Popular Music
Popular music in Taiwan was established in the 1930s. Although published records and popular songs already existed in Taiwan before 1930s, the quality and popularity of most of them was very poor. This was mainly because popular songs at the time differed slightly from traditional music like folk songs and Taiwanese opera. However, because of the rapid development of cinema and broadcasting during the 1930s, new popular songs that stepped away from traditional influences began to appear and become widespread in a short period of time.
The first accepted eminent popular song in Taiwan collocated with the Chinese movie, Peach Blossom Weeps Tears of Blood (Tao hua qi xie ji). Produced by Lianhua Productions, Peach Blossoms Weep Tears of Blood, starring Ruan Lingyu, screened in Taiwan theaters in 1932. Hoping to attract more Taiwanese viewers, the producers requested composers Zhan Tianma and Wang Yunfeng to compose a song with the same title. The song that came out was a major hit and achieved success in record sales. From this period on, Taiwanese popular music with the assistance of cinema began to rise.
Read more about this topic: Taiwan Under Japanese Rule, Culture
Famous quotes containing the words popular and/or music:
“The poet needs a ground in popular tradition on which he may work, and which, again, may restrain his art within the due temperance. It holds him to the people, supplies a foundation for his edifice; and, in furnishing so much work done to his hand, leaves him at leisure, and in full strength for the audacities of his imagination.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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