Chen Ming-chang

Chen Ming-chang (陳明章) (born July 4, 1956) is a Taiwanese folk singer, guitarist, Taiwanese yueqin player, composer, and producer born in Beitou. He is known for writing scores for the Hou Hsiao-Hsien films ''Dust in the Wind'' (1985) and '' The Puppetmaster'' (1993), as well as for songs such as "She Is Our Darling" (伊是咱的寶貝, 1993) and "Wandering to Tamsui" (流浪到淡水, 1995). He is stylistically known for singing primarily in Taiwanese Hokkien, incorporating traditional styles and instruments into his music, as well as songs that represent the Taiwanese underclass.

History

Early life

Chen Ming-chang was born in 1956 in Beitou Village, Yangmingshan Administrative Bureau (now Beitou District in Taipei). Chen Ming-chang's first musical instrument was his older brother's guitar, which his mother bought for 2700 NTD as a reward for his high school admission. His brother barely used it and left it for Ming-chang, then in his 2nd year of middle school, to play with.

In his youth, Chen Ming-chang hoped to become a baseball player. He was not very studious and in 1972, he was admitted to Fuxing Senior High School in Beitou and played first base for the high school team. He dreamed of going to the United States to play in the MLB. Neglecting his homework to practice baseball, it took him four years rather than the usual three to complete high school.

Music was just a hobby for Chen Ming-chang until his third year in high school, when he realized that despite being slow at reading music, he had a particular sensitivity toward sound and in particular could quickly transcribe any song that he heard. He began to experiment with Western-style music and joined his school's guitar club. By his account. he would often practice from 9 P.M. to 4 or 5 A.M. every night and then sleep into the afternoon before leaving for school. To avoid demerits he would sneak into the military instructor's office and doctor the roll call sheet before going to the guitar club.

Military service and afterwards

The 70s in Taiwan saw the beginning of the campus folk song movement, and it was during this time that Chen Ming-chang's natural musical talents were stirred. After graduating from high school, he formed a musical group called the Wooden Guitar Chorus (木吉他合唱團), which consisted of his friends Jonathan Lee, Chang Bing-hui (張炳輝), Cheng Wen-kui (鄭文魁), Hu Chao-yu (胡昭宇), Chen Yung-yu (陳永裕), Chiang Hsueh-shih (江學世), et cetera.

It was then that Chen began to experiment with composing music, as his singing was not good enough for the group, according to the album notes to his 1990 album ''An Afternoon Drama''. In a 2002 interview, he said that the group would practice singing during their studies at Minghsin University of Science and Technology, but since he was serving his mandatory military service at the time he couldn't participate. After he was discharged, they already had two guitarists and had no need for another. To make a living, he worked as a merchant selling a variety of goods, such as clothing, watches and pianos.

Rise of Taiwanese consciousness (1980s)

In 1982, at age 26, Chen Ming-chang's father suffered from a stroke, and he went back to Beitou to help take care of him as well as help his mother run their jewelry store. Two years later, when his younger brother finished his military service, Ming-chang decided he would try his hand at music again. His supportive mother and sister bought him a piano and a four-track recorder. They converted the fourth floor of their house into a recording studio, where Ming-chang would teach guitar in the evenings after working in the family shop.

It was during this time that Chen began to think about the question: "what is Taiwanese music?" The question was spurred by his discovery of the music of Chen Da, a Taiwanese language folk musician representative of Hengchun. Hearing Chen Da's music made Chen Ming-chang realize that his music lacked "a feeling for this land and a reflection on our local culture" and gave him a resolve to make music that belonged to Taiwan. It was around this time that Chen also learned about the 228 Incident, tearfully related to him by a drunken old man while he was on an errand in Keelung for his side business selling orchids. Since Taiwan was still under martial law at the time, Ming-chang's parents had never mentioned it to him.

Not long after, Chen Ming-chang collaborated with Chen Ming-yu (陳明瑜) and wrote his first Taiwanese language song, “The Chinese Cross to Taiwan" (唐山過臺灣), a folk song about how early Chinese settlers had first crossed the Taiwan Strait by boat. He employed more traditional Taiwanese sounds such as the pentatonic scale. In a later interview he noted that he felt that he could only express his deepest feelings through Taiwanese, not Mandarin.

Work with Hou Hsiao-hsien

After establishing his musical studio, a friend of his gave one of his cassette recordings to Hou Hsiao-hsien. After half a year, Hou's assistant gave him a call and asked if he write the musical score for ''Dust in the Wind'', which would go on to win a best music award at the Three Continents Festival

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