwanese-language music that was popularwithworking-class and elderly audiences. ProducingMandarin popular songs heldpreviously greater socioeconomic advantages, but Taiwanese popular songs wererisingtoprominence(Hsin2012,231).Fromthisnewlyliberatedculturalsoundscapeemerged new forms of music simultaneously pushing Taiwanese-language musicmainstream and enabling the rapid expansion of underground groups. AlongwiththisresurgencecameasearchforauthenticityandrebuildingofTaiwaneseculturalidentity. Alternative genres, such as rap and heavy metal, were imported fromWesternmarketsandlocalized.Taiwaneserappersengagedinlocalculturalrevivalthroughmusical cosmopolitanism, drawing on Hoklo traditions of liam-kua (唸歌,translatedas“chantsong”)toinformrenditionsofrap.EthnomusicologistMeredithSchweig (2014,37)describesthe“newTaiwanesesongmovement”asexercises inTaiwan-centeredmusicalpostmodernity.Artistsdivergedfromtheirnativistforbearsby embracing both foreign andmodern, but simultaneously calling for newHoklomusic. The movement thus positioned “new” Taiwanese participation in a globalorderbyresignifyingglobal-localmusicalforms.

These expressions of alternative music carried transnational social concernsmixedwithmusical creativity.Thehardcoregenresof rap,punk,metal,andsoon

GraemeRead


modeled new musical techniques for engaging the sociopolitical while corneringniches of a rapidly expandingmarket.When traditional styles of Taiwanesemusicsuch as liam-kua faded as popular entertainment, rising stars invested themwithsymboliccapitalasauthentic lociofTaiwaneseculture.LeadingstarsofTaiwaneserapBlacklistStudio黑名單工作室,Jutoupi豬頭皮andKaoChouChing拷秋勤eachreference liam-kua as strongly influencing the development of their work asauthenticTaiwan-stylerap(Schweig2014,49–56).JutoupistudiedlessmainstreamAmerican rap artists for ways to integrate social concerns with Taiwanesemusic,treating rap as a concept informing local genres ofmusic. KaoChouChing’sworkchannelsrapand liam-kuaassourcesofcommentaryandassymbolsofTaiwaneseculturalheritage,musicallyengagingwith social andpolitical activismasmeansofadvocating Taiwanese identity. Blacklist Studiomember ChenMing-chang陳明章said that his Taiwanese-language music was inspired by the realization that hisMandarin music lacked both an emotional connection to the land and somereflection on local culture. Thus the production of new Taiwanesemusic adoptedpolitical significance in its creationof Taiwanese identities reconnectingwith localcultures.

Theseformsofmusicembodiedpoliticsasvaluesandexperiencesdesignedtomove and change, rather than simply entertain or document. It is important tocontextualizemusicasadynamicculturalformreceptivetoandinteractivewithitssurroundings. In a work published just prior to the 2014 student movements,anthropologist Chuang Ya-chung wrote about Taiwan’s Bentuhua (本土化,translatedas“Taiwanization”)movementasasearchforanindigenousspacefromwhich to contest the KMT’s hegemonic Chinese nationhood (Chuang 2013, 91).Bentuhuamovements canbe foundasearlyas the1950sand their contemporaryiterations continue to influence politics. The politics of bentu crafted identityprocesses toreconnectpeopletocultureandencouragedrepositioning individualsin political lives. These political identities were strongly influenced by ideologicalperceptionsofculturesbelongingto“China”and“Taiwan,”withbentusignifyingtheindigeneity of the Taiwanese. Such indigenizing processes can be seen in “newTaiwanese”musicascreatingspace inwhichtoreconnectmodernmusicandlocalculture. The emergence of Blacklist Studio’s 1989 album Songs ofMadness (Zhuakuang ge抓狂歌) was not simply a reaction tomartial law, but rather an actioninformed by a series of political processes creating conditions in which musicresonatedwithandorganizedthought.

John Street, whose scholarly work on art and politics dates back decades,argues for a framework constructing music’s capacity to engage as essential tounderstanding relationships between music and politics (2012, 72). According toStreet,music isauniquechallenge for interpretation,because soundand lyricareneitherpurelyrevelationsofexperiencenororalhistories.Asforthepolitical,Streetarguesmusicshouldbeconsideredpoliticalwhenitspillsintothepublicrealmasanexerciseofpower.Hethereforeidentifiesorganization,legitimation,andperformingparticipation as three key elements ofmusic’s capacity to engagepolitically. First,there must be forms of organization enabling musicians and political actors tocooperate.Second,musiciansmustbedeemedascredibleorauthoritativevoices.Third, the music must have the means to carry sentiment and motivation for a



cause.Therefore,althoughthemostovertformofpoliticalmusicinTaiwanmaybeelection campaign songs, the Taiwanese context enables us to delve deeper intomusicaspoliticsoutsidetheexplicitpoliticsofelectionseason,andintotherealmoflocalandsocialconcernsaspracticedbythoseengagingwithyouthpower.Wherethepoliticsofbentuprovidesahistoricallensforexaminingconflictsofidentityandlocalization, recognizingmusic’s capacity to engage provides an analytical lens forconsideringmusicitselfasformofpolitics.

