Thursday, June 21, 2007

UNlimited Taiwan - ChthoniC

In 2003, the black metal band “ChthoniC” won the best band prize of Taiwan Golden Melody. When the vocal Freddy took the pot from Taiwan President Chen Shui-Bian, he said “Thank you, my mother nation—Taiwan!”

ChthoniC, a black metal band of Taiwan, composes music with black metal and symphonic style and writes lyrics with Taiwan history, story and myth. Starting from 1995, the band leader Freddy also has been spending efforts to market “Taiwan Identity” in the form of public concert and other musical events with the intention to establish “Taiwan Identity” as part of the national identity. They include Formoz Festival, Say Yes to Taiwan concert, Tibetan Freedom Concert.

For far too long, China has been greedily eyeing Taiwan and regarding Taiwan as its province. Besides, many countries in the world also have allowed China to succeed in suppressing Taiwan's international presence in every possible way. Today, the reality of Taiwan as a nation is being ignored by international policy. ChthoniC thinks the rights and wishes of Taiwan's people are coldly disregarded by many international organizations which claim to support the rights of all people as equal members of the international community, free from the shackles of colonialism and servitude. Therefore, beginning in 2007, ChthoniC is going to launch its largest and most ambitious project to date; a major tour in the United States, covering fifty concerts in sixty days. And they are calling their tour "Unlimited", and this idea is from their new song “UNlimited Taiwan”.

In "Unlimited" they want to emphasize the "Unlimited" potential of Taiwan. They will also highlight "UN Limited Taiwan" to protest how the UN (United Nations) limits Taiwan's full participation as an independent country. We hope more and more international friends will understand and support Taiwan, through the "Unlimited" power of music from ChthoniC.

<UNlimited Taiwan>
To listen, please click the url:
http://myspace.com/ChthoniCtw

limited vision, limited union
unlimited division, unlimited illusion
limited freedom, limited right
unlimited island, unlimited fight

Our hearts are pounding with a heavy beat
The rights of millions lay at your feet
A society marching needs true justice
A world like this needs true union

limited vision, limited union
unlimited division, unlimited illusion
limited freedom, limited right
unlimited island, unlimited fight

We have the land, the strength, the power
Rise up, overcome, take it over
Ignored too long, we became stronger
Tear down the walls and let us run over

limited vision, limited union
unlimited division, unlimited illusion
limited freedom, limited right
unlimited island, unlimited fight
limited freedom

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Music is a good form to market Taiwan identity, and Freddy makes great efforts on this, but I wonder if it works. I doubt that how many people who listen to black metal will care about the Lyrics. Most of them just feel the power chord of the songs is cool and the drum beat is cool. I used to listen to black metal when I was in senior high, and to be frankly, most of the time, i didn't know what they were singing.
And big rock concert? I think it's truly not the good form to market issues. There are many concerts like Live 8 and Live Earth or something like this. How many people will care about the issues told on the concert? People won't care about poor in Africa and the crisis of our environment, because they just come here to see the performances. Sometimes we say that rock can change the world, but the truth is that rock and roll is not that magical.
Though I think it’s not a good idea marketing Taiwan identity through big rock concerts and black metal, it’s good to see someone trying hard to let the world has more understanding about this island.

Anonymous said...

it's always good to be idealist, especially Freddy is not only a musician but also has his own viewpoints regarding many crucial issues of Taiwan.

If you read Chinese, maybe you can check this blog, maintained by the author of the book titled "Sounds and Fury: Can Rock & Roll Change the World?" http://blog.roodo.com/SoundsandFury

Anonymous said...

i am from Finland, but still this band is going to right direction: to show how things are from their viwe and they dont care to shout it out loud!

Anonymous said...

absolutely agree!

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