RSS
Experience Taiwanese American Heritage
Arts, Crafts, Music, Delicacies, Performances & Exhibitions!
Sunday May 29th, 2011 12PM – 5PM
Union Square Park North (17th Street & Park Avenue)
Come to the largest Taiwanese American Outdoor Festival in the US on May 29th to explore many wonders of the Taiwanese American Heritage. From mouth-watering delicacies, arts & crafts and live performances, you will be surrounded by the vibrant energy of the Taiwanese American Community. Explore Taiwan in the featured exhibitions. Learn various crafts with masters from Taiwan. Taste exotic snacks that can only be found in Taiwan’s night markets and enjoy performances throughout the day.
When you arrive at the “Passport to Taiwan” Festival, take a picture at the entrance near Broadway with the installation arts by Shihpao Lin. His work represents the best mix of Taiwan and the United States.
Head to the food booths and pick up some Night Market style snacks. Many unique delicacies will be available, some only in the festival.
Bubble Tea
Shaved Ice
Cold Drinks
Lovely Crystal
Tomato Platter
Dracula Lollipop
Ice Cream Wrap
Gua-Bao (Burger, Taiwanese Style)
Sticky Rice Bowl
Oden (Fish Sticks)
Grassy Pouch
Bamboo Tamale
Grilled Susage
Taiwanese Snacks
Rice with Formosa Ragu
Welluck Selects
Stroll your way thru the cultural booths that offers many distinct products from Taiwan:
Hakka “Red Flower” Fabric: This style of fabric was considered old fashion until it was used in a Paris fashion show and well received.
Towel Bakery: These realistic looking cakes are made with hand towels. This story of innovation represents Taiwanese small business striving in the global competition.
Straw Hat: Provides the best coverage to shield you from the blazing sun.
Souvenirs: Buy a key chain or souvenir license plate as a way to commemorate the day!
Aboriginal Crafts: Known for their colorful and original design. These items were directly supplied to us from the tribes in Taiwan.
You can also:
Pick up a pot of Orchid to decorate your home!
Learn how you can help out with a sustainable environment with Tzu-Chi Foundation, the largest charity in Taiwan!
Support the 2010 NY Times Teacher of the Year by buying her books and crafts made by her students.
Learn to drink Taiwanese Tea with proper etiquette with “Fang Tea”.
Get acquainted with Taiwanese American Organizations.
Learn about Insurance with Amerigroup.
Bring home an official Festival T-Shirt!
There will also be Nine Craft Masters from Taiwan to demonstrate:
Paper Parasols from Meinong / Hakka Patches
Bamboo Dragonflies / Old-Fashioned Water Guns
Weaving with Plastic Lacing / Fragrant Sachets
Glass Beads
Paper-Cutting / Dragon-Phoenix Calligraphy
Kites / Old-Fashioned Bamboo Toy Guns
Dough Figurines
Land Crackers / Bamboo Cicadas / Bamboo Tops
Calligraphy / Seal Cutting
Different Taiwanese Government Agencies will be onsite to present their services. Learn about:
Study in Taiwan
Travel in Taiwan
Conduct Businesses in Taiwan
Films from Taiwan
Not to be missed are the explosive performances on stage:
Feature MC: Alyson Schill & Andy Shaw
Alyson Schill – Artistic Planning & Operations Manager and Marketing Director for the annual Spring Scream Music and Arts Festival in Taiwan, lived, studied, worked, and traveled in Taiwan for 4 years, becoming addicted to the culture, lifestyle and cuisine of the enchanting island. While there, she was an active supporter of the local music scene, organizing festivals and concerts to try to spread knowledge and appreciation for independent and creative music. Here in America, she aims to introduce Taiwanese wisdom to the New Yorker lifestyle, such as lining up for the subway, separating trash from recyclables and compost.
Andy Shaw (Shaw Promotions) – “Made in Taiwan, Raised in NYC and Perfected in Subculture”. Born in Taiwan, Andy Shaw moved to the United States at the age of 10 with little knowledge of English or American culture. He grew up in Queens, NY during the crazy 80’s and 90’s, and graduated from LaGuardia High School (of “Fame”) studying piano and the oboe, after which he attended the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, NY, and NYC’s Fashion Institute of Technology as an Advertising and Communications major. He later set up his own marketing and promotional business, SHAW Promotion, which offers creative services nationally.
Growing up in NYC Andy embraced all the unique subcultures with skateboarding, vintage scooters, motorcycle cross country trips, music and art, and had been in few local and national bands as the bassist and often the master mind behind his each success. Andy often builds his visions and inspirations from his travels and goes on road trips as much as possible. In 2010, he decided to travel a country he loved but actually knew and remembered little about, Taiwan, his motherland. Upon arriving Taiwan, Andy immediately fell in love with the country, it’s people, culture, and of course, it’s food. With his new buddy Thomas (Skaroki-Taipei) as a sub culture guide, they attended the Spring Scream festival in Kenting where Andy saw and met many great new friends, Taiwanese and foreigners alike including Alyson Schill who will also be MCing Passport to Taiwan.
Notorious MSG
Straight off the streets of NYC’s Chinatown, The Notorious MSG are three renegade restaurant workers on a mission to blow your asses out with their high-sodium beats. One of the member Down-Lo Mein is from Taiwan.
