Searching for Nakashi: Guitar of the Hot Springs Village

Berklee Professor DJ Hatfield (@shoutacre) will be MC’ing and singing a Taiwanese Nakashi song (according to @Jack_Hsu’s tweet today) at Passport2Taiwan Fest at Union Square on May 30, 2010.

I'm particularly psyched about the strong Nakashi presence at the event. Hatfield’s song of choice is 溫泉鄉的吉他 (roughly translated at the "The Guitar of the Hot Springs Village"). I remembered hearing this song on a cassette titled “Taiwanese Oldies” that I took from my mom’s collection last year. The sad minor-scale melody and slow “cha-cha” rhythm (with a guiro sample!) in the song resemble many other songs of its kind - Taiwanese/Holo version of Japanese enka. My Youtube search gives me a sense that this is a popular Nakashi (那卡西) standard even now.

I love this performance by Ah-Lan Band. It was put on by the Beitou Nakashi Cultural Development Association. The spinning disco light, keyboard and sax melancholia, and the heavy vocal reverb project through a cloud of sadness. It looks like we might be accompanying DJ Hatfield’s singing at Passport2Taiwan. Stay in touch for details!

[This post (originally here) represents my new focus: a "Search for Nakashi" project. This series of content exclusively related to Nakashi will be posted on website for Dzian!, my nakashi surf rock band. Read an introspective post on Dzian! and my personal relationship to this music.]

Riding the Wave of Excitement with Dawen

The west-coast-based, Soul/R&B singer Dawen has accomplished much and is expecting much more to come. He has been a guest blogger for Bicoastal Bitchin’ and Slant Eye for the Round Eye. On his U.S. and Asia tour for his debut album American Me, he is blogging for MTV Iggy. A few weeks ago, Dawen performed with Macy Gray on UStream!!! I just found out that the stream is archived. (Dawen reminds us to "fast forward to 22 min. to hear my perform "I Try" for her.")

There's more on the creative front. He's recorded and recorded videos for two covers. Here's Dawen's cover of the Black Eyed Peas' "Imma Be":



This is a promo video for Declare INDIE: happening tomorrow night (Friday) in Chicago, April 16th at The Abbey, 2430 W. Grace St. near the Blue Line Addison stop. Dawen himself has produced this showcase featuring Asian America music talent. Come on out, folks in Chi-town! Check out the Facebook event page. Follow the DeclareINDIE on Twitter.

Press Release: Love4Haiti, 1/23 - a Spectacular Night of Art, Music, and Dance to Benefit for Haitians in Need

Dear Yellowbuzzers,

I've been checked out due to over-commitment. But this is one important commitment. Along with artists/musicians/students, I am co-organizing an art/music/dance SPECTACLE to help raise funds for those in need in Haiti. See below for event details.

SPREAD THE WORD, EVERYONE!

--------------------------

Peter Traub
Wendy Hsu
love4haiti.event@gmail.com

January 18, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Love 4 Haiti: A spectacular night of art, music, and dance to raise funds for Haitians in need, January 23, 2010

(Charlottesville, VA, USA) - A team of Charlottesville's artists, musicians, and students, with the support of local food and book vendors, are coming together for an art/music benefit event to raise funds for the people of Haiti on Saturday January 23, 2010, at Random Row Books.

Love 4 Haiti will be an evening of music and art offerings from local artisans. A silent auction of art works, gift certificates, and dance lessons will begin at 5pm. A kaleidoscopic program of Charlottesville's performing talent follows, including: Fire in the Belly (bellydance), Dzian! (world surf rock), Jdavyd Williams and the Basement Bhaktis (kirtan), Natty Peeps (roots reggae), Shootin Moon (acoustic), Matt Jones (acoustic), Secretly Y'all (storytelling), and many more. Delicious food options donated by local restaurants will also be available for purchase.

All the proceeds will be donated to organizations behind the earthquake relief efforts including Partners in Health (PIH), International Rescue Committee (IRC), UNICEF, and GHESKIO. This event is co-sponsored by Random Row Books, UVa's Global Development Organization, The Bridge PAI, and HzCollective.

Love 4 Haiti
Saturday January 23, 2010
5pm - midnight
Random Row Books
315 W. Main St (Main St and McIntire Rd)
Admission $5

http://love4haiti.net
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=260281781865

Contact: love4haiti.event@gmail.com
Wendy Hsu [wendy.f.hsu@gmail.com] | Peter Traub [ptraub@gmail.com]

The Hsu-nami on Found Musik

I've been working on my dissertation chapter on the Hsu-nami the last couple of months. Today I finally got around to watching some of the Hsu-nami's video footage that I had saved over last fall.