InlandRockInland Rockwas a two-daymusic festival held on September 24–25, 2016, in thetownshipofJiji集集,Nantou(figure1).Thefestival’sgoalwastosymbolizeresistingboth PRC and ROC official claims to dominion of Taiwan by resignifying the term“inland” (neidi內地) to mean Nantou instead of mainland China. Therefore, thefestival was held in Nantou, to reconnect Taiwanese with a Taiwan-centricconceptionof thephysical inland.TheNPP,alongwithactivist groups,hadofficialbooths at the festival in an effort to integrate with and promote their cause toaudiences. Attendees, organizers, and performers participating in the festivalsponsored and affirmed its ideology of Taiwanese sovereignty. Thus this festival,though not an explicit endorsement of politicians or parties as was common atelectioncampaignperformances,wasamanifestationofmusicaspoliticalactioninawayuncommontoelectoralpolitics.

Figure1.EntrancetotheInlandRockfestivalgrounds,2016.Source:InlandRockFacebookpage.

TheprimaryorganizerandcreativetalentbehindInlandRockwasJChen(ChenWeizhong 陳威仲), a founding member of the hip-hop group Kao Chou Ching,founder of design and production company Radical Studio (Jijin gongzuoshi激進工作室), and designer of the unofficial Sunflower Student movement shirt

GraemeRead


(Chiu2014).TheshirtbecameinfamouswhenstudentactivistChenWei-ting陳為廷was seen on a television interview during the occupation of the Legislative Yuanwearingablackshirtwithwhitetextthatread, inEnglish,“Fuckthegovernment,”and, in Chinese, “It’s our country, we’ll save it ourselves” (ziji guo jia zuiji jiu自己國家自己救). As an outspoken activist and proponent of Taiwaneseindependence, each of these projects carried Chen’s values of independence andaction.RadicalStudiodoubledasamerchandisecompanyandrecordlabelwiththestatedaimsofusingmusic tochange theworldandaction tochangeTaiwan.Thecompany’smerchandiseconsistedof streetwearclothingandaccessoriesdesignedtosendclearpoliticalmessageswithstrongvisualimpact.Asamusiclabel,RadicalStudiomanagedseveralprominentindiemusiciansandbandsknownfortheirsocialcommentaryandactivism.

Chen’s idea for Inland Rock was inspired by the lyrics of fellow TaiwaneserapperDwagie大支,whoalsoperformedatInland.Dwagie’ssatiricalsong“Lanbaci”(蘭芭詞)criticizesTaiwaneseartistsforcomplyingwithCCPideologyattheexpenseofTaiwansoastogainaccesstoChina’smarket.ThiscriticismextendstoassertingChinese cultural identity and heritage over the Taiwanese and endswith the line“Taiwan’s inland is Nantou!” (Taiwan de neidi shi nantou 台灣的內地是南投!).Uponhearingthissong,Chenwasovercomewithbothbitterlaughterandangeratthepoor-qualitymusicandtheself-interestedartistssellingoutTaiwan(Harpsichord2015). He recalled innumerable times that artists appeared in the media talkingaboutChinaas“inland”andwasmovedtolaunchamovementtoreclaimTaiwan’sdiscursiveinland.Chen’slogicwastodeploythecombinedpowersofmusicalaffect,physical presence, material symbols, and community ties to create emotive,personal connections between Taiwanese and the inland. These elements,complementedby a call to personal action, constitutedhis design for InlandRockandtheaccompanyingslogan,“Whereisyourinland?Feelanddefineityourself”(Nide neidi zai nali? You ni ziji lai ganshou yu dingyi你的內地在哪裡？由你自己來感受與定義).

The festival grounds were designed to constitute sovereign territory: aconceptual country defined by borders, customs, law, and authorities. The frontentrance resembled an airport arrival terminal, where ticket inspectors issuedentrancepassesandwelcomedarrivals to the inland.Signageat theentranceandadvertisementsthroughoutthesitejuxtaposedonahighwaydisplayedtheChinesecharactersfor“inland”andtheromanizationofNantou,literallyresignifyingNantouasTaiwan’sinland.Furthersignagemadeexplicitclaims,suchasthe“TaiwanisnotapartofChina,”inEnglish.ArtistswhorantheriskofbeingbannedfromthePRCfornotcomplyingwithChina’spoliticalclaimsonTaiwanweregivensafehaveninthisterritory.More than just repurposing linguistic symbols, these acts established aninvertedspaceinwhichdiscoursesofPRCandROCsovereigntywererenderedvoidandanascentTaiwanesenationformed.Inthissense,attendeesengagedinanamerectification movement, a process of postcolonial transitional justice. In claimingTaiwan’s inland as Nantou, attendees symbolically affirmed creation of anindependent sovereign territory and delegitimized ROC and PRC truth regimes.These signs and acts of participation framed the festival as political engagement,redefiningNantouasan“other”space,aworldupsidedown(figure2)



Figure2.BannerinsidetheInlandRockfestivalgrounds.Thecharactersread:“‘Taiwan’sinlandisNantou’isnolongeraslogan.”Source:Photobyauthor.

