Cultural Hybridization in a 1930s Taiwanese Popular Song

In their article "Cultural Hybridization in a 1930s Taiwanese Popular Song" Mei-Wen Lee and Timothy P. Urban present a comparison of the three different sets of lyrics used for the melody of the 1930s Taiwanese popular song, "Moonlight Sorrow": Taiwanese lyrics used by Yu-Xian Deng and Tian-Wang Chou in their 1933 arrangement, Japanese lyrics by Kurihara Hakuya from the late 1930s, and Mandarin lyrics added by Nu Chuan in the 1960s. Lee and Urban examine three orchestral settings of the "Moonlight Sorrow" melody. In the first orchestral version Japanese composer Hayakawa Masaaki uses the melody in a manner similar to that of The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi. In the second arrangement Russian composer Yuri Yakushev combines a domra (a traditional Russian plucked string instrument) with instruments from both a classical orchestra and a jazz band in an easy-listening, Beguine-style. The last arrangement examined is by Taiwanese composer Szu-Hsien Lee who combines Western Baroque orchestration (with the addition of a clarinet) with Western triadic harmonies and harmony derived both from the pentatonic melody itself, as well as from the open string tuning of traditional Chinese instruments. Mei-Wen Lee and Timothy P. Urban, "Cultural Hybridization in a 1930s Taiwanese Popular Song" page 2 of 11 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.2 (2013): Thematic Issue Asian Culture(s) and Globalization. Ed. I-Chun Wang and Li Guo Mei-Wen LEE and Timothy P. URBAN Cultural Hybridization in a 1930s Taiwanese Popular Song During the last two decades of the Japanese colonization of Taiwan (1895-1945), a new vocal genre emerged, Taiwanese popular songs. Reaching their peak of popularity from 1932 to 1939, these songs share many musical and textual similarities with Shanghai popular songs which appeared at approximately the same time, namely the use of Western instrumental accompaniment, chromaticism and modulation, recurring melodic motifs, and use of language and expressions not normally found in public discourse (see Chen). These two popular song genres differed in their use of language: Shanghai popular songs used Mandarin rather than the local Shanghai dialect, while Taiwanese popular songs used exclusively the local Taiwanese dialect. These Taiwanese popular songs were the staple of the fledgling recording industry developing in Taiwan at this time. The initial popularity of Taiwanese songs can be traced to 1931 with the successful promotion of桃 記 (The Peach Blossom is Weeping), a Shanghai silent film. The film was successful in China and to make it equally appealing to audiences in Taiwan, it was given a feature song of the same title written by local musician Yun-Feng Wang ( ) with Taiwanese lyrics by the popular movie talkie Tian-Ma Zhan ( ). The style of the song differed from that used in local musical/dramatic productions by utilizing a Western band underlying a sing-able melody. In the early 1930s, the Taiwanese composer,Yu-Xian Deng (鄧 賢 1906-1944) arranged a song with Taiwanese lyrics called "Moonlight Sorrow." This song was included in a 1933 release by Kulunmeiya (Taiwan branch of Columbia Records) and enjoyed immediate success and continues to enjoy great popularity in Taiwan. Deng was born of Hakka Chinese descent in Long-Tan ( 潭) Taiwan and in 1928 went to Japan to study music theory and composition at the Tokyo Music Conservatory. After returning to Taiwan, he was invited to work for Kulunmeiya and composed many Taiwanese popular songs for them. His arrangements featured much melodic repetition making the melodies easy for the general public to quickly learn and sing. Deng found inspiration in his native Taiwanese music and he spent some time collecting folk songs and Taiwanese opera melodies (see Chuang). The origin of the melody of "Moonlight Sorrow remains open to debate. While it is often attributed to Deng, NaiChun Guo (郭乃 ) states that the melody of "Moonlight Sorrow" came from one of the Pin-Pu, or plain-dwelling, Taiwanese Aboriginal tribes (72-73). According to Guo, George Leslie Mackey, a Canadian missionary living in Taiwan from 1872 to 1901 (on Mackey, see, e.g., Stainton; Waugh) used the melody setting verses of text from the Book of Ruth from the Bible to teach the story of Naomi and Ruth to the Pin-Pu nation and