The typical story presented in documentary films of people under colonial rule focuses on their tragic lives or their stifled outcries of oppression....
The typical story presented in documentary films of people under colonial rule focuses on their tragic lives or their stifled outcries of oppression. A departure from this model, VIVA TONAL- THE DANCE AGE goes beyond the dichotomy of the rulers and the ruled. Opening with a Taiwanese-language popular song, it returns to the scene of history with Ai-ai(愛愛), a grandmother and former mega pop star. In early twentieth-century Taiwan, under Japanese colonial rule, young men and women moved to the rhythms of Western and Japanese music, dancing the waltz and foxtrot as they yearned for a fresh new world and free love. Against a soundtrack featuring rare original records from this era, the documentary film VIVA TONAL- THE DANCE AGE recaptures the era's atmosphere of innovation and dreams...
Detailed Synopsis
Grandma Ai-ai and five former employees of Columbia Records(古倫美亞) in Taiwan sit together at the Bolero Cafe in Taipei, humming "The Dance Age,"(跳舞時代) a tune carried on the lips of young men and women on the very same Taipei streets seventy years ago. They wear smiles as their minds take them back to that time.
The year is 1933, and Japan has ruled Taiwan for nearly 40 years. Despite yielding authority over political, economic and cultural affairs to the Japanese, Taiwan nevertheless enjoyed the rapid socio-economic progress brought about by Japan's extensive investment in modern development. This period marked the Golden Age of Taiwanese-language pop music, and Ai-ai was a contracted recording artist for Columbia Records during this time.
The early twentieth century saw the introduction of the convenient tools of advanced civilization, including electric lights, telephones, running water, and airplanes, and the transportation of people and goods was greatly expedited by the completion of the north-south railway in 1908. The Meiji Restoration ushered in full Westernization to Japan, and as Japan's first colony Taiwan was exposed to the considerable influence of Western thinking. Men began cutting off their Manchu queues, and women unbound their feet, while public primary schools were established throughout the island. Meanwhile, Western modes of recreation and entertainment, including cinema, phonographs and records, were introduced via Japan to Taiwan, giving rise to the formation of a new urban fashion culture.
Japanese pop music records were imported in extensive volume to Taiwan beginning in 1928, yet Shojiro KASHIWANO（柏野正次郎）, the Japanese head of Columbia Records in Taiwan, insisted Columbia enlist native Taiwanese writers to produce original Taiwanese songs to maintain its grasp on the record market. The following year, 1929, the first Taiwanese-language pop songs were released.
In 1933, KASHIWANO resolved to expand operation of Taiwanese pop recording departments, establishing the Arts and Culture Department, and enlisting songwriter CHEN Chun-Yu(陳君玉) to oversee the planning of Taiwan's first batch of purely original popular songs. The song "The Dance Age" is one example of the Taiwanese-language pop songs written by Chen. Influenced by popular music trends in Europe, America, and Japan, song styles featured waltz and foxtrot rhythms, and young men and women swayed to the rhythms as they yearned for a fresh new world and free love.
During this period, the first Golden Age of Taiwanese popular music, singers Sun-sun(純純) and Ai-ai, along with lyricists Chen Chun-Yu and CHOU Tien-Wang(周添旺), and songwriter DENG Yu-Hsien(鄧雨賢), each stood out in their fields. Their classics, such as "Melancholy Moonlit Night,"(月夜愁) "Spring Dream by the Riverside,"(河邊春夢) "Spring Wind,"(望春風) and "Rainy Night Flowers,"(雨夜花) have continued to inspire several generations of Taiwanese songwriters to this day.
Following the Japanese invasion of mainland China, the production of original Taiwanese pop songs steadily declined until Taiwanese pop music was completely displaced by Japanese martial music and the "Dance Age" reached its end under the clouds of war. Nevertheless, thanks to the tireless efforts of Mr. LEE Kun-Cheng(李坤城), musician, aficionado, record collector, and music scholar, the production of VIVA TONAL- THE DANCE AGE is set against a soundtrack of rare original records from this era to recapture its heady atmosphere of innovation and dreams...