Despite having some aspects of a carnival, Inland Rock was not a

comprehensive inversion festival in which the social world was turned entirelyupsidedown.Althoughcertaincarnivalesque imagery, ideals,andexpectationsareassociated with the stereotypical rock festival, Inland Rock experienced relativelyfew of the excesses depicted in Menippean satire (Chiang 2004). The essentialcarnivalisticactofmockcrowningandsubsequentdecrowningof thecarnivalkingwaspresentinthesubversivedestructionoftheChinesesovereign.Aspartofaviralmovement transposedoffline, festival attendees took turns satirically “apologizingto China” for advocating Taiwanese independence. Although such activitiespromoted free and familiar interactions between peoples, festival officials stillenforced law and order. Organizers reminded participants, “This is our land, ourhome,”encouragingalltocleanupthegrounds.Sex,violence,andexcessiveuseofdrugs and alcohol were not permitted. Attendees were free to critique societalnorms and institutions, but commercial sponsorship and licensing regulationssanitizedthemoreextremecarnivalesquetendencies.

Structurally, Inland Rock consisted of two stages with separate performancelists.Despitethename,thefestival’smusicwasnotlimitedtorock;rockservedasabroaderidentifierofamusicalfestivalatwhichpeople“rocked”bodiesandhadfun.Atthisfestival,rockencompassedperformancesacrossrap,hip-hop,folk,indierock,andmetalgenres.Oneofthemostanticipatedacts,Dwagie,drewalargecrowdofvariousbackgrounds,causingseniors,businesspeopleanddissidentyouthstodanceand sing side-by-side. Dwagie’s final performance of “Taiwan Song” (台灣 SONG)was an explosively interactive experience, with crowds rapping verse and chorus.The song, performed in Hoklo, echoed themes from lanbaci, deriding those whoembracedChinaandChina’sassociatedidentitiesattheexpenseoftheTaiwan.Thetitular“SONG”doublesastheEnglishword“song”andastheHoklopronunciationof爽,whichisroughlytranslatedas“pleasure.”Dwagiecalledforunitythroughtheshared experiences and fate of eating Taiwanese rice, drinking Taiwanese water,being born as a Taiwanese person, and eventually dying as a Taiwanese ghost.

GraemeRead


Congratulating the crowd on sharing authentic Taiwanese hip-hop at Taiwan’sinland,Dwagieenergizedthecrowdwithspoken-wordchantsof“Taiwan’sinlandisNantou!”reminiscentofpoliticalrallies.

The primary headline act, however, was punk rock group Fire Ex (Miehuoqi滅火器). Whereas some performers were relatively discreet in their politicalsignaling,preferringtosimplyrepeat the festivalslogan,FireExwasrenownedforitsopenadvocacyofTaiwaneseindependence.ThebandcreatedtheanthemoftheSunflowerStudentmovement,“IslandSunrise”(“Daoyutianguang”島嶼天光),andlater performed at the inauguration of DPP president Tsai Ing-wen (“MiehuoqiganrenyanchangYangdazhengxiangzhongtongshuojiayou”2016).“IslandSunrise”becamea staple of youthpop at the time andwon Songof the Year at the 2015GoldenMelody Awards. The band’s earlier song, “Goodnight, Formosa” (“WananTaiwan” 晚安台灣), was frequently played at social movements, as bothencouragementandlamentation.BothsongsromanticizedTaiwanandencouragedperseveranceandbravery in the faceofdarkness.Mid-setat InlandRock, vocalistSamYang楊大正spoketothecrowd,onlytobeeventuallydrownedoutbychantsof “Taiwan-China, a country on each side!,” to which he responded by declaring“Taiwan is Taiwan, China is China; Taiwan’s inland is Nantou!” During these in-betweenmoments,downtimebetweensongs,musiciansshapethecontextoftheirperformances, altering the flow of music and audience interaction. Yang spokeabout the creativity and values of Radical Studio’s Inland Rock, encouragingaudiences to reflect on the term “inland,” to think and feel where their inland islocated.Effectingcatharsis,hisarticulationofTaiwanesesovereigntywasaprofanedeclarationreleasingsociallyprohibitedemotivepoliticalexpression.

Through their performances, the artists produced identities and experiencesconstituting Taiwan and Taiwanese-ness. Although not necessarily propagatingideological narratives explicitly, they each produced affect to movement throughsound,deliveringpersonalandcollectiveresourcesofculture.WhereDwagie’srapdelivered discursive claims to authentic Taiwanese-ness in contrast to fakeChineseness, Fire Ex’s energetic rebellion empowered the brave Taiwanese tostruggle against overwhelming odds for the sake of defending Taiwan. Theperformancesweredeliveredindifferentlanguages,withmusiciansoftenswitchingbetweenHokloandMandarinwhileonstage.SamYangandDwagiebothspokeofwriting lyrics in their mother tongue, Hoklo, as natural, but typically addressedaudiencesinMandarin—evidenceofthelegacyoftheChineseCulturalRenaissancemovement and martial-law censorship of Taiwanese languages. These newTaiwanese identities communicated through both an official language (Mandarin)andasubversivemothertongue(Hoklo), inadditiontominority languages.Addingto the linguistic diversity of the festival, Aborigine folk singers created temporarychoral communities, which contrasted sharply with the emotionally raw andtechnically overbearing soundscapes ofmetal bands. Each of these singers addedtheirvoicestorepresentandconnectthefestivecollective,constructingapluralisticcommunity.