calling the song "Naomi." Despite Guo's convincing arguments, some still believe the melody was composed by Deng (the melodies of "Naomi" and "Moonlight Sorrow" are compared in Music Example 1, see below). Other than two small differences in melodic contour (addition of an unaccented upper-neighbor in measures 7 and 13, and a reversal of the last two notes in measure 20), the only differences are rhythmic: "Naomi" is in 3, while "Moonlight Sorrow" is in 4. Although the meter shift does displace some accents, there is a surprising concordance in the placement of the longer melodic notes. The Taiwanese lyricist and composer Tian-Wang Chou ( 1910-1988) provided the Taiwanese lyrics to Deng's "Moonlight Sorrow," as well as for many other popular songs. In his lyrics, Chou frequently uses images of moon, night, rain and flowers as metaphors for sadness and pain. Such nature metaphors figure prominently in Taiwanese popular songs from the colonial period. The lyrics of "Moonlight Sorrow" are typical of the nostalgic, sentimental love songs of this time: The moon lights up the three-line road with gentle breeze. The person I await has not yet come. I have deep doubt in my mind if he will show up. Ah, sorrowful moonlight. 月色照在三線路,風吹微微,等待的人那未來。 心內真可疑,想未出彼個人,啊,怨嘆月暝。 Yearning for you in the deep night as the cicadas are crying. The shadow of the tree makes me even sadder. My heart is sore and my eyes are filled with tears. Ah, meaningless moonlight. Mei-Wen Lee and Timothy P. Urban, "Cultural Hybridization in a 1930s Taiwanese Popular Song" page 3 of 11 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.2 (2013): Thematic Issue Asian Culture(s) and Globalization. Ed. I-Chun Wang and Li Guo 更深無伴獨相思,秋蟬哀啼,月光所照的樹影, 加添阮傷悲,心頭酸目屎滴,啊,無聊月暝。 We are really meant to become strangers. Why did the one I love leave me? Can we only meet in dreams and sing unendingly this heartbreaking song. Ah, blue moonlight. 敢是註定無緣份,所愛的伊,因何乎阮放未離。 夢中來相見,斷腸詩唱未止,啊,憂愁月暝。 Dozens of these sentimental love songs in the Taiwanese dialect flooded the airwaves during the 1930s, but were cut-off abruptly by the onset of the second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 when the Japanese changed their initial policy of "colonial assimilation" (doka) to that of "imperialization" (komika) (Hsieh 278). Under this policy, popular songs and traditional instruments were banned and the Taiwanese were forced to learn Japanese and sing and listen to Japanese songs. Many of the most popular songs of the time such as "Moonlight Sorrow" were given new lyrics in Japanese and changed from love songs to patriotic songs to help instill in the fledgling colony a sense of belonging to the Japanese empire and create a sense of Japanese identity among the Taiwanese. With its new Japanese lyrics by Hakuya "Moonlight Sorrow" became known as "Soldier's Wife" (Chuang 41-43): For my country, called to war with honor, far away to the East China Sea, Ah! Crossing over the wave 御国の為に 召されて遠く 東シナ海 はるばると おお濤越えて 為著國家,光榮徵召,遙遠的東中國海,啊!過波濤. Green little hill, parting with you, you were told only fight to death, Ah! never can I forget. 緑の丘に 別れし姿 死んで帰ると あの言葉 おお今もなお 草綠小丘,離別姿影,你說戰死才歸來,啊!永不忘. Tonight's sky with moonlight, brightness like a mirror, shadowed over you, Ah! How much I miss you. 鏡のような 今宵の月に 君よ面影 うつせかし おおしたわしや 今宵皎明,光如明鏡,照著你的身影,啊!好思念. The Soldier's wife, Japanese woman, languish like flowers, I do not cry, Ah! Never cry. 軍 の よ の女 と るなら きはせぬ おお きはせぬ 軍伕之妻,日本女性,如花凋謝我不泣,啊!絕不泣. Although the melody was left unchanged, the music was given a new arrangement with a faster tempo. In a performance recorded in 1933 of Yu-Xian Deng's arrangement of "Moonlight Sorrow," the tempo is quarter note = 68. In a recording from the early 1940s, "Soldier's Wife" is performed at a tempo of quarter note = 100. Although "Soldier's Wife" retained Deng's simple eighth-note accompaniment, his boom-chuck pattern is replaced with a more static repeated eighth-note pattern and is played on strummed strings and a simple Dixie-land band-style ensemble while the original arrangement of Deng Yu-Xian is reminiscent of Taiwanese opera in both the instrumentation and in the melodic interplay between the various instruments during the interludes. The faster tempo and up-dated accompaniment of "Soldier's Wife" transforms the very nostalgic and lyrical "Moonlight Sorrow" into an inspiring, march-like song. Both versions are from the