Taiwan annual musical festival, “Golden Melody Award,” has announced this year’s nominees. Lin Sheng-hsiang, a graduate from the Department of Transportation Management in 1995, is nominated with seven awards, an even better performance than Jay Chou’s six nominees, with Lin’s album named, “the Nightfall”, by his band “Shenghsiang and Kiln Pit 3” Moreover, Yao Chun-min, a student in Department of Aerospace Engineering, the vocalist for his band “Wang Fu,” is nominated for the Best Band Award.
The Band “Shenghsiang and Kiln Pit 3” is composed of five members. Beside the vocalist, Lin Sheng-hsiang, the four other members are Peng Chia-hsi, Lu Chia-chun, Chung Yung-feng, and Chung Yu-feng. From the lyrics writing, composing, to arrangement, the whole album is completely created by themselves. That is why, though Hakka music is widely regarded as non-mainstream music, the judges still favor them and nominate them for the following seven awards: Best Album for Hakka Pop Music, Best Songwriter, Best Lyricist (in two categories), Best Arrangement, Best Producer, and Best Band.
It is worth mentioning that, Lin’s Album was recorded in the Carrie Chang Music Hall of TKU, and that makes the album even more special. Instead of recording in the crowded studio, the band decided to form a circle to record their album in the Carrie Chang Music Hall. In this way, they intended to bring out the effect created by the human-space relationship in that particular music hall. With the combinations of harmonica, Three-strings guitar, Chinese moon guitar, Bass and Acoustic Guitar, Lin declares that they endeavor to find a new way and future for the Hakka music.
Although the name of the band “Shenghsiang and Kiln Pit 3” may sound unfamiliar to most people, in fact, it was former named as "Kuantze Music Pit" when Lin was still a student in TKU, and won him many awards in the musical competition of TKU, “Golden Voice Award.” Afterward, the band changed its name to “Labor Exchange Band,” which also won many big awards in “Golden Melody Award” such as Best Songwriter, Best Producer and most importantly, Best Band, in competition with the popular band “Mayday.”
Lin further declares that he wants to thank his alma mater for providing him with such an excellent hall to record his album which makes these nominations possible. In explaining the meaning of his album, “the Nightfall”, he says that the name in Hakka dialect means evenfall. He intends to convey the life of a country boy who leaves his hometown and tries to become somebody in the city. The style of the album is more quite and less energetic due to the fact that he believes the music nowadays is too noisy. He hopes his album, “the Nightfall” can be a kind of background music that expresses the tranquilized thought of one’s daily life. (~ Amanda Yen )
