Folk Songs & Midterm 2

Question 1

What song is this? Tell me about it

Answer 1

• “Thinking Back”
• Chen Da (Need to know)
• played on the yueqin (“moon guitar,” a 2 stringed plucked lute)
• from the hungchun region
• hoklo song
• tells the story of people migrating to the area from China. It describes
  the dangers presented by typhoons and rough waters

Question 2

What song is this? Tell me about it

Answer 2

• Jasmine in June
• sung by Liao Chiung-chih (called the “number one kudan” of Taiwanese opera) (NEED TO KNOW)
• accompanied by Chen Kuan-hua
• the song is in strophic form (one melody set to different lines)
• Western Plain region
• hoklo song

Question 3

What song is this? Tell me about it

Answer 3

• Jasmine in June sung by Yang Lihua
• Sounds clearer than the one by Liao Chiung-chih

Question 4

What song is this? Tell me about it

Answer 4

• A Bird Crying in the Night
• by Tsai Chen-nan
• its unaccompanied
• Western Plain region
• hoklo song

Question 5

What song is this? Tell me about it

Answer 5

• Diu Diu Dang
• Chen Kuan-hua
• strophic (one melody set to different lines)
• northern region of taiwan
• describes the sound of rain dripping on a train between passing through a tunnel (think rain, tunnel, train)
• Hoklo song

Question 6

Tell me about the Western Plain Region. (PS- What songs are from here?)

Answer 6

• where immigrants first settled in Taiwan
• the earliest folk songs of Taiwan’s Hoklo people trace their lives to these immigrants
• songs were used to motivate workers and life their spirits
• “Jasmine in June” by Liao Chiung-chih
• “A Bird Crying in the Night” by Tsai Chen-nan

Question 7

Tell me about the Northern Region

Answer 7

• Includes Taiepi county and Lanyang areas
• surrounded by mountains on three sides and sea on the other –> area was isolated bc of the mountains
• Diu Diu Dang by Chen Kuan-hua

Question 8

How do people become part of the Ming Hwa-Yuan Troupe? How are their lifestyles shaped by participation in opera troupes? How are actors traditionally trained?

Answer 8

• Originally focused on singing, grew to involve dance
• Family members were part of the troupe ( “my mom is also my mentor”)
• mentoring relationship
• grew up moving from place to place for performances
• the performance is about zheng zhilong, one of the first asian pirates to defeat a european fleet (learning fucking obscure history ig)

Question 9

What song is this? Tell me about it [give it a bit to start playing]

Answer 9

• starts with “wo jiao…（我叫）”
• starring Wei Haimin
• Peking Opera
• Guoguang’s performance of The Golden Cangue

Question 10

What song is this? Tell me about it

Answer 10

• Farewell My Love
• Hakka song
• Known as one of Meinong’s Four Old Songs
• No singer is listed

Question 11

What song is this? Tell me about it

Answer 11

• Old Mountain Song
• Sung and accompanied on the erxian by Hsu Muchen

Question 12

What is Yang Lihua most known for? What song does she sing?

Answer 12

• Most known for her portrayal of young male roles
• She sings “Jasmine in June” (the clearer sounding version)
• Yang LiHua is the star singer in the Taiwanese Lu Bu Opera

Question 13

Hoklo vs Hakka (Is there any beef?)

Answer 13

• Hoklo is bigger than the Hakka
• Hakka people wre a persecuted minority in China

Question 14

Why is 1987 significant in Taiwan?

Answer 14

• Martial law was lifted

Question 15

When was Taiwan a colony of Japan?

Answer 15

1895-1945

Question 16

True or False: Some of the earliest Holko folk songs in Taiwan came from China’s southern province of Fujian

Answer 16

True

Question 17

True or False: Some of Taiwan’s folk songs were uniquely created in Taiwan

Answer 17

True (like… there’s no way it’s false… right??)

Question 18

Before the mid-1990s, who sponsored the vast majority of Taiwan’s professional opera troupes and training schools?

Answer 18

Ministry of Defense

Question 19

Tell me about Chen Da:

Answer 19

• He became famous because of the “Folk song Collection Movement”
• Music was collected by Hsu Tsang-houei, same person that recorded the Difangs
• Died being hit by a bus (damn wtf ?!)

Question 20

Chen Da accompanied his singing of “Hengchun diao” on what instrument?

Answer 20

• Yueqin (“moon lute”)

Question 21

Excerpts from Lu Bu and Diao Chan

Answer 21

• Taiwanese Opera
• Yang Lihua is the star (she plays Lu Bu)
• shits sad
• lu bu dies at the end and diao chan says its her fault so she kills herself too

Question 22

When Taiwanese opera is performed in a ritual/temple setting, who’s the most important part of the audience?

Answer 22

• The gods (probably)

Question 23

What song is this? Tell me about it

Answer 23

• Old Taiwanese Opera
• Recorded in Japan (think old= japan’s colony)
• Recorded between 1925-1930

Question 24

Why did the Nationalist government support many Peking opera troupes in Taiwan
(up through the mid 1990s)? What was their rationale? Why did they feel the need?

Answer 24

1. Portrays them as “guardians of traditional Chinese culture” aka legitimizing their claims to rule all of China
2. Feelings of nostalgia b/c of the popularity of Peking Opera in the mainland -> lost homeland
3. Suppression of local Taiwanese culture (re-Sinicize Taiwanese folks that they saw as “tainted” from Japan’s rule)

Question 25

Why and how did the Nationalist government suppress and discourage the performance of Taiwanese opera (primarily in the period before the lifting of martial law)?

Answer 25

- There was a tax placed on each ritural opera - Most Taiwanese opera disappeared from tv - Attempted to eliminate Taiwanese opera from the temple festivals

Question 26

Peking Opera in Taiwan origin story:

Answer 26

- First Peking Opera performance was during Japan's colonization - Strengthening cultural ties with China to affirm their Chinese identity