perspective of a woman: a proud wife filled with love for her absent soldier husband in "Soldier's Wife" and a sorrowing, abandoned lover in "Moonlight Sorrow." Both Chou and Kurihara mention moonlight, going away, missing a loved-one, but Kurihara never mentions sorrow; he never uses words such as meaningless, or blue. Rather, he uses phrases such as "crossing over the waves", "never forget" and "never cry." It is clear that Kurihara's wife is sad but has a strong, resolute mind. This change subtly informs the listener that the Japanese, even their women, (perhaps referring to the new Taiwanese colonists?) are strong and can look forward to a bright future. Although Japan's period of "imperialization" lasted only eight years, it had a profound effect on Taiwanese popular music. Under this policy Taiwanese composers and lyricists retreated to a realm of metaphor, simile and oblique reference, emphasizing a sad, hopeless, and passive state of mind. People vented their distress and dissatisfaction about social issues in the connotation of love songs (Chien 64). Although officially banned after 1937, these songs continued to be performed in private gatherings and the recordings were played in private houses. Mei-Wen Lee and Timothy P. Urban, "Cultural Hybridization in a 1930s Taiwanese Popular Song" page 4 of 11 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.2 (2013): Thematic Issue Asian Culture(s) and Globalization. Ed. I-Chun Wang and Li Guo A further set-back to Taiwanese popular songs occurred in 1949 when Chiang Kai-Shek and the Kuomintang Party arrived in Taiwan and imposed martial law. Under martial law, Mandarin became the official language and the local Taiwanese dialect was suppressed, once again driving Taiwanese popular songs underground (on this, see, e.g., Lee, Pei-Ping). Their popularity continued among the lower class inhabitants of Taiwan, many of whom did not speak or understand Mandarin. The immensely popular Taiwanese singer, Teresa Deng (鄧 君 1953-1995), made numerous recordings during the late 1960s including "Moonlight Sorrow" with new lyrics in Mandarin by Nu Chuan ( 奴 1922-) and a new title, "Good-bye My Love": It is so late, the meeting, yet we must again part, deeply staring at each other, with no words, when can we see each other again. / We do not know which year, we do not know which month, we do not know which day, Ah, Good-bye, my love. 相見已晚,又要分手,痴痴相望,默默無言,何時能見,不知那一年,不知那一月,不知那一天,啊,情人再見. Our meeting time is short, parting time is long, endless heartbreak, endless sadness, when / can we see each other again. / We are only afraid the sea will dry out, only afraid the stones will crash, only afraid the other will change, Ah, Good-bye my love. 相見時短,離別時長,無限傷心,無限心酸,何時能見,只怕海已枯,只怕石已爛,只怕人已變,啊,情人再見. Finally we meet today, yet we must part again, endless heartbreak, endless pain, when can we see each other again. / We will never change our love, we will never change our feeling, we will never change our mind, Ah, Goodbye my love. 如今相見,又要分手,無限傷心,無限苦痛,何時能見,我倆情不變,我倆意不變,我倆心不變,啊,情人再見. Chuan's Mandarin lyrics, like Chou's Taiwanese lyrics for "Moonlight Sorrow," have three verses and describe the pain of parting lovers not knowing when they will see each other again. While Chou is very poetic and indirect, varying his ending-phrases, Chuan uses the same phrase, "Ah, good-bye my love" at the end of each verse, in the lyrics of "Good-bye, My Love" the expressions of sadness and parting are quite direct while the lyrics of "Moonlight Sorrow" use evocative phrases such as "moon lights up the three-line road," "cicadas were crying," and "the shadow of the tree," and only indirectly hint at the pain in the singer's mind. While the lyrics of "Moonlight Sorrow" have had numerous transformations, the melody of "Moonlight Sorrow" underwent very little alternation. Only the tempo and accompaniment changed according to the nature of the lyrics. From the 1960s to the 1980s, both "Moonlight Sorrow" and "Good-bye, My Love" appeared on several low-budget recordings and remained popular in local entertainment venues, finding new fans with the advent of karaoke in the 1970s. During this time, however, it was only at the lower end of the socio-economic ladder that this kind of music remained popular. In 1987 the Taiwan government suspended martial law and moved the country to democracy electing its first native-born president in 