David mixing salad in some tv show -- vry adorable. At GQ they change behind the scene clip to one where he is pretending to be Jimi Hendrix ^__^ According to TW yahoo grps Beautiful is No 1 both for sales & chart already so congra to David. Of cos I am happy for him but just not too bothered abt such stats anymore. The big confession is when I heard this album would be mostly love songs, I was actually prepared not to like this album as much as the others. Just shows that I do not have enough confidence in him, that he will find a way to make even love ballads sound fresh & original. That he will find a new way to incorporate east-west mix. I thought he was the best male chinese singer I have ever heard so far but I never thought that at this stage of his career, he can still surprise & amaze me with his vocals. He took it back to raw, less gymnastics but more emotion. Thank you David for showing me the meaning of real music. You gave me Black Tangerine to cry my heart out, The Great Leap to soothe me now Beautiful to heal me.
Found great article in Taiwan Journal on Deng Yu-sian who wrote Spring Wind with mention of David at the end ^__^ Thought it was so appropriate with the theme in his new album of songs, style & mood at around the same era.228 museum celebrates musician's 100th
Publication Date: 08/11/2006
By Annie Huang
When in 2000, the third Taipei Arts Festival held a poll in coordination with a local newspaper to find the most popular songs in Taiwan over the previous 100 years, it was no surprise that the highest number of votes were cast for the Holo Taiwanese song "Bang Chun Hong" by Deng Yu-sian.
Meaning "longing for the spring breeze," the song narrates the story of a young girl waiting for the boy she loves, even though she is too shy to ask his name. As her expectation grows, her thoughts transform into poignant reveries bathed in the moonlight and the gentle breeze.
Although many people in Taiwan may have forgotten the lyrics, there must only be a few who cannot hum the tune, which is typical of Deng's style in particular and of interwar Taiwanese music in general, but which has been rerecorded and readapted over subsequent decades. The inspiration and history behind the song now form the focus of an exhibition launched to mark the 100th anniversary of the songwriter's birth in 1906. Running through Sept. 10 at the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum in the 228 Peace Park near Taipei Railway Station, Fluttering Flowers on a Rainy Night: Bang Chun Hong displays original records of Deng's songs, rare manuscripts and photos that chronicle the development of popular music in Taiwan during the 1930s and 1940s before Deng's death in 1944 at the age of 37.
There are also five antique vinyl records of Deng's songs on display, four of which were released by subsidiaries of Japanese record labels, including one issued by the Japanese subsidiary of the U.S. company Columbia. Spinning at 78 rpm, records of that time had room for just one song on each side.
Much of the exhibition space is dimly lit, generating an atmosphere of nostalgia and forcing visitors to rely on their sense of hearing rather than vision. A large model of an old gramophone is placed at the center of the museum, and Deng's melodies take to the air one after another.
Although Taiwan has changed beyond all recognition since "Longing for the Spring Breeze" was written in 1933, and these melodies and the scenes of old Taiwan may be quite alien to younger generations, they still bring a tear to the eye of many of the island's elders.
One such visitor to the exhibition, Wang Chao-jhih, recalled listening to Deng's songs played by his father when he was an elementary school student. "It was a rare chance to enjoy the music transmitted from the gramophone at home, because not everyone at that time could afford it," he said sentimentally. Indeed, in the 1930s, very few people could afford records, which might cost up to one-third of a government employee's average monthly salary. While recordings of Deng's songs could be bought at record stores, like those in the Dadaocheng theater district north of Taipei Railway Station, there were no such shops until the 1930s. According to Huang Huei-jyun, the curator of this exhibition, people had previously purchased records from pharmacies, beauty parlors, grocery stores and other outlets.
Despite the high price of records, Huang argues that Deng's songs were not really targeted at bourgeois audiences. In fact, she says, he believed that all works of art, including paintings and music, should not be luxury goods within the limited reach of white-collar workers but should belong to and have deeper connections with the general public. Without wide-scale ownership of gramophones, it was through radios that most people enjoyed Deng's music in the 1930s. By coincidence, the 228 Memorial Museum is housed in a building that was home to the Taipei Broadcasting Bureau during the period of Japanese rule.
In a recent interview with the Taiwan Journal, Jhuang Yong-ming, a local historian, described another scene that was typical during Deng's lifetime, in which a watch seller would play newly released records on a gramophone in his store, writing out the lyrics and pasting them outside to attract passersby. "Whenever a new song was released, people would gather at these stores to listen and learn to sing," said Jhuang. This kind of musical appreciation forms an unforgettable memory for many of Taiwan's older generation who lived through a time when even basic necessities were often in short supply and who certainly lacked the means for luxuries such as records.
In broader, historical terms, Deng made two major contributions which, at first sight, might seem contradictory: the incorporation of Western musical concepts and instruments and the preservation of traditional folksongs.
The score for one of his Holo Taiwanese songs "Sigh of a Lonely Flower," for example, which is also on display, includes notations for various musical instruments such as the violin, alto saxophone and guitar, thus showing Deng's endeavors to bring new sounds to popular music. Deng was himself adept at a number of instruments, including the piano and guitar, having learned them first at a teacher training school in Taipei and subsequently at a music college in Japan. His accomplishments can be further seen in his organization of the Jhudong Symphony Orchestra sometime after 1940 while he taught in an elementary school in Hsinchu County.
Deng's collection and transcription of Hakka, aboriginal and Holo Taiwanese folksongs, many of which had been transmitted orally for decades if not centuries, placed him among the pioneers of musical preservation. For this effort he used Western musical notation, and examples are included in the current exhibition.
Deng's own creative contribution has been similarly treasured by subsequent generations, and has continued to inspire composers and singers to the present day. "Longing for the Spring Breeze," for example, was adapted into an R&B version by David Tao, winner of the best Mandarin Chinese pop record of the year at the 17th Golden Melody Awards, and is still sung by him on TV shows.
Described by local writer Jhong Jhao-jheng--one of whose novels is also called "Longing for the Spring Breeze"--as the composer of "tunes that touch Taiwanese people's hearts" and best known for his classic renditions of popular songs, Deng is in fact a much more complex figure in Taiwan's musical history, as this exhibition shows.
Reposted with thanks from Taiwan Journal
Then on youtube someone posted the cute encounter betwween David & SHE @ Azio E-news. Enjoy!
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