July 3, 2022
image source,Getty Images
Cui Jian
Taiwan’s 33rd Golden Melody Awards was announced on Saturday (July 2), and China’s “Godfather of Rock” Cui Jian won the Best Male Singer. In addition, Singaporean singer Cai Jianya, who has lived in Taiwan for many years, defeated Yuan Yawei and Wei Ruxuan and others, won the best female singer for the fourth time, and won the best album and other awards again. She was a big winner last night. In addition, Malaysian singers Huang Mingzhi and Chen Fangyu, who are popular in the Chinese area with the song “Glass Heart”, failed to win the song of the year.
The Golden Melody Award organized by the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan, like the Golden Horse Film Awards, is an important artistic award in the Chinese-speaking region. But unlike the Golden Horse Awards, mainland China does not currently prohibit mainland musicians from signing up for the Golden Melody Awards. Therefore, Cui Jian won the award this time and attracted attention from both sides of the strait.
Cui Jian read out the acceptance speech through the representative, saying: I only realized at this moment that all the destinations in the album are temporary, and have never reached the terminal. “The Golden Melody Award is a transit station with a long history, exquisite decoration, and a little warmth. It clearly told me the direction of the next stop. It seemed to say: a new era is waiting for you, are you ready? When you get off the train, the experiences and doubts you once had will become a new ticket to board a music train that is more challenging and questioning the world.”
In fact, the Golden Melody Awards changed its rules many years ago. As long as the albums released in Taiwan, regardless of nationality, can apply for the Golden Melody Award. Therefore, many non-Taiwanese singers, such as Faye Wong, Stefanie Sun and Lin Xi, have won the Golden Melody Award.
This time Cui Jian won the “Singer King”, which sparked heated discussions on mainland social media. Some netizens said on Weibo that the award to King Cui Jiange was due to political considerations by the jury. A netizen said: “The Golden Melody Awards really have a pattern this time.”
However, some netizens said, “Mainland fans don’t think too much, there is no consideration of regional nationality, and it is impossible for musicians in Taiwan to tolerate political interference in music. It is purely the decision of this jury.”
“Some people really do not want to scold the mainland, but also scold those in the mainland,” another netizen replied.
image source,Getty Images
Singer Tanya Cai
Chinese rock godfather Cui Jian
Cui Jian, who was born in Beijing in 1961, comes from a military family. His parents have a Korean background. He began to study music since he was a child. In 1986, he caused a sensation in the capital with a song “Nothing Nothing”. In 1989, at the Beijing Workers’ Sports Concert, he covered his eyes with red cloth strips, blew a suona, and sang “Nothing Nothing”, which caused a sensation in the music circles on both sides of the strait and in the media. Set off the “Cui Jian wave”.
In 2007, he arrived in Taiwan to participate in the Gongliao Ocean Music Festival.
Some commented that Cui Jian’s music expresses the curiosity and critical vision of the Chinese people facing the future in the early days of reform and opening up in the 1980s. Cui Jian has also begun to become one of the important figures in the Western cultural circles who want to re-understand Chinese culture. Westerners who want to enter the Chinese art and cultural criticism circles must put the word “Cui Jian” in their mouths and articles.
Singing with a red cloth blindfolded was Cui Jian’s signature at that time. His famous songs such as “The Girl in the Flower House” and “Let Me Sprinkle Some Wild on the Snow” became popular at home and abroad as China returned to the stage of global capitalism.
Cui Jian has always observed the changes in society, and made a sound of injustice, so he was respected by everyone. According to reports, in May 1989, Cui Jian performed in Tiananmen Square in support of the students on hunger strike and sang songs such as “Rock and Roll on the New Long March Road”. After that, he was not particularly welcomed by mainland officials.
Many years ago, Cui Jian criticized in an interview with Zha Jianying, a well-known writer in Beijing: “Everyone is gambling, and no one wants to lose. In fact, this society is like a big casino, and people gamble their lives into it. No one wants to miss out. , he just wants to grasp the game, he doesn’t think about anything else.”
Regarding rock music, the Chinese rock pioneer told Zha Jianying: “Actually, China only has the phenomenon of rock music, and there is no rock music culture at all. An ordinary American spends money on rock music every month, including going to bars to listen to music, buying turntables, going to For concerts, it may be 80 yuan, maybe more. As for us, it may be 1 yuan. The rich go to karaoke. How do you compare? …… The whole media dare not touch on the problem of the system, The issue of cultural policy dare not hit this southern wall! In fact, behind the southern wall is a bright future. I think the future of Chinese rock music is bright. We should support young rock musicians unconditionally, but they have not only been banned, but also popular music. The world is too corrupt, from the media, record companies, agents to music critics, often the wool comes out of the cow.”
In fact, Cui Jian Cui Jian’s last album “Light Frozen” won the Golden Melody Award “Best Singing Recording Album”. After a lapse of 6 years, the 7th album “Flying Dog” released won the male singer award.
Compared with their predecessors, young Taiwanese musicians are not particularly familiar with or have Cui Jian as their teacher. But Cui Jian’s rock spirit is still deeply respected by Chinese fans.
In April 2022, Cui Jian held an online concert. According to reports, the number of online viewers exceeded 40 million, breaking China’s Internet-related records. The WeChat public account “World Music” exclusively claims that, for Cui Jian’s music fans of that generation, the memories of youth related to the latter, “store all their enthusiasm and rebelliousness: livehose, music festivals, workers’ sports, taokou tapes ( Editor’s note: It means that the records or tapes released by China Western Records in those years did not sell out the returned goods, and sold them in the hutongs of Beijing).”
After the concert, he said in an interview, “In the past few decades, everything that should not have changed has changed, and nothing that should have changed has changed.”
image source,Lin Mao
Lily Flower Orchestra member (left and right) who won the Golden Melody Award for Best Taiwanese Album and Lin Mao (middle) who was nominated for Best Music Video Director
Golden Melody Awards Political Insulator?
Under the changes of Taiwan’s official cultural policy, this old-fashioned music award sponsored by Taiwan’s official government has also begun to break the dominant principle of “Mandarin” as the award. This means that Taiwanese, Hakka or Aboriginal albums and singer awards are no longer ranked in the “Dialect” category. Albums in different languages can compete with Mandarin albums for awards such as Best Album of the Year or Best Song of the Year.
In 2017, Billboard, an international music magazine, called the Golden Melody Award the Grammy Award for Chinese-speaking regions.
In terms of female singers shortlisted this year, there are Tanya Tsai from Singapore and Eli Gaolu, a well-known aboriginal singer in Taiwan, and many songs are in Chinese and English. The topics discussed in each album are different, including transgender issues, reflection on the new crown epidemic, and Taiwan’s political and social identity. Some netizens said that these blooming music is itself a political statement.
Some analysts also said that the so-called music has nothing to do with politics, which means that political groups or the government do not intervene in jury voting, but musicians should not be censored if they express any political opinions. For example, Jiang Huiyi, who won the Best Taiwanese Female Singer for the second time this year, said in her acceptance speech: “I hope that Taiwanese can be inherited and evolved, no matter what language is used to speak now, I hope everyone from different positions can respect each other and be able to Cherish this proud democracy.”
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen also congratulated Cui Jian and Qiu Chen on social media after the results of the Golden Melody Awards were announced: “No matter where we come from or what language we speak, we are one family in Taiwan,” she said.