Burst of creativity
Another of the boons that poured from recordings was new original music with Taiwanese lyrics.
The origins of Taiwanese-language songs can be traced back to the period of "unarmed resistance against Japan" in the 1920s. One example is a song written to back the petition to establish an assembly to govern Taiwan. The first verse-which goes "A new era of world peace / Western thinking spreads in waves / Freedom, equality, and human rights / Ringing the bells to overthrow tyranny"-was invariably sung whenever activities of the assembly-petition movement were held. A number of songs were also written on behalf of the Taiwan Cultural Association, formed by great pioneers of democratic activism such as Jiang Weishui and Cai Peihuo. These songs, which included "Labor Day Song" and "Our Taiwan," were disseminated through concerts and cultural performances and were also recorded and sold. However, it was only in the 1930s that Taiwanese-language music came out that would become genuinely popular in every street and back alley.
In 1932, a silent film from Shanghai called Story of a Blood-Weeping Peach Blossom (a tragedy about a struggle for free choice in marriage starring Ruan Lingyu as the heroine) came to Taiwan theaters. In order to connect to potential viewers, the Taiwan agent commissioned Zhan Tianma (then Dadaocheng's reigning silent-film live narrator) to write lyrics, and Wang Yunfeng to do the music, for a promotional song of the same name as the film. This Taiwanese-language tune, based on the qizidiao (seven-character melody) form of traditional Gezaixi, was soon known throughout Taiwan as a result of its association with the hit movie.
At that time the Taiwan director for Nippon Columbia (formerly Nipponophone, later taken over by Columbia Records of the US), realized the commercial opportunity and hired Liu Qingxiang (stage name Chun Chun), then the most popular player of young female roles in Taiwanese Opera, to make a recording of Story of a Blood-Weeping Peach Blossom. As expected, it was a huge hit. Thereafter Nippon Columbia aggressively developed the market for Taiwanese-language records, and hired musicians such as Chen Junyu, Li Linqiu, Zhou Tianwang and Deng Yuxian to write lyrics and music. This was when iconic songs like "Spring Breeze," "Moonlight Night Melancholy" and "Rainy Night Flower" came onto the market.
In 1935, the Lin Benyuan clan of Banqiao near Taipei became the Taiwan sales agent for Victor Records, a US company. The Lins then hired Zhang Fuxing, the first Taiwanese musician to study in Japan, to head up the arts and culture department, which turned out Taiwanese pop songs in great quantity and great quality, including such classics as "White Peony," "Farm Village Melody," and "Bitter Feelings," pushing the firm up into the same rank as Nippon Columbia.
The late musicologist Xu Changhui once explained the flowering of Taiwanese songs in the 1930s as a combination of several factors. Musically, there were contributions from artists deeply rooted in folk culture, musicians from Western church groups, and scholars versed in various Western schools. In terms of lyrics, participants included people active in the New Literature Movement.
(record labels courtesy of Davide Lin)