Songs for the Island and the New World

Time: May 16 (Sat.) 19:00-21:00

Venue: Rexxam Hall (Kagawa Prefectural Hall) ・Grand, Japan

Watching channel: YouTube、Vocal Asia Facebook

Alongside the theme of the Setouchi Triennale “restoration of the Sea”, famous singers and a cappella teams from Taiwan and Japan, who are both located on the East-Asia Island Arc, including Sangpuy, Kijima Yutaka, TRY-TONE, Unlimited Tone and O-Kai Singers are invited to tell stories and pass on the messages from the islands and oceans by transforming them into stunning voices; in the phenomenal and refreshing vocal aboriginal music, folk songs, islandic tunes, traditional songs, and new creations, the songs are woven together as gifts to the world, and as odes to honor the oceans and the islands.

Performers: TRY-TONE (トライトーン), Unlimited Tone (アンリミテッドトーン), O-KAI Singers (歐開合唱團), Sangpuy (桑布伊), Yutaka Kijima (木島ユタカ), Kaichiro Kitamura (北村嘉一郎), Christine Liu (劉郁如), Simon Pan (潘絃融)

* Click here for the Concert Program.

Hakkappella! Concert

Time: May 17 (Sun.) 11:00-12:30

Venue: Hsinchu Performing Arts Center, Taiwan

Watching channel: YouTube、Vocal Asia Facebook

Each year’s Vocal Asia Festival features one musical event that integrates the given year’s theme with the culture of the host city. This year’s “Hakkappella!” will feature Hakka music and A Cappella performance, thus injecting Hsinchu’s vibrant Hakka culture into the ”Folk” -oriented festival.

Hakka culture has always played an important role in Taiwanese culture and even the culture of the greater Sinosphere. Hakka people, traditionally known for their frugality and earnestness, as well as their architecture and cuisine, also possess a very dynamic musical heritage. Through century-old folk songs, Hakka Bayin music, and even modern Hakka and popular Hakka music, they narrate their ethnic history, the story of the land, and even exchange news.

A Cappella is both a form of musical creation and a concept. What new possibilities will arise when A Cappella meets with Hakka musical tradition? We will start our journey with historied folk songs and Bayin music, before continuing to explore modern Hakka creation and reinterpretation. Finally the show will culminate in a multi-ethnic vocal performance. Within the concert, Hakka music from different eras will be performed, and we will attempt to use this space to engage in borderless exchange and understanding.

Performers: Tien Wu Beiguan Bayin Troupe (田屋北管八音團), Yu-Wei Hsieh (謝宇威), Si-Rong Lo (羅思容), MuseMic Vocal Band (慕斯麥), Torys, Boonfaysau (半肥瘦), Freewill Vocal Band (自由意志), Women of the World

* Click here for the Concert Program.

Hong Kong Twist Concert

Time: May 23 (Sat.) 11:00-12:30

Venue: Y Theatre, LG1, Youth Square, Hong Kong

Watching channel: YouTube、Vocal Asia Facebook

Hong Kong is one of the most cosmopolitan metropolis and is the cultural pot in Asia. With the unique Hong Kong style of “Coffee with Tea” and “Soy SauceWestern”“, Twist”-ing is no stranger to HongKong, where distinct ingredients conglomerate into her “native product”. Same applies to performing arts : When western A Cappella reaches Hong Kong, it has gradually fused with various performing arts. Vocal Asia has specially invited the Artistic Director Yuri Ng of Yat Po Singers, a professional A Cappella Theatrical art group in Hong Kong, along with arranger Ronald Tsang and experienced Taiwan A Cappella singers for this performance, in which they will combine, interweave, or even twist elements of choral music, video, body movements, theatre and stage props. You will experience modern vocal music presented in vintage videos and traditional Chinese songs in dramatic scenes, to count the least. This will be an experimental performance and we look forward to exploring the next stage of A Cappella with artists from all over the world.

Performers: Dorry Chien (錢沛筠), Jing-teng Lin (林靖騰), Mike Tsai (蔡明蒼), Ray Tung (董士賢), Yat Po Singers (Raoul Chan, King Lam, Ronald Tsang, Keith Wong)

* Click here for the Concert Program.