1990. Under this new, democratic government, great efforts were made to promote "nativist" education in elementary and secondary schools, by teaching the natural history, geography, environment, dialects, art and culture of Taiwan (Law and Ho 89-90). However, early Taiwanese popular music seldom appeared in the text book for schools. Young generations are much more familiar with Western popular music and newly composed Taiwan popular songs than with the early Taiwanese popular songs. In the past thirty years, the performance and publication of arrangements of early Taiwanese popular songs have undergone a tremendous resurgence, calling attention to their beauty and refinement. Ironically, most of these arrangements and recordings are strictly instrumental, presenting only the melody of the original songs draped in new accompaniments. Even devoid of the lyrics, these original melodies seem to stir a sense of nostalgia and cultural pride among some Taiwanese. A survey of published recordings of Taiwanese popular songs from the last thirty years found that both Western and Taiwanese musicians were involved. Not surprising, these recordings use primarily Western musical language and many display the differing cultural backgrounds of the composers and performers. The following three recordings which contain "Moonlight Sorrow" will serve as examples illustrating some of the different motivations for producing new arrangements of Taiwanese popular songs. These three recordings were chosen because: 1) they all used an orchestra as the performing media, 2) they are all still commercially available today, and 3) the orchestras and Mei-Wen Lee and Timothy P. Urban, "Cultural Hybridization in a 1930s Taiwanese Popular Song" page 5 of 11 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.2 (2013): Thematic Issue Asian Culture(s) and Globalization. Ed. I-Chun Wang and Li Guo arrangers of these three recordings represent three very different cultures: Japanese, Russian, and Taiwanese respectively. From 1978 to 1979 Japanese composer and conductor Masaaki Hayakawa studied Baroque music and classical dance in Vienna and Munich. In 1984 Hayakawa chose twelve Taiwanese popular songs and mixed them with Vivaldi's Four Seasons, calling the resultant arrangement 季 (Four Seasons of Taiwan: Folk Melodies à la Baroque). "Moonlight Sorrow" is used in the second movement, titled "Autumn." Hayakawa mentioned that while working on the Taiwanese folk and popular songs, the beautiful melodies were his first concern (Personal Interview, 2011). After first immersing himself in the melodies, he added harmony and instrumental colors, realizing in the process that even though there was a great deal of pentatonicism in the melodies, they sounded Western to him. Therefore, he never tried to imbue the music with an Eastern flavor, basing his arrangements on his own reaction to the melodies. In 1991, Daniel Cho ( 敬) heard a performance by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra in the National Concert Hall in Taiwan. He was touched and stunned by the music produced by the orchestra, inspiring him to work with the Russian orchestra to "recreate" Taiwanese music. Tai-Hsiang Lee shared the same thought; that music native to Taiwan would be bound to take on an entirely new look if arranged and introduced by one of the world's famous symphony orchestras. The two men decided to make a 10-CD recording called 年歌 經 (Taiwan Hundred Years Favorites). All the pieces on the CDs are instrumental and performed by the New Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. According to Cho, the music was arranged by ten Russian composers who were conservatory professors, popular songs writers, and film music writers. Since Cho's goal was to reinvigorate Taiwanese songs rather than simply rearrange them, he decided to use an all Westernstyle arrangement. "Moonlight Sorrow" is on disc 2 in this collection. The music was arranged by Yakushev (no information about the arranger was provided). His arrangement for "Moonlight Sorrow" is in an easy-listening Beguine style. The instrumentation is a mixture of orchestra (strings, flute, horn, trumpet, trombone, harp, glockenspiel) and band (drum, guitar, bass guitar, keyboard), with the addition of a domra (a Russian folk instrument belonging to the lute family with metal strings). Despite the large orchestration, the