Aside from artistically expressing experienced and idealized identities, InlandRockprovidedvaluable insight intoactivistyouthengagementwithpoliticalmusic.Thus—in Street’s (2012) framework of music’s capacity to politically engage,



discussed earlier—Inland Rock mobilized expressions of music as politics. Thefestivalconstituteddeliberativeprocessesinwhichmusiciansandaudiencesjointlymediated constructions of Taiwanese subjects. Private and government actorscooperatedtofacilitatetheorganizationofmusicalandpoliticalinterests,providinginfrastructure to create the occasion. The musicians were engaging and credible,legitimated as authoritative representatives of Taiwanese lived experiences. Thevast array of social media and associated nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)presentatthesitephysicallyandonlineprovidedmeanstochannelsentimentfromthe festival into broader communities in participants’ everyday lives and throughstructured activism.As such, themusical politics of InlandRock constitutedbentupolitics, embedding (in)land in a shared cultural consciousness as authenticallyTaiwanese while deploying musical cosmopolitanism to complement newpostmodernidentities.

TshingsanFestTshingsanFestwasasmaller-scalemusicalfestivalheldinNovember2016inalocalparkofWanhuadistrict inTaipei.Commemoratingtheannualthree-dayfestivalofthe Tshingsan King Ritual (Qingshan lingan zunwang 青山靈安尊王), the eventcombined a musical concert and the Monga (alternatively, Bangka) TshinghsanTemple’s traditional pilgrimage (mengjiaQingshanwang raojing艋舺青山王遶境).(figure3).TheTshingsanritualisoneofTaipei’soldestandliveliestreligiousevents,and is an important sociocultural tradition for the local community. Although thereligious festivities were a regular annual event, the rock concert was a newinitiativeproposedto(re)connectTaiwanese,especiallylocalyouths,tothetemplecommunity(Wu2016).BecauseMongahadoneofthelargestnumbersoftemplesofanydistrict inTaipei, local leaderswereconcernedthattheperceiveddownturnofyouthparticipationindistricttraditionalcommunitieswouldresultintheeventualloss of temple culture. The Greater Taipei Cultural Association and the TshingsanTempleAssociationjoinedwithrecentlyelecteddistrictlegislatorFreddyLim林昶佐 torevitalizeandmakerelevantMonga’sculturalheritagetoayoungergenerationofTaiwanese.

Figure3.BanneradvertisingTshingsanFest.TheTshingsanKingisdepictedinthecenter,surroundedbymascotsrepresentingsomeofthebandsthatperformedatthefestival.Source:TshingsanFestFacebookpage.

GraemeRead


Lim,afoundingmemberandoneofthefiveelectedlegislatorsoftheNPP,wasdeeplyengagedwithsocialactivism.Heparticipatedregularly insocialmovementsandpoliticalrallies,promotedTaiwaneseandTibetanindependence,andservedashead of Amnesty International Taiwan. Most famously, he was the founder andvocalist of the internationally acclaimedmetal bandChthonic (Shanling閃靈). Forsome, theelectionofLim,acontroversialpolitical figure,symbolizedthearrivalofthe “youth era” of “new politics,” in which a long-haired, tattooed death-metalscreamercouldstandinparliamentasanelectedpoliticianandadvocateTaiwaneseindependence (Qiu andWu 2015). Lim deployed his dual identity as a musician-politician to break through sociocultural barriers dividing music and politics,rejecting assertions of “music as music, politics as politics.” In this capacity, heperformedatTshingsanFestasapoliticalmusician,ratherthanamusicalpolitician.In contrast to a previous electoral campaign concert in Liberty Square (Zhenhunhuguo yanchanghui 鎮魂護國演唱會), Lim and theNPP did not deploy any partysymbolsorattire,nordeliverofficialpartyrhetoric.Instead,themusicperformedattheFest,asitbecameknown,mobilizedandshapedlocalpolitics.

