Taiwan''s music scene is famous for its Mandopop, with artists like Jay Chou and Jolin. But in recent years, the industry has seen more and more artists who don''t perform in Chinese. Hakka folk singer Misa stunned the industry last year with her masterful album "The Ship of Fools," which won two Golden Melody awards. Another rising star is Labaga Taru, whose electronic soundscapes have introduced Taiwan''s indigenous culture to the world. Our Sunday special report.

In the dim performance space, he manipulates laser lights with his fingertips as a drumbeat pulses. This is Labaga Taru of the Truku people. He blends his Indigenous heritage with Western electronica to create a magical sound that’s all his own.

Labaga Taru
Indigenous musician
My name is Labaga Taru. I am a Truku person from Wanrong Township, Hualien County. I grew up in a city and later got to know Western music. I’ve been integrating Western music with traditional music, to challenge the boundaries of genre.

This indolent melody is nothing like the stereotype of Hakka music. The singer is Misa, whose real name is Wen Yin-chang. In 2020, Misa won the Golden Melody Award for best Hakka album and for best Hakka vocalist. She also won that year’s Golden Indie Music Award for best folk album.

Misa
Golden Melody award winner
Musically, if I use a minor key – like a jazz or bossa nova progression – there is a bit of sadness. There’s more emotionality. It empowers the lyrics and the music to have a greater emotional impact on listeners.

Misa is a Hakka from Miaoli’s Sanwan Township. She excelled academically as a child, and was accepted to the prestigious College of Medicine of Tainan’s Cheng Kung University. But in her junior year of college, she dropped out, sparking a crisis in her family.

Misa
Golden Melody award winner
This so-called family crisis happened when I decided, at the time, that I didn’t want to continue my university studies. I didn’t want to get that degree anymore. I didn’t go home for two years. I didn’t even go home during the Lunar New Year festival. During that time, my father was deeply unhappy. So within the family, the pressure was quite intense.

As a student, Misa was in a band. As the band’s lead vocalist, she composed her first Hakka folk song, and started exploring her own creative voice.

Misa realized that music was what she wanted to do in life. Since that realization, she’s turned it into a career. Five years ago, she rented a house up in the Hsinchu mountains, using it as a studio. She devoted herself to her craft, to strengthening her weaknesses.

Misa
Golden Melody award winner
I had my blind spots. Things I couldn’t see. I felt that as long as my lyrics were good enough, as long as I had something worthy to express, I didn’t need to make an extra effort on anything else. But I have come to appreciate that music should be treated as a bridge for communication.

Misa had always been a talented writer. Early on in her career, she felt that good lyrics could carry a song, regardless of its melody or other technical craft. She later came to see that songwriting wasn’t that simple.

Misa
Golden Melody award winner
I want to reach more people. Since the language of my lyrics is an obstacle in and of itself, I’ll use the music to draw people in. I feel that this is an approach that the Hakka music industry can consider. It’s a lesson I learned my experience. Today, if I can make my music sound more like rap, make it more free and unrestrained, then I may be able to attract people who like rap music. I may be able to attract people who like to dance.

Misa knows she must first get listeners to love her music, before asking them to embrace the language and culture it represents. Here, she makes a Hakka folk tune more accessible, by infusing it with the blues.

Misa
Golden Melody award winner
I thought, hey, there’s a lot of free improvisation in traditional Hakka mountain songs. There’s also the spirit of free improvisation in jazz. Although the forms are different, I think that this is where these two genres can resonate spiritually, where a barrier can be broken.

Mandarin albums have long been dominant in Taiwan’s music industry, leaving little room for songs in Hakka or Indigenous languages. Music in these languages are highly niche, rarely breaking into the pop music mainstream. Today, many up-and-coming artists produce music independently. This means that from recording and distribution to sales, they do it all on their own.

Elaine Hsiung
Music industry veteran
I asked, “Why don’t you go find a producer who’s great at songwriting? Have the producer to make songs for your language.” And the answer was, “The producers wouldn’t know what I’m saying.” So th