Friday, January 31, 2025

Dream Weapons present: ILHA FORMOSA C60

Ilha Formosa means Beautiful Island. Portuguese sailors gave the island now known as Taiwan its former name in 1542. Formosa was actually the commonly used name for Taiwan up until the 1960-1970’s. Anyway here’s a collection of female singers and male instrumentalists - all originating from this beautiful island. At least according to my information. My selection contains music spanning over 15 years, from 1968 to 1983. I recognize plenty of both Chinese and Japanese material and influences. Some (or quite a few) of these melodies are based on well known South East Asian traditional songs, but presented with an «updated» westernized approach. Which was typical for this era of Asian popular music practically everywhere, except for in North Korea. This hour of 21 tunes still feature a few peculiar surprises. For instance Taiwan had their own «moogsploitation»-like scene named after Yamaha’s electronic organ series «Electone»*. A pretty amazing discovery for me personally. Full of life, lovely and charming. Enjoy! -Moahaha

*The song in the video underneath is a perfect example of that "scene"
 

1 Hua Xuanxuan / 華萱萱 - Today is Tomorrow / 今天過去是明天
2 Jenny Tseng / 甄妮 - First Meeting / 第一次見面
3 Chen Yingjie / 陳盈潔 - I'll Never Love You Again / 永遠不再愛你
4 Lam Mei-Man & Yang Zhaorong / 林美滿 & 楊昭榮  - Rain of Love / 慕情时雨
5 Yang Yan / 楊燕 - Apple Flower / 蘋果花 (song edit)
6 Di Si Nai Band / 年 狄斯奈大乐队 - 4 (unknown title)
7 Huang Shu Fen / 黃淑芬 - Manli / 蔓莉
8 The Telstar Combo / 電星樂隊 - Cherry Blossom Moon / 月桃花
9 Lin You Mei / 林友梅 - The Swallows Fly Apart / 燕分飛
10 Chan Ming Yang / 杨灿明主 - The Moon Over the Ruined Castle / 廢堡上的月亮
11 Zhao Bei Yu / 趙倍譽 - Cultivate / 耕耘

12 The Devil's Fantasy Band / 魔鬼奇幻樂隊演奏
 - Blues (from Seashore) / 藍調 (斯從 海邊)
13 Lily Chao / 趙曉君  -  Why Are You Hiding / 你何必躲避
14 Dreamy Music / 昨夜夢中  -  White Sun / 白色太陽
15 Bao Na Na / 包娜娜  -  Wedding Wishes / 婚禮祝福
16 Tsui Wing Siu Music Team / 徐永兆樂隊  -  Crimson Lotus / 紅睡蓮
17 Little White Rabbit and Little Yingge /  小白兔 & 小莺歌
 - Pinky Finger Memories / 小指の想い出
18 Wong Ngok Sang / 王粵生 - Song of the Fisherman / 漁夫之歌
19 Jin Jing / 金晶 - Taipei Nights / 臺北之夜
20 Yeung Chan Ming / 楊燦明  -  Kaworu / 川流
21 Chen Fen Lan / 陳芬蘭 - Tears of Flowers / 淚的小花

Here

or

Anyone who enjoys this, or any kind of vintage Asian music, has got to check out the one of a kind and truly amazing madrotter-treasure-hunt blog. 

+ if you prefer your mp3 cover art with a correctly spelled title, just download this image and replace the file (I originally wrote "ihla"):

11 comments:

  1. sorry but in portuguese "island" is not "ihla". It is "ilha", Anyway thank you very much for this post. https://shorturl.at/CNrhS

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  2. As a music lover, I must say that if there is something that moves and interests me a lot, it is the music of that time in Asia. The fusion of Western sounds with the ancestral tradition of these people produces, in my opinion, a unique and magical type of incomparable harmonies (recommendation: ARIRANG MOUNTAIN PASS Vol. 1 and 2, a must-see for enjoyment).

    Thank you for the well-being that you bring to our souls, my dear friend.

    CM.

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    1. I've learned that there are some distinctly (South East) Asian melodic lines that I have developed a craving for. Those often used traditional - or even ancient melodies always have a certain bittersweet, melancholic longing and mournful feel to them. At least that's my emotional response. Even when it's seemingly supposed to be lighthearted and joyful. Whether presented as Surf, Jazz, Trot, Mandopop, Enka, Electronic Music... I hear echoes of them all over the place. And yes, this is basically the same as Arirang Mountain Pass 1-3 (I hope you enjoyed the third one as well) except made by Taiwanese and not South Koreans. I'm very happy to hear that you're enjoying this - and those:)

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    2. I certainly forgot to mention volume 3, as well as a myriad of songs that fit within this period and that have appeared over the years on your compilations, such as Yanti Bersaudara (Indonesia), Yukiko Noji (Japan) or Jung Mi-Jo (Korea), to name a few artists.

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  3. Thank you for the exotic balm for my ears. :)

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    1. You're welcome and I'm glad you enjoyed it, DOOMSTERJOHN:)

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