Compared with Inland Rock, the Fest was a small, local event with a moretraditionaltempleaesthetic.ThegroundsatHepingQingcaoParkconsistedonlyofasinglestage,audiencespace,andseveraladjacentstalls.Asafreepublicevent,thespacewasopen,andpeopleflowedinanaroundthegroundsallnight.Thevendors,however,were commercial enterprises, including local food and drink stores, andrelevantmusicmerchandise.Thestagewasdecoratedwithbacklit“meritlanterns”(gongde denglong 功德燈籠) inscribed with the names of event volunteers andsponsors,themajorityofwhomwereNPPmembers.Inkeepingwithyouth-activistresource-mobilizationstrategies,theeventwasadvertisedprimarilyonlinethroughsocial media, with links to information and furthermedia provided by associatedcultural organizations, delivering social and historical context. The primaryadvertisement featured sketches of several musicians, including Lim’s musicianpersonadecoratedwithperformancefacepaint,allcenteredontheTshingsanKing.Thefigureshadanimalheadsandhumanbodies,representingthepersonasofrockbands scheduled toperformat theFestaswell as symbolizing the sharedculturalheritage of local music and religion. Organizers designed joint temple and rockaestheticstoestablishanelementoftraditionbywhichyouthswouldrecognizeandresonate with the “noise and excitement” (renao 熱鬧) of both traditional andmoderncultures.

Theheadlineactwas tobe Lim’sbandChthonic, but insteadheandguitaristJessie “Black” Liu 小黑 joined with the band Flesh Juicer (Xierou guozhiji血肉果汁機) for a collaborative performance (figure 4). Chthonic has deployeddistinctiveTaiwaneseaesthetics and symbolism throughout itsworkand identifiesthe band’s genre as “Taiwanesemetal.” The band fused the instrumentation andvocals of black metal with a variety of symphonic and folk accompaniments,including hiân-á絃仔, zheng箏 (koto), and yueqin月琴 (moon lute), as well asindigenous Taiwanese vocals and melodies. Chthonic’s lyrics reflected the“Taiwanese consciousness” proclaimed by its members, often relating tomarginalized events and peoples (Qiu andWu 2015). Although Lim initiallywrotelyrics in classical Chinese, he switched to Taibun 台文, a script representing his



mothertongue.Chthonic’ssongsaboutsucheventsasthe1930WusheUprising,the228 Massacre, and the 1987 Green Island prison break mythologized Taiwanesehistory as colonial tragedy. Other, more ideologically explicit works include NextRepublic (“Gonghe”共和) andSupremePain for theTyrant (“Poyezhan”破夜斬),whichdrawonaheroicdemocracynarrative todescribe theestablishmentof theRepublicofTaiwanandtheassassinationofanROCsovereign.ChthonicandLimareconsidered the foundersofTaiwaneseheavymetal, theirbrandestablishedat livehousesandfestivalsaroundTaiwan.

Figure4.Chthonic’sFreddyLimandJessieLiuperformingwithFleshjuiceronstageatTsinghsanFest.Source:FreddyLimFacebookpage.

Chthonic’sperformanceattheFestopenedwiththetrackNextRepublic,whichstartedwitha recordingof the revolutionary “fatherof Taiwanese independence”Su Beng 史明, singing the opening lines of his poem, Taiwanese Nationalism(“Taiwanminzuzhuyi台灣民族主義).As is the traditionatChthonicconcerts, fansimmediatelytossedjosspaperandcreatedamoshpitoppositecenterstage.ThesetwoactssymbolizethepostmodernfusionofTaiwaneseculturaltraditionwiththeglobalizing force of metal music. Chthonic’s fans traditionally engage in severalsubversiveritualsduringconcerts,includingburningKMTflagsandhecklingthoseonstage to “speak Taiwanese!” (Kóng tâi-gí 講台語). Tossing joss money issimultaneously a form of ancestor worship and rebellion against a historicallyoppressive,hegemonic state.Chthonic’s songsglorify thedefianceand sacrificeofTaiwaneseheroespast,praisingtheircourageandvalor in fightingagainstcolonialoppressors.Theaudiencebringstolifethesenarrativesbyhonoringtheirsacrifices,the action of tossing joss money creating and reaffirming the power of music aspolitical practice. This realization is also an act of rebellion, defying institutionalregulationsthatdictateritualsofworshipandauthoritiesThatcensorhistoriesandheroes.Thephysicalactofmoshingembodiesmovementandcommunity,building

GraemeRead


solidarity throughcollectiveaction.Themoshpit at theFestmovedcollectively intimetothemusicalperformance,whileexperiencedmoshersprotectedandguidedothers,structuringmovementsandsequences.Chthonic’saudiencesinteractedwiththe musical performance through these rituals as social actors, deliberating andproducingpoliticalactionsthroughmovement,language,andsound.

The band Flesh Juicer is a Taiwanese metal group informally described asChthonic’sspiritualsuccessor.ThefolkcomponentsofitsrecordedmusicattheFestwere not as varied or prolific as Chthonic’s and nor were the band’s politics asexplicit. Flesh Juicer’s lyrics were performed exclusively in Hoklo and interwovenwith tales of gods, spirits, and funerals, all designed to take audiences “into theuniverse.” Theband’s frontman,Gigo Pro仲宇, derivedhis alias (and theband’sdebutalbumtitle,Gigo)fromtheHoklopronunciationof“brotherpig”(tiko豬哥),aname reinforced by the pig headpiece he wears when performing (Wen 2015).Carefulnot thereveal the facebehindthemask,Gigopersonified thebandas thefamiliar strange, summoning forth signs of everyday culture through stories andsymbols, hinting at surreal realities. Gigo wore the pig headpiece—to which heattached dreadlocks and engraved the words “void” (xuwu 虛無) and “awaken”(juexing 覺醒) to create a sense of the surreal—to draw a connection withTaiwanese feasts and festivals. Flesh Juicer’s music was steeped in Taiwanesereligioussymbolismandpractice,butinaninterview,thebandmemberssimplytoldme that these symbols and practices reflected traditional culture. Rather thanaimingtoexplicitlyperformpoliticsinlinewithChthonic’sreputation,theirpurposewastodeliver“positiveenergy”throughmusictoimprovesociety.