arrangement is light and cheerful. In 2006, Taiwanese composer Szu-Hsien Lee was commissioned by the Taiwanese orchestra, Baroque Camerata, to arrange twelve Taiwanese folk and popular songs. These were recorded as Splendor: When Western Baroque Meets Taiwanese Folk Songs. The Baroque Camerata is a chamber orchestra consisting of harpsichord and strings, producing a light and transparent color. Unlike Hayakawa's Four Seasons of Taiwan, Splendor includes one woodwind (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn) in each piece to create a different combination of colors. "Moonlight Sorrow" is the fourth song of the recording and Lee added a clarinet to share the melody with the violins. According to Lee, her arrangement has a "stronger Taiwanese flavor and also is mixed with various western musical styles other than Baroque" (Lee, Szu-Hsien, "The Fusion"). Devoid of its lyrics, what can "Moonlight Sorrow" communicate to an audience? When audiences listen to an orchestrated, jazzy, cheerful sounding "Moonlight Sorrow," only those who know the lyrics are likely to experience its original nostalgic flavor. By comparing Deng's original 1933 arrangement of "Moonlight Sorrow" with the instrumental arrangements by Hayakawa, Yakushev, and Lee, we see that not only is the instrumentation different, but each also changes the structure and style as well, employing different harmonies, and subtly changing tonalities to fit the individual arrangements. Example 2 shows the melody and underlying harmony of the 1930s arrangement of "Moonlight Sorrow" by Deng. The form of the song is strophic with three verses, an instrumental introduction, interludes between each verse and a postlude. The interlude between strophes 2 and 3 and the postlude are complete restatements of the entire melody of the song. Thus, the melody is heard completely five times in the complete song. The introduction and first interlude are short sections of the melody, all of which emphasize the overall importance of the melody in this arrangement. Such repetition of the melody is a typical and important feature of popular songs from this period making the melody easy for the general populace to learn. The strophic form of "Moonlight Sorrow" is retained in all three orchestral versions but with slight differences. The structure of Hayakawa's (Example 3) and Yakushev's (Example 4) share some superficial similarity: both open with a short introduction, and include an interlude and postlude, none of which use material from the theme (A section). The similarity of these two arrangements ends Mei-Wen Lee and Timothy P. Urban, "Cultural Hybridization in a 1930s Taiwanese Popular Song" page 6 of 11 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.2 (2013): Thematic Issue Asian Culture(s) and Globalization. Ed. I-Chun Wang and Li Guo here. Yakushev's arrangement is nearly twice the length of Hayakawa, in part because while Hayakawa presents the melody only twice, Yakushev presents the melody three times, corresponding to the three texted verses of the original. Both of these arrangements have introductions that are shorter than the melody itself (8 mm in Hayakawa and 4 mm in Yakushev). However, the interlude and postlude of Yakushev are much longer than Hayakawa's. Hayakawa imitates the second movement of "Autumn" in Vivaldi's Four Seasons by using only a simple arpeggiated chord progression for the introduction, interlude and postlude. Rhythmically, this broken chord pattern is in running eighth-note triplets which creates a gentle, undulating forward flow and spreads the accompaniment over a relatively wide range (in each measure a two octave span is covered). Arpeggios also keep the accompaniment texture very thin and transparent as only a single pitch is played at a time. The effect is further heightened by the rapid decay of the harpsichord sound. (Hayakawa, track 8). Contrasting with this undulating, wide-ranging accompaniment is the very legato melody, played by the violins. To intensify the transparent texture, Hayakawa places the melody almost exclusively on the two upper strings of the violin. Thus, even though the harpsichord accompaniment traverses a two-octave range in each measure, it lies almost exclusively in the C2-C4 octaves while the violins are kept in the C4-C6 octaves. A slow-moving bass line, played softly by the cellos provides the necessary balance