TAMA Brings Taiwanese and ASEAN Music Industry Players To Discuss The New Southbound Music Policy
By The Editors
As the pandemic continues to impact many parts of the world, forging stronger ties between music communities has never been more paramount. In this regard, the Taiwan ASEAN Music Action (TAMA), a project initiated by The Ministry of Culture of Taiwan and Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia, (activated by Roar Media), seeks to forge closer ties between relevant parties, deepen links between Taiwanese music and ASEAN. It aims to strengthen exchange between Taiwanese and Southeast Asia music, and establish a cooperative network, to re-energize the “New Southbound Music Policy” and yield meaningful collaborations in the future.
TAMA is set to hold an online music symposium on May 29 (Saturday) in both Chinese and English. Music industry players from Taiwan and five ASEAN countries will be sharing about their respective local music industries as well as discussing the New Southbound Music Policy and promote exchange through conversations. The English session will start at 2pm while the Chinese session will commence at 4pm.
Conversations and collaborations
The theme for the Chinese session is “The Impact of the Pandemic on the Music Industry in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia,” by which situations in the respective countries in the past year will be discussed. The session will be hosted by PM Wong, a DJ from 988, who will be speaking with Chen Kuan Heng, the editor of Taiwanese music magazine Blow; Keon Chia, Malaysian songwriter; Shane Tan, co-founder of Malaysian indie music label Dong Tai Du; as well as Howie Tan, co-founder of Singaporean music magazine Freshmusic.
Singapore and Malaysia are the biggest Chinese music market after Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, with many Singaporean and Malaysian artists who seeking opportunities in Taiwan and establishing close relations with the Taiwanese music scene. One of the speakers of the symposium, Keon Chia, writer of Your Name Engraved Herein, won the Best Original Film Song at the Golden Horse Awards and was nominated at the Golden Melody Awards as well.
The English session, on the other hand, will see industry players from Taiwan as well as the five ASEAN countries: Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, discussing “The Opportunities and Challenges of Introducing Taiwanese Music to Southeast Asia”.
The English session will begin at 2pm on May 29, hosted by Ali Johan, a producer from BFM, who will be speaking with Piyapong (Py) Muenprasertdee , founder of Thai music platform Fungjai; Fikri Fadzil, founder of Malaysian music platform The Wknd; MC Galang, co-founder of Philippine music platform The Rest Is Noise; Satria Ramadhan, founder of Indonesian Band Management & Booking Agency called SRM Bookings & Services; David Siow, former president of Singapore’s music society SGMUSO; as well as John Huang, marketing director of Taiwanese music platform Atrip.
TAMA Online Music Symposium will be streamed live on their official Facebook page at 2pm.
Kickstarting TAMA
Under the initiatives of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia, Roar Media will perform an active role in promoting Taiwanese music in Southeast Asia.
TAMA will forge partnerships with various local media in producing both Chinese and English contents that will spark the interest of music fans in learning about the richness and diversity of Taiwanese music via online platforms through its website and social media accounts, which will engage with notable music platforms from various ASEAN countries including Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, and Thailand for artistic exchange, gaining information and networking, so that the “New Southbound Music Policy” can be enhanced and Taiwanese music can flourish in ASEAN.
As an initial step in kick-starting the project, TAMA, together with BFM and CITYPlus FM will co-produce music contents, such as radio shows and podcasts, dedicated towards Taiwanese music. TAMA and VIP @ Sin Chew will create a new column, featuring writers from different fields, to share their thoughts on Taiwanese music. Besides, TAMA will partner with “The Interview” to publish dialogues with artists and industry players to promote their music, at the same time foster better understanding of the music making process in a wider audience. TAMA will constantly look for opportunities and platforms to introduce and promote Taiwanese music.
Taiwanese music is recognized as the ‘soft power’ of Taiwan’s cultural export. For many years, the popularity of Taiwanese pop music resulted in an enormous impact in Asia. In Southeast Asia, countries with a significant Chinese population like Malaysia and Singapore are vastly influenced by Taiwanese music. However, many international music projects and tours have come to a sudden halt since the pandemic. Therefore, TAMA hopes to work alongside the media in promoting Taiwanese music, so that it will be more accessible to Malaysian as well as Southeast Asian music fans, building an audience in the ASEAN market.
For more information, visit www.taiwanaseanmusicaction.com or follow TAMA on Facebook at www.facebook.com/taiwanaseanmusicaction.