FleshJuicer’s twomostpopularsongsrelatethemythologybehindthealbumand enact stories of conflict among gods. In the story of Gigo, the five-worldsuniverse contained an additional sixth world into which all negative aspects ofexistencewerechanneled.InthesongEventoftheFallingSky(“Tianbengdashijian”天崩大事件), the darkness of the sixth world threatened to escape, causing thegodstocreateasixthgodtocontainandmanagethedarkness.Thatworldiswherehumansexist,andGigo,intheformofapig-headedhumanbody,becomesitsgod.Thealbum’snextsong,Funeral(“Shangshan”上山),depictsaDaoistpriesttryingtocombatnegativeenergy,eventuallysummoningforthFleshJuicer,whodefeatsthemanifest energy through musical ritual. These two songs show the power ofhumanityinmusicandtheimportanceofenergyinshapinghumanrelations.Gigoiscastasagodlikefigurebutrepresentsthepotentialofhumanityinbeliefandaction.InspiredbyChthonic’sTaiwanesemetalsuccess,FleshJuicerdrawsforthTaiwanesespiritualcultureasmusictoinspireandaffectpositivesocialchange.

ThesedesiresaremoreobviousinFleshJuicer’sliveperformances,especiallyatTshingsan Fest and large-scale events like Megaport. The band has performedreinterpretations of popular music with altered lyrics to critique social issues,transforming Kelly Chen’s陈慧琳 Dancing (“Buru tiaowu”不如跳舞) into a songabout rejectingdrugs in favorofdance,andWilburPan潘瑋柏’s “TellMe” intoacall tocareforstrayanimals.Fan interactions, too,becomemoreelaborateat liveperformances, though theyareoften still codified through themythologyofGigo.During performances, hardcore fan movements are at times so structured as toalmostseemchoreographed.Forexample,theveryendof“Funeral”fallsintoasoft



melodyandarticulatesexpressionscommonlyspokenatTaiwanesefunerals.Duringthis part of the song, fans often gather in front of Gigo, kneeling, praying, andworshipingthepig-headeddeity.Fanstypicallyengageonlineandatconcertswiththe spiritual and surreal aspects of the musical discourse, adopting symbols andrituals of the band. However, themusician behindGigo has describedworship asprimarilyamatterof thought, insistingthataudiencesthemselvescreateGigoandare therefore all gods themselves (Wen 2015). Thus, Gigo’s performances andinteractionswithfansatTshingsanFestheldspecialcontextualsignificance,becausethepersona’sexistencewasderivedfromthetempleculturestheFestwasdesignedtorevitalize.

LikethoseatInlandRock,theaudiencesatTshingsanengagedintransformativeexperiences as localizing processes. Rather than resignifying a place name in acampaigntocontestthepopularlexicon,bentuhuaheredescribesreimaginationsofTaiwanese identity grounded in temple cultures as crucial foundations for thesociopolitical.Onstage,LimencouragedfestivalattendeestojoinintheTshingsangpilgrimage inpersonor via socialmediabroadcasts, visit theMonga temples, andparticipateinlocalculturalcommunities.Further,referringtoactivistconcertsheldpreviouslyinlocationssuchasLibertySquareandtheMinistryofEducationgrounds,Limpubliclysetthegoalofperformingnextinparliament.Havingalreadyreclaimedparliamentinanofficialpoliticalcapacitythroughthe2016elections,heaimedtodoso in his musical capacity as well. In this sense, music was a tool enabling andsymbolizingpoliticalconquest,aswellasculturalexpressionconnectingpeoplewithdeliberative experiences. Chthonic and Flesh Juicer’s performances were ways ofinteracting with the Monga social environment and creating affective changethrough reproducing readings and practices of Taiwanese culture and history.AlthoughFleshJuicerdidnotperformpoliticsinthemannerofLim-as-politician,itsradius of creativity and claim to cultural credibility was strongly aligned with theTshingsancontext,enablingamusicalavenuetoimaginenewsociopoliticalrealities.