The Found Musik video feature of the Hsu-nami is particularly well-done. It contains a band interview and the performance footage of "Entering the Mandala" in its entirety, shot in high-definition. I always love the second half of the song when the tempo goes into double-time. The contrast between melodic lyricism and speed-driven shredding brings out the best of the Hsu-nami thrill. Buckle down, everyone!

Found Musik 4: The Hsu-Nami from Don Fisco on Vimeo.

Tim Be Told: Free Mp3 Download & Tour Dates

Charlottesville's soul-driven rock band Tim Be Told released an exciting EP From the Inside last fall. Here's an opportunity for Yellowbuzzers to download their track "Analyze." Enjoy!

Tim Be Told charges forward in today's postmodernist hybrid sound bringing out the best of American soul and rock. Their sweet soul-driven rock tunes have impressed me since I first saw them perform at the UVa Amphitheater back in 2007.

Go see them live in action!! Tour Dates:

Jan 12 2010 White Rock Coffee Dallas, Texas
Jan 14 2010 Kick Butt Coffee Austin, Texas
Jan 15 2010 Fort Bend Community Church Missouri City, Texas
Jan 16 2010 Houston Chinese Church Houston, Texas
Jan 17 2010 Fort Bend Community Church Missouri City, Texas
Jan 18 2010 Private Show Los Angeles, California
Jan 19 2010 The Living Room Los Angeles, California
Jan 20 2010 University of California Irvine Irvine, California
Jan 22 2010 Hollow Body @ TRiP Santa Monica, California
Jan 23 2010 Stanford University Palo Alto, California
Jan 24 2010 South Bay Sa Rang Community Church Torrance, California
Jan 28 2010 Livingwater Church Berkeley, California
Jan 31 2010 Bay Area Chinese Bible Church San Leandro, California
Feb 3 2010 Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon
Feb 4 2010 Skagit Valley College Oak Harbor, Washington
Feb 5 2010 Ethnic Cultural Theatre w/New Heights Seattle, Washington
Feb 6 2010 Evangelical Chinese Church Seattle, Washington
Feb 9 2010 University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Colorado Springs, Colorado
Feb 10 2010 Chinese Evangelical Church of Denver Denver, Colorado
Feb 12 2010 The Chapel w/Fundamental Elements St. Louis, Missouri
Feb 15 2010 Elbo Room w/Lucrezio Chicago, Illinois
Feb 17 2010 The Canopy Club w/ guests Urbana, Illinois
Feb 18 2010 Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio
Feb 20 2010 Ishan Gala Benefit Concert Charlottesville, Virginia

Upcoming Series: Understanding Bollywood through music

This sounds totally interesting. I would be there in a heartbeat if I lived in the Bay Area.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Kearny Street Workshop presents:

Understanding Bollywood through music

Every Tuesday starting March 2nd, 2010 7:00pm-9:00 until April 6th, 2010 from 7:00pm-9:00pm.

Located at: KSW@PariSoMa, 1436 Howard St. San Francisco, CA 94110

Join Robin Sukhadia in this 6 session exploration of the magical aesthetic of Bollywood film music. Through screenings, discussions, in-class performance demonstrations, field trips (SF International Asian American Film Festival), and guest lecturers, students will deconstruct the arrangements, themes and structure of Bollywood film songs from the 1930’s to present day.

Bollywood film songs will be used to examine the larger context of South Asian culture. Film-viewing, readings, lecture, and discussion will introduce students to Bollywood dance/costume, issues of gender roles and marriage, reaffirming the values of family and duty (dharma), Hindu-Muslim conflicts, and the resurgence of nationalism. Films will be in Hindi with English subtitles; no knowledge of Hindi or Indian culture is required to take this course.

Special focus will be given to some of the great film composers, including SD Burman, Naushad, RD Burman and AR Rahman. The influences and impact of playback singers such as Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Rafi and Mukesh will also be explored. Sequences from the following landmark Bollywood films will be presented for discussion: Maqbool, Omkara, Mughal e Azaam, Dil Se, Sholay, Qurbani, Silsila, Jodhaa Akbar, Lagaan, Devdas, Umrao Jaan and more.

Registration is $180 individual or for a recession bust bring a friend! Which in turn will bring both registrations down to $150.

