Taiwanese Waves, the groundbreaking concert series that delivers the finest Taiwanese music to New York, will return to Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage on August 3rd, 2019. Boasting the largest single night attendance in SummerStage’s 30-year history for three years in a row, Taiwanese Waves is set to touchdown once again at in Central Park. Catch the newest music blossoming out of Taiwan - from Mandarin pop and R&B to piano rock - with ABAO, Tizzy Bac, 9m88, and Wan Fang.
9m88
9m88 aka. Baba is a Taipei-raised, New York-based musician. After receiving a degree as a jazz voice major from The New School, she has broadened her interest in various genres of music, including jazz, R&B, pop, and free improvisation. Baba is also known for infusing her music with vivid and retro visuals. Her lyrics usually deal with personal bitter-sweet stories on a daily basis. After releasing her 7-inch vinyl Nine Head Hinano, including a cover of city-pop classic “Plastic Love”, Baba has gained more attention over the world. 9m88 is now working on her debut album independently, which will be released in summer 2019.
ABAO
ABAO was born in a Paiwan family in southeastern Taiwan, and started her career as a member of the female duet ABAO & Brandy in 2003. The duet debuted with their self-titled album ABAO & Brandy in the same year. This Mandarin pop album was a critical and commercial smash, and won the duo the Best New Artist award at 2004 Golden Melody Awards. In 2016, ABAO successfully turned herself from a Mandarin pop singer into an indigenous R&B singer, and released her first indigenous R&B album Vavayan. All the songs on the album were written in the Paiwan language, and has attracted huge attention from both indigenous and non-indigenous communities. In 2017, ABAO won the Best Indigenous Album and Best Album Producer at the 28th Golden Melody Awards with Vavayan.
Tizzy Bac
Tizzy Bac was founded in 1999 by singer/keyboard player Chen Hui Ting, bassist Xu Che Yu, and drummer Lin Chien Yuan. This unique trio plays "piano rock" featuring darkly humorous lyrics that explore the problems and dilemmas of modern people in life, love, and relationships. The band has performed in major music festivals at home and abroad, such as Ho-hai-yan Gongliao Rock Festival, Simple Life Festival, Formoz Festival, Liverpool Sound City Festival in the UK, SXSW, and Fuji Rock in Japan. After a five-year hiatus beginning in 2013, Tizzy Bac reunited to record their seventh album in 2018. Sadly, during recording, bassist Che Yu, who co-created and performed on eight songs on the record, passed away following a long battle with cancer. The band pushed forward with their original goal of finishing the album before year's end. With thoughts of Che Yu and a deeper understanding of life, they pushed on and churned out Him, their most moving and mature album to date. Tizzy Bac has won several awards, including being shortlisted for the Golden Melody Awards.
Wan Fang
With a performing arts career spanning nearly thirty years, Wan Fang is one of the most recognizable and beloved voices in Taiwanese pop music. She established herself as a mainstay in the Mandopop genre during the 1990s, releasing a string of chart-topping hits, including her best-known tune, “C'est la vie, mon chéri.” To date she has released 22 full-length albums. Wan Fang also enjoys high acclaim as an actor in theater, television, and film. For her acting work, Wan Fang received Golden Bell Awards (Taiwan's highest TV and Radio broadcasting award honor) for best actress in 2004 for the TV series Cold Front Passing and best supporting actress in 2008 for the TV series Do Not Love/Etudes. Today Wan Fang remains as active as ever, always yearning to explore new territory as a performing artist. Departing from the traditional Mandopop model of collaborating with a composer and lyricist, Wan Fang is focusing more on her own songwriting and production. In 2018, she performed to full houses at Taipei Arena and Kaohsiung Arena, each show attracting some 20,000 fans -- a testament to her enduring popularity in Taiwan.
About SummerStage
Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage is New York’s largest free outdoor performing arts festival. SummerStage annually presents approximately 100 performances in 15-18 parks throughout the five boroughs. With performances ranging from American pop, Latin, world music, dance and theater, SummerStage fills a vital niche in New York City’s summer arts festival landscape. Since its inception 34 years ago, more than six million people from New York City and around the world have enjoyed SummerStage. Capital One is the Title Sponsor of SummerStage. For more information, visit www.SummerStage.org.