Tshingsan Fest was thus more than just a themed concert coinciding with atempleprocession.TheFestdidnotexplicitlytargetKMTorROCsovereigntyinthemannerofInlandRock,butitneverthelessadvocatedforchangeatthegrassroots,local level.More than justmarketing forTshingsan temple, theFest itselfenactedmusicaspolitics.Thefestivalwasdepoliticizedinthesensethatnoofficialpoliticalsignifiersorrhetoricwereinvoked,buttheorganizersstillconnectedmusiciansandpolitical actors to produce a local, cosmopolitan Taiwanese culture. MusiciansdeployeddiscoursesofauthenticTaiwaneseidentitiesforaudiencestoexperience,critique,and reproducesociopoliticalpractices reconnectingpeople topoliticsandculture. Audienceswere, at one level,mobilized to revitalize local temple culture,butatadeeperleveltheywerepositionedtoreceiveandenactculturalexpressionaslegitimateformsofsocialactivismandeverydaypolitics.

ConclusionThis article has illuminated an aspect of youth-activist culture outside the morecommonly studied context of electoral politics by demonstrating how two musicfestivals, Inland Rock and Tshingsan Fest, were sites at which music and politics

GraemeRead


converged in spaces and symbols were resignified to construct new Taiwaneseidentities. Through contextualizing the emergence of new Taiwanese music, thearticle identified themes of authenticity, modernization, globalization, andlocalizationaskeyhistoricalforcesinformingconstructionsofcontemporarymusicalconcepts.Aftermartiallawended,Taiwanesemusicwasliberatedtoreconnectwithlocallinguisticandculturalheritagesbutwasalsotranscodedintoglobalizedgenres.Activists deployed both of these forces to critique social norms and articulatedissident politics, producing a Taiwan-centered musical postmodernity. The twofestivalsdemonstratedtheargumentthatmusicismorethanjustacommunicativemedium,andisitselfpoliticalpracticemademanifest.Thefestivalshadovertgoals:to resignify Taiwan’s “inland” as Nantou and to reconnect youths with Mongatemple culture. The creation,mediation, and reproduction ofmusic at these sitesbothembodiedandenactedpoliticalvalues,andalsoorganizedsocialresponsesaspoliticalactions.

Ifmusicfacilitatesanembodimentofculturalheritage,issociallycontextualizedthroughperformance,andcaninformpoliticalactions,thenitbecomesameansofconnecting everyday experiences to politics. More than just a text with intrinsicmeaning, music itself can constitute interactive reconstructions of collectiveidentitiesgroundedinsound,space,discourse,andpractice.Soundandlyricscanbemorethanjustexperientialorhistorical,asmusicreconnectspeopletocultureandpolitics.InthecaseofInlandRock,NantouwasperformativelyrenderedasTaiwan’s(in)landthroughtheconstructionofaconceptualsovereignspaceinsidewhichtheROCandPRChierarchieswereinverted.Thecarnivalesqueattributesofthefestivalcomplemented the dissenting contestation of sovereignty, which combined withmusicians’productionsofauthenticTaiwanese-ness. In thecaseofTshingsanFest,local Taiwanese histories and traditional cultures were fused with musicalcosmopolitanism to reconnect youths to local temple culture and new Taiwaneseidentities.TheserenditionsofdistinctlyTaiwanesemetalmusicinformedthepoliticsof local culture and social concerns. Here, too, the carnivalesque inverted socialnorms,glorifyingtheprofaneinreligiousandmusicalrituals.

These two festivals directly connected music, culture, and politics asinterpersonal experiences. Youth-activist identity as performed at these festivalscomprised both local and global components, reproduced through cosmopolitanTaiwanese music. Youth activism was a powerful reemerging force in the 2016elections and is starting to be institutionalized in formal politics. Taiwan’s civilsociety and activist landscapes continue to rapidly change, accelerating withtechnological integration and changing youth engagement. Describing festivals asanalytical resources for understanding activist cultures and theorizing the role ofmusic as politics in performing identity practices captures a slice of this dynamicTaiwanesecontext.

ReferencesBennett,Andy.2000.PopularMusicandYouthCulture:Music,IdentityandPlace.

London:Macmillan.



Chiang,Hsiao-chen.2004.“TheTropeofanUpside-DownWorld:CarnivalandMenippeanSatireinRichardBrome’sTheAntipodes.”Concentric:LiteraryandCulturalStudies30(2):55–72.

ChiuMei.2014.“ZijiguojiazijijiuTxiechuzitashou!Zhuanfangjijingongzuoshishejishichenweizhong”《自己國家自己救》T恤出自他手！

專訪激進工作室設計師陳威仲[Hecreatedthe“It’sourcountry,we’llsayitourselves”T-shirt!InterviewwithRadicalStudiodesignerChenWeizhong].BeautiMode.https://www.beautimode.com/article/content/21859.

Chuang,Ya-chung.2013.DemocracyonTrial:SocialMovementsandCulturalPoliticsinPostauthoritarianTaiwan.HongKong:TheChineseUniversityPress.

Cole,J.Michael.2015.BlackIsland:TwoYearsofActivisminTaiwan.CreateSpaceIndependentPublishingPlatform.https://www.amazon.com/Black-Island-Years-Activism-Taiwan/dp/1511443413.

