Taiwanese Waves took place on Saturday, July 16th, in Central Park at the Rumsey Playfield’s SummerStage NYC. (East 69th St, New York) with an estimated attendance of 4,000 people.
Taiwanese Waves concert is sponsored by the Taiwan Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tourism Bureau and Taipei Cultural Center and organized by the curator Mia Min Yen. The event featured three diverse artists from Taiwan for four hours of music and festivities. It is the first time in the history of SummerStage, the iconic New York City music festival, playing host to artists from Taiwan.
SummerStage, a program of the CityParks Foundation, is known for presenting outstanding performances, free of charge in a world famous venue – Manhattan’s Central Park. The focus – music, diversity, community – is embodied in the talent of the festival’s performers.
Among the performers for Summer Stage’s “Taiwanese Waves” segment:
First group to open the concert is The Sunset Rollercoaster 落日飛車.
Sunset Rollercoaster is a Taiwanese rock band now composed of singer, guitarist and songwriter Kuo Hung Tseng, bassist Hung Li Cheng, keyboardist Shao Hsuan Wang, drummer Lo Tsun Lung, and percussionist Hao Chia Chang. The band’s debut album “Bossa Nova” was self-released on September 22, 2011, to immediate critical acclaim. After the debut release tour in Taiwan and Japan –– including playing at Summer Sonic Festival –– the band went on a long hiatus to refocus and work on other projects. In 2015, Sunset Rollercoaster reunited and went back on tour. The band has just released a new EP “Jinji Kikko” on March 1, 2016. Sunset Rollercoaster’s musical style fuses multiple genres, from soul and garage to psychedelic rock and synth-pop; therefore, the band is considered as an icon of city-pop in Taiwan. Most of the songs discuss the fantasy of love and psychedelic experiences with rather absurd lyrics.
Second group to rock the stage is Wonfu 旺福.
Motown? 60s? Comedy-rock? Indie-pop? Wonfu’s music genre is very diverse. They constantly collect the surrounding inspirations, with their unique creativity, sense of humor, music technique and imagination to their music. You can relax and confront boring by the happiest and the most interesting music! Wonfu is a Taiwanese folk-rock band formed in 1998 by lead vocalist/lead guitarist Yao Xiao-Min, bassist Twiggy, vocalist/guitarist Mami and drummer Dopy. Since then, the band has been consistently playing various music festivals across Asia cities, including Spring Scream, Formoz Festival and Hohaiyan Rock Festival, as well as having their concert tours.
The last act to close the night is Anpu 安溥 (張懸, Deserts Chang, Zhang Xuan).
Anpu 安溥 (張懸, Deserts Chang, Zhang Xuan): In the course of her musical journey, Anpu has been of great impact to her audience, delivering the voice of her time. Having wowed everyone with the profoundness of her work, Anpu is now considered one of the most influential alternative musical artists of this generation, in the music scene of her own town. With four albums released under the name Deserts Xuan in her earlier days as an alternative singer-songwriter, Anpu was repeatedly reviewed as Best Songwriter, Best Album, Best Producer, Best Recording and Song of the Year, while receiving different awards in both the Chinese and Taiwanese music industries. Not only did her solo performances receive full-house responses everywhere on her world tour with her band Algae, she continues to be invited to attend various music festivals. As one of the most significant Asian alternative musical artist, Anpu’s performance is eagerly anticipated. After two years since her first tour to New York and Boston, she herself is very much looking forward to this opportunity to visit the city again.
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