Article by Erica Hui
Photo by Shuo Chen
On October 13th evening at SOB’s was where the 5th Annual CMJ Taiwan Beats Music Showcase was held. Supported by the Taiwan Ministry Of Culture and The Taipei Cultural Center (TECO), this event gained recognition of the diverse musical culture from Taiwan to New York. The performers were Treya, Boxing, io, Soft Lipa with special guest Miss Ko.
The opening act was by Treya. Her tender, acoustic balladry, robust, pristine voice, and introverted, mysterious aura have landed her performances at SXSW and with KCRW and Sofar Sounds New York. The singer-songwriter has lived in New York for quite some time, but was born in Taiwan; she has bounced between Brooklyn and Los Angeles to record her music, which she hopes to release in the near future. We absolutely love her performance and her voice is just so beautiful and so touching.
The first performance was by Boxing, also known as 拳樂團. Their upbeat music style differs from the norm because of the combination of Latino musical traditions and their Paiwan cultural music inspirations. Majority of the songs the band had performed were of their Paiwan language. Longed to perform in New York City, their passionate performance brought the atmosphere up instantly. They’ve mention that their written songs are all inspired by from their lifestyles, and because their music is inspired by Western music, they want to use their home language to communicate with others. While performing their last song, they waved the flag that represents their tribe in Southern Taiwan.
io’s music is a combination of Western pop with Eastern elements, therefore their music is in both English and Mandarin. Coming from Vancouver, their music delivers a very positive and optimistic attitude. io has been nominated for the Best New Artists category of the Golden Melody Award. They performed “Gotta Give Me”, a love song that haven’t been released yet. Lastly, they performed one of their most important song called “Real”, also known as “真實”.
The last performer was Soft Lipa. His hip hop certainly is similar with American rap yet was also influenced by different Taiwanese hip hop artists which are also his close friends. The excitement from the audiences lingered in the air as Soft Lipa displayed his talents as a DJ, while carried on rapping songs from back to back. “當我來到這裡” is a duet with Miss Ko, a famous female rapper in Taiwan.
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