Farrelly,PaulJ.2017.“SingingYourOwnSong?TerryHuandtheInfluenceofCampusFolkMusicCafesonTaiwan’sNewAgeReligion.”InReligioninTaiwanandChina:LocalityandTransmission,editedbyChangHsunandBenjaminPenny,213–250.Taipei:InstituteofEthnology,AcademiaSinica.

Fell,Dafydd,ed.2017.Taiwan’sSocialMovementsunderMaYing-jeou:FromtheWildStrawberriestotheSunflowers.Abingdon-on-Thames,UK:TaylorandFrancis.

Harpsichord[pseud.]2015.“Zhuangfangneidiyaogunzhubanrenchenweizhong/yongshijixingdongfanfeng‘neidi’shishangzuiguyideyinyuejie”專訪內地搖滾創辦人陳威仲／用實際行動反諷「內地」

史上最故意的音樂節[InterviewwithInlandRockfounderChenWeizhong:Usingrealactiontosatirize“inland,”history’smostintentionalfestival].TaiwanBeats,August12.https://zh.taiwanbeats.tw/archives/9167.

Ho,Ming-Sho.2003.“ThePoliticsofAnti-NuclearProtestinTaiwan:ACaseofParty-DependentMovement(1980–2000).”ModernAsianStudies37(3):683–708.www.jstor.org/stable/3876614.

———.2014.“TheFukushimaEffect:ExplainingtheResurgenceoftheAnti-NuclearMovementinTaiwan.”EnvironmentalPolitics23(6):965–983.

Ho,Wai-Chung.2007.“MusicandCulturalPoliticsinTaiwan.”InternationalJournalofCulturalStudies10(4):463–483.

Hsin,Mei-fen.2012.“PopularMusicinTaiwan:Language,SocialClassandNationalIdentity.”PhDdiss.,DurhamUniversity.

Ihara,Kensaku.2017.“YouthinTaiwanEmbraceTaiwaneseLanguageandIndependentMind-set.”NikkeiAsiaReview,December23.https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Youth-in-Taiwan-embrace-Taiwanese-language-and-independent-mind-set.

Kotarba,JosephA.,BryceMerrill,J.PatrickWilliams,andPhillipVannini.2013.UnderstandingSocietythroughPopularMusic.Abingdon-on-Thames,UK:Routledge.

Madsen,Richard.2007.Democracy’sDharma:ReligiousRenaissanceandPoliticalDevelopmentinTaiwan.Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress.

Mattlin,Mikael.2011.PoliticizedSociety:TheLongShadowofTaiwan’sOne-PartyLegacy.Copenhagen:NIASPress.

GraemeRead


“MiehuoqiganrenyanchangYangdazhengxiangzhongtongshuojiayou”滅火器感人演唱楊大正向總統說加油[FireEx’stouchingperformance:YangDazhengsaystothepresident,“jiayou!”].2016.ChinaTimes,May20.https://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20160520004401-260404?chdtv.

QiuLi-weiandWuJun-yi.2015.Shizaidashengshenme:Juedingweilai!ShanlingFreddy,LinChangzuodechongzudajinji!是在大聲什麼：決定未來！閃靈Freddy，林昶佐的衝組大進擊！[Whatistheyellingabout:Decidethefuture!Chthonic’sFreddy,LinChangzuo’sgreatbrashattack!].Taiwan:Yuanzuwenhua.

Schweig,Meredith.2014.“HokloHip-Hop:ResignifyingRapasLocalNarrativeTraditioninTaiwan.”Chinoperl33(1):37–59.

Shen,Shiau-Chi,andNai-tehWu.2008.“EthnicandCivicNationalisms:TwoRoadstotheFormationofaTaiwaneseNation.”InThe“OneChina”Dilemma,editedbyPeterC.Y.Chow,117–143.NewYork:PalgraveMacmillan.

Street,John.2012.MusicandPolitics.Cambridge:Polity.Taaffe,Benjamin.2004.“YoungPeople,MusicandPoliticalParticipation:Fromthe

CulturalPoliticstothePoliticalCulturesofYoungPeople.”BAhonorsthesis,EdithCowanUniversity.

Weller,RobertP.1999.AlternateCivilities:DemocracyandCultureinChinaandTaiwan.Boulder,CO:Westview.

Wen,Johnny.2015.“Zhuangfang:Cucanbeihou,nisuobuzhidaodexierouguozhiji”專訪：粗殘背後，你所不知道的血肉果汁機[Interview:Behindbrutality,everythingyoudidn’tknowaboutFleshJuicer].BLOW,June24.

WuShang-xuan.2016.“Qingshanwangjiyefangmengjialaotaibeiximendingzhanfanggongmiaozhentoufengcai”「青山王祭」夜訪艋舺老台北

西門町綻放宮廟陣頭風采[The“QingshanKingFestival”nightvisitofMonga,OldTaipei,Ximendingdisplaystheeleganceoftempleprocession].StormMedia,November21.https://www.storm.mg/article/192166.

AbouttheAuthor

GraemeReadisaPhDcandidateattheCentreonChinaintheWorld,AustralianNationalUniversity.

youth and political music in taiwan: resignifying the ... · keywords: taiwan, popular music,...

Documents