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Social movements have long used music to spread messages and rally support. Musicians from across Taiwan gathered in the southern port city of Kaohsiung recently to try to remind people of the precarious geopolitical situation in which they find their island. Ashish Valentine reports.
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ASHISH VALENTINE, BYLINE: Last weekend, tens of thousands of fans gathered to see some of the best Taiwan's music scene has to offer. The festival, which received some local government funding, took over the largest harbor in Taiwan - hence its name, Megaport.
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VALENTINE: Although they came here to blow off steam, escalating tensions between Taiwan and China were on many fans' and artists' minds. Last month, Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-te, labeled Beijing as a, quote, "hostile foreign force." Many bands urged fans to stay united, saying this isn't the first time Taiwan's people have risked their lives for a better future.
Taking the stage on the festival's second day, rock band Sorry Youth surprised everyone halfway through their set by debuting a cartoon based on a story even a kid could recognize. Three little pigs - Taiwanese pigs, that is - talk about the news, while a certain big, bad wolf lurks in the background.
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UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR #1: (As character, through interpreter) You guys really think there'll be a war?
VALENTINE: They talk about sending their kids abroad before the third little pig interrupts, saying they should stay and defend their home.
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UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR #1: (As character, through interpreter) But what do we do? We're just normal people. What power do we have?
UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR #2: (As character, through interpreter) Just one ordinary person has no power. But what about 10,000 ordinary people, 100,000, a million? So many people sacrificed themselves so we can live the way we do now. The rest is up to us.
VALENTINE: The band launched into a song called "Justice In Time."
(SOUNDBITE OF SORRY YOUTH SONG, "JUSTICE IN TIME")
VALENTINE: It pays tribute to generations of activists who resisted four decades of dictatorship, which only ended in 1987, and promises that future generations will keep their hard-won democracy safe. They weren't the only artists who worried about a potential Chinese invasion. Hip-hop artist Yang Shu-ya's single "2045" wonders what struggling for democracy would mean in Taiwan if everything burns to ashes.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "2045")
YANG SHU-YA: (Rapping in non-English language).
VALENTINE: She imagines Taiwan as a war zone under Chinese occupation, basic freedoms gone. Not everyone playing at Megaport was so forward, though. Yang says it's a result of larger tensions in the music scene.
YANG: (Through interpreter) So many artists from Taiwan decide they need to go to China to develop their careers.
VALENTINE: The result, she says, is only a handful dare to speak up openly. But Yang says she has no interest in going to China or playing by their rules.
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YANG: (Through interpreter) There's never been a separation between music and politics. Music is political.
VALENTINE: For many of the artists and fans at Megaport, they'll use the festival to celebrate and protest for as long as they can.
For NPR News, this is Ashish Valentine in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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