to the higher, flowing melody of the violins. The second violins and violas are used effectively to provide soft echoing phrases under the long sustained notes of the violins that end each of the melodic phrases and sub-phrases. These echoes serve to keep a slower moving melody present above the constant motion of the continuo accompaniment. Hayakawa's introduction seems intended to establish a background mood or feeling and employs a very simple diatonic chord progression with very slow harmonic rhythm. But the mood created is unsettled because of the tonal ambiguity. Repeated reference to the relative minor and delayed arrival at the major tonic until the end of the introduction serves to create a wavering harmonic fabric well suited to the ill-defined tonality of the pentatonic melody. Yakushev also plays with the tonal ambiguity of pentatonicism by similarly emphasizing the relative major-minor relationship, but his introduction begins with a strong major tonic chord and by using an electronic keyboard solo to present a pentatonic melodic fragment loosely based on the closing phrase of the melody he immediately emphasizes the primacy of the melodic component over the harmonic background. The harmony is pushed further into the background when under the sustained note in measure 4 at the end of the introduction the true Beguine-style is heard. A Bolerotype rhythmic ostinato with accents on the off-beat eighth-notes is maintained through the remainder of the piece. Yakushev creates an interesting effect by juxtaposing the sound of a domra, with its rapid tremolo, playing the melody against the sustained sound of the bowed strings playing counterpoint. The domra is replaced at the end of the first melodic statement by the electric keyboard and glockenspiel. The texture throughout Yakushev's arrangement is denser than in Hayakawa's arrangement and he uses a greater variety of instrumental colors. As a result of this, a very different mood is created. Contributing to this is the fact that Yakushev's tempo is nearly double that used in Hayakawa's arrangement. In the latter, the running triplets in the continuo line seem to be the dominant rhythmic unit, while in the Yakushev's arrangement, although the meter is identical to that of Hayakawa's, the primary rhythmic unit seems to be the half-note, creating a feeling of a relaxed cut-time (New Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, disc 2, track 3). Lee's overall approach to "Moonlight Sorrow" (Example 5) is considerably more sophisticated and nuanced than either Hayakawa's or Yakushev's and her usage of the melody is much more delicate. She divides the melody into two parts, a and b, and uses the b section as the main melodic material in the introduction, interlude and postlude. After the short introduction, the first verse begins with the a section played by the clarinet. This is immediately repeated by the violin. The clarinet then returns to present the b section, which is repeated, setting up the expectation of an a a || b b form. However, the repetition of the b section is extended and serves as the interlude and effects a modulation from C major to D major. The second verse, now in D major, unfolds without the repetition of the a section. At the end of this second verse, what at first sounds like a simple repetition of the concluding b Mei-Wen Lee and Timothy P. Urban, "Cultural Hybridization in a 1930s Taiwanese Popular Song" page 7 of 11 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.2 (2013): Thematic Issue Asian Culture(s) and Globalization. Ed. I-Chun Wang and Li Guo section is again used for a different purpose. Here, Lee uses the repetition of the b section as the postlude, with a slight inflection to the minor mode by use of a borrowed iv chord. Although her arrangement of "Moonlight Sorrow" was written for a Baroque chamber orchestra and the triad is the primary harmonic unit in keeping with the Baroque context, Lee uses many modal chords to emphasize the modal characteristics of the melody. Lee applies the intervals between the open strings of the Pipa (mostly A-D-E-A), Guqin (mostly C-D-F-G-A-C-D), and Guzhang to create the sonority of traditional Chinese or Taiwanese instruments. The harpsichord is often responsible for establishing these modal sonorities, giving it a more varied role than it has in Hayakawa's arrangement where it is