For more info or to register please visit kearnystreet.org/understanding-bollywood-through-music

Interview of Yours Truly in The C-Ville

The C-Ville did an interview as a part of the Open Studio series of me recently. Here's the interview:

Typhoon Relief Efforts - Mission Accomplished - Dzian, Charlottesville!

Two weeks ago, I got an old Christmas Card on yellowed cardstock (bizarre!) paper from my dad in Taiwan. What a surprise: He never mails anything. Inside the card was a small blue certificate of receipt from the Children Welfare Foundation League. The document states information related to the funds that the Nakashi Typhoon Relief Benefit Show raised.



Donor title: People of Charlottesville
Fund amount: NT$30,000
Date: 11/19/2009
Allocation of Fund: Typhoon Morakot (88 Typhoon) Relief Funds

Other information refers to my father's name (as the transactor) and his address.

All I could say is: Kudos, Charlottesille! Dzian! 贊!

Searching for a Hakka Sound - Wu Sheng-Zhi of the Sunshine Band

In the last few years, I've been on a quest for music by Hakka people in Taiwan. My dad's family is of Hakka descent. The Hakka people are known as migrants living in diaspora in East and Southeast Asia, more specifically, in various parts of Taiwan and China. Growing up, I always sensed and was fascinated by the Hakka ethnicity coming from my paternal grandparents. Both my grandparents (my grandpa=Ah-gung and grandma=Ah-ma) grew up during the Japanese occupation in rural northern Taiwan (south of the capital city Taipei). They would speak Hakka to each other only when they needed to communicate in privacy or intimacy. My father speaks very little Hakka as his siblings. I speak next to nothing in Hakka - knowing only simple phrases like "eating" and "rice." My grandparents' Hakka identification seems to me private whereas their Japanese acculturation seemed more exterior and public. Perhaps they associate their Hakka identity with their past, their early childhood and family.

This summer I attended conference for the International Association for the Study of Popular (IASPM) Music in Liverpool, UK. Serendipitously, I met and befriends a number of dear and friendly scholars associated with the Inter-Asia group of IASPM. They invited me in treating me as a junior colleague or young cousin/sibling. It was a fortuitous meeting of wonderful people and scholars of incredible resources and knowledge.

Among these scholars was 何東洪, H0 Tung-Hong. Yet another serendipitous turn - Tung-Hong lives in the town where both my grandparents were born and raised in. His wife is related to my Ah-ma's classmate who later became a well-known writer. He introduced me to a number of musicians and groups that I hadn't heard of. I bugged him with questions about the roots and historical practices of Nakashi. With patience, he told me a brief account of the history and iconic figures of Nakashi in Taiwan. He even wrote down names for me (because writing in Chinese has become more challenging over the years).

I was especially intrigued by early Hakka musicians. The name 吳盛智, Wu Sheng-Zhi came up. He was the leader, singer, and guitarist of the well-known rock group Sunshine Band (陽光合唱團). His band performed lots of "Western" songs (from British and American records) all over the island of Taiwan. He was also hired as a session musician for one of the three television broadcast companies. Wearing his hair long while playing his electric guitar, "like a hippie Hakka," W sang lots of Hakka tunes in the style of rock music, combining the Hakka mountain songs (Sheng ge) with rock music. Through his access to mainstream media, Hakka music was transmitted and distributed widely. He released the first Hakka album Not Fated in 1981. Wu passed at the age of 39 in a car accident in 1983.

Googling him, I found a short youtube video about Wu. The voice-over is in Hakka. Thankfully, this video has English and Mandarin Chinese subtitles. Zealously, I hereby announce the beginning for my discovery of Hakka music.



Wu sang a number of classic Hakka folk standards.


On a more disco side:


And I found a few resources articles on Wu:
http://www.hakka.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=26338&ctNode=1561&mp=278
http://www.hakkaonline.com/xspace/viewnews-2155.html

Kite Operations Blew My Mind: Reflections and Media from Brooklyn

Kite Operations' CD Release Party was epic. The songs from their new album Festival are breathtaking. An innovation and an immense treat for music (and noise) lovers. Their performance was precisely executed with highly sophisticated intra-band signals created specifically for their musical needs.

I've enjoyed following Kite Operations creative explorations over the last couple of years. First time witnessing their live set, I became a true fan girl and melted instantly.

Most of the footage that I captured, unfortunately, has unusable audio. "Effervescence" turned out great.

Tom Lin shot "Tracing Paths".

My noise duo Grapefruit Experiment performed a short set after fighting traffic all day on Interstate 95. Here's a snippet of our bike improvisation.



More documentation of our set.