A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:
It’s that time of year again here in New York City. Spring is upon us, and as the weather warms up you’ll find street fairs popping up all around the city. I’ve already run into a couple of them. If you have ever been in the city at this time of year, you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s hard to miss it when you come across blocks and blocks of a wide New York City avenue that are closed off to traffic, and bustling with pedestrians instead. You’ll smell the aroma of mouthwatering foods wafting in the air, and see a variety of vendors hawking their wares. Imagine a massive flea market and a block party all rolled into one.
In the summer New York City is known for its free, open air, outdoor, public events with all sorts of cultural offerings ranging from classical music performances in Central Park to screenings of blockbuster movies at one of the Hudson River Park piers.
Most notable for the Talking Taiwan podcast and our listeners, is the Passport to Taiwan, an outdoor festival dedicated to celebrating everything related to Taiwan. The festival takes place every May in Union Square Park and is a chance for the public to experience Taiwanese culture. There are arts and crafts demonstrations, community organizations represented, the ever-popular Taiwanese food stalls, and live music performances. Passport to Taiwan has been going on for 14 years and last year an estimated 10, 000 people were in attendance.
The Hello Taiwan concert series was born out of the Passport to Taiwan and brings musical artists from Taiwan to New York to perform at the festival. This year’s Hello Taiwan musical artists are truly representative the ethnic diversity of Taiwan.
Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Ysanne Spevack, the producer of this year’s Hello Taiwan Tour. Ysanne herself is an accomplished musician who works with up-and-coming musical artists. I was really impressed with how she has embraced Taiwan and the Taiwanese music industry, which she compared to the U.K.’s. That’s high praise indeed! This year’s Hello Taiwan Tour runs May 24-29. Learn more about Hello Taiwan in this episode of the Talking Taiwan podcast.
Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:
What is the Passport to Taiwan
The origins of Hello Taiwan and the Hello Taiwan tour
The musical artists who will be performing at Hello Taiwan: Gina Can, Sean Huang, and Biung
Taiwan’s music industry and how it compares to the U.K.’s
Hello Taiwan tour dates
Taiwan’s Golden Melody Awards, Taiwan’s equivalent of the Grammys
Ysanne’s advice for aspiring musicians
Related Links:
Hello Taiwan Website
Treya's Pledge Music Campaign is now LIVE
http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/treya
To purchase tickets
Passport to Taiwan website
Ysanne’s personal website
http://www.helloysanne.com
Ysanne’s company website for Cherry Plum Media
http://cherryplum.media
A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin: My guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan, Lisa Cheng Smith, has channeled her love of Taiwanese food, cooking and premium ingredients into creating Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry. Yun Hai sources premium ingredients for Taiwanese cooking, directly from artisans, farms, and soy sauce breweries in Taiwan. In
Read More
A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin: There has been a surge in Taiwan’s coronavirus cases since about mid-May, and Taiwan is now on COVID alert level 3, one level before full lockdown. I’ve invited Courtney Donovan Smith on to Talking Taiwan to talk about what led to the increase in COVID cases, the current
Read More