strictly a continuo instrument. As Wai-Chung Ho stated, "the evolution of Taiwan's popular music has always been connected with the state's production of new ideologies in line with changing socio-political and economic conditions, and this music still embodies a functional social content" (120). In its several manifestations and transformations, "Moonlight Sorrow" is reflective of the cultural and social issues which played out through the history of Taiwan since the late nineteenth century. More recent changes in the political landscape have fostered a re-evaluation of Taiwan's identity and past, favoring development of a growing sense of "Taiwanese" identity that is not "Chinese." Of course, these changes did not come easily. From the 1970s, politically active Taiwanese have objected to the rule of the Kuomintang Party; however, many Taiwanese also felt a kinship with Mainland China and feared provoking a military conflict with the People's Republic of China. All these factors give the 1930s Taiwanese popular songs a unique status. Nancy Guy used the text of "A Flower in the Rainy Night" as a metaphor for the people in Taiwan who still suffer from their colonial history. She states: "The text tells the story; the melody carries the message straight to the heart" (70). Indeed, the texts of "Moonlight Sorrow," "Soldier's Wife," and "Good-bye My Love" all describe the pain of parting lovers from the women's point of view. Through this metaphor, they also present the history of Taiwan. When the people in Taiwan started to consider themselves Taiwanese instead of Chinese, they grasped those melodies which "carried the message straight to the heart," inviting foreign musicians in the 1980s and 1990s to "refine" them. It was not until after the turn of the century that Taiwanese musicians like Lee and the local recording industry began to rediscover and take an interest in Taiwanese popular songs. These newer arrangements are more sophisticated and composers made deliberate attempts to imbue them with a "Taiwanese flavor." For the first time, this music began to appear in the concert hall, at first as encore pieces but then as their popularity increased, as featured components of the program. For Taiwanese living abroad surrounded by foreigners, obliged to conform to foreign customs and use a foreign language, the situation is similar to colonial Taiwan under Japanese domination and these arrangements became especially meaningful, often arousing strong emotions and feelings of nostalgia. As Simon Frith states, "Identity is not a thing but a process – an experiential process which is most vividly grasped as music. Music seems to be a key to identity because it offers, so intensely, a sense of both self and others, of the subjective in the collective" (Frith 110). Although the various lyrics for the "Moonlight Sorrow" melody were all written in the manner of popular songs and only played a part in the lives of Taiwanese at the lower end of the socio-economic ladder, as the elite in society begin to find their identities as Taiwanese, they will realize that these popular songs of the 1930s are an integral part of their cultural heritage. Mei-Wen Lee and Timothy P. Urban, "Cultural Hybridization in a 1930s Taiwanese Popular Song" page 8 of 11 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.2 (2013): Thematic Issue Asian Culture(s) and Globalization. Ed. I-Chun Wang and Li Guo Example 1. Comparison of the melodies of "Naomi" and "Moonlight Sorrow": Example 2. "Moonlight Sorrow." Original arrangement of Deng sung by Chun-Chun. Transcribed from . Mei-Wen Lee and Timothy P. Urban, "Cultural Hybridization in a 1930s Taiwanese Popular Song" page 9 of 11 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.2 (2013): Thematic Issue Asian Culture(s) and Globalization. Ed. I-Chun Wang and Li Guo Example 3. Hayakawa's arrangement of "Moonlight Sorrow." Transcribed from Hayakawa, track 8. Example 4. Yakushev's arrangement of "Moonlight Sorrow." Transcribed from New Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, disc 2, track 3. Mei-Wen Lee and Timothy P. Urban, "Cultural Hybridization in a 1930s Taiwanese Popular Song" page 10 of 11 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 15.2 (2013): Thematic Issue Asian Culture(s) and Globalization. Ed. I-Chun Wang and Li Guo Example 5. Lee's arrangement of "Moonlight Sorrow," Splendor.