Band Bio: Straight off the streets of NYC’s Chinatown, The Notorious MSG are three renegade restaurant workers on a mission to blow your asses out with their high-sodium beats. After years of struggling in the kitchens, Hong Kong Fever, Down-Lo Mein and the Hunan Bomb found salvation in music. Hell-bent on revenge, they formed a band and the deep-fried force of nature called The Notorious MSG were born.
Make sure to check out their anticipated new album Heavy Ghetto dropping on May 24th!
http://www.myspace.com/notoriousmsg http://notoriousmsg.com
The Hsu-Nami
An internationally renowned progressive rock band with a Song featured during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. Back from their spring Hsu-Nami Taiwan Tour, They were one of the headline bands in the famous Spring Scream festival 2011. The Hsu-Nami is Front by Rock Erhu player Jack Hsu (Taiwanese American)
Band Bio: The Hsu-nami is an international renowned progressive rock band from the United States. The Hsu-nami, named after the frontman Jack Hsu, became known as the first “Progressive Erhu Rock” band in the world. The Hsu-nami integrates an amplified “erhu”, a two-string spike fiddle used in Chinese classical and folk music, into an instrumental progressive rock sound. Their music is marked by virtuosic erhu melodies and shredding licks, in place of vocals, as intertwined by heavy guitar riffs, tasteful guitar solos, funky rhythms, and metal-driven rock drumming. Part of the new-fusion rock movement, the Hsu-nami redefines the 1960s and 1970s fusion rock sound.
Blazing the stages of the New York city area with their fiery brand of progressive rock, The Hsu-nami has been building a name and gaining fans since its inception in 2005 with an explosive live show and exceptional musicianship. Behind two independent releases, “Entering the Mandala” (2007), and “The Four Noble Truths” (2008), The Hsu-Nami has put together an impressive series of significant performances, (Most recently touring the whole country of Taiwan starting from the famous Spring Scream festival in Kenting to Kaoshung, Taichung & Taipei in April of 2011) They also headlining festivals in New York NY, Philadelphia PA, Boston MA, St Louis MO, Seattle WA Vancouver B.C and Toronto ON, as well as playing New York’s Citi Field (cap. 42, 000) and Times Square. They have also shared the stage with major acts, both domestic and international: Yellowcard (USA), Nightmare of You (USA), Bowling for Soup (USA), Chthonic (Taiwan), Van Fan (Taiwan), Dazzle Vision (Japan) and High and Mighty Color (Japan).
Hsu-Nami’s music was featured in the 2008 Summer Olympic in Beijing. The track “Rising of the sun” was the theme music representing the Chinese Basketball team entrance theme.
The Sounds of Domestic Living
Known from their youtube fundraising video for the victims of Taiwan’s Typhoon Morakot. A lo-fi video performing Taiwanese song “Ai-Biahnh Jah-eh Eah. “愛拚才會贏”. The twin sister/lead vocalists Emily & Susan Hsu personally made donation of .25 cents per hit/view at the time of the Taiwan crisis.
Band Bio: The Sounds of Domestic Living are Emily and Susan Hsu of the band Exit Clov. They play a mix of spare dark, indie, folk, country, soulful, pop, blues. They are currently finalizing a forthcoming covers record that offers their own twist on songs in Taiwanese and Mandarin. Also visit their Facebook page.
DJ J4 & YK (DJ小四 & 奕峻)
Taiwanese famous DJ & Award winning music producer DJ J4 (DJ小四) and International recording artist Young Kin (奕峻) from the Jin going to collaborate & takes the stage of Passport to Taiwan 2011.
DJ J4 (DJ小四) – starts his carrer as DJ when he was 17 years old. He performed in many famous clubs in Taiwan, as time goes by, he becomes an important role in Taiwan Hip Hop field through holding lots of party and DJ in concert tours. He and another two MCs signed the contract with The Rock music production company, and released 4 rap albums in 2000; since then Hip Hop culture become a leading trend in Taiwan through their success. Not satisfied in what he had done, J4 started to try different possibilities. He performed with lots of DJ from different contries in the same stage, such as DJ Aphrodite, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow; as a turntablist in concert tour with singer Annie Yang, Shino Lin, Wu Bai….etc. He also involved in music album producing, in 2004 he worked with Taiwanese singer Sandee Chan 陳珊妮 for her album “Then, we all wept in tears”, this album was nominated and won the best album of the year by the Golden Music Award in Taiwan in 2005. Now Jay lives in New York, seeking for more challenge and possibilites in this city. He focus on producing and sound enginnering so far. His recently work is another album with Sandee Chan “What if it matters” “如果有一件事是重要的”. This album mixed electronic elements and classic music instruments, and already released in the end of 2008. which was nominated for the best album at the golden melody award 2009 in Taiwan.
Young Kin (奕峻) Andreas Yi-Jun Hwang – more commonly know as rapper and entrepreneur, Young Kin. Was born in Switzerland in 1984 to a Chinese father and Swiss mother and shortly thereafter, at the ago of four month was transplanted halfway around the world to Beijing China. The Diverse and Attained through growing up in and international community that incorporated the best of both western customs and eastern traditions, coupled with his never give-up mentality and a profound love of urban music: eventually led young kin on to the stage. By the age of 21, Young Kin’s reputation for consistently producing heavy hitting street smart tracks in the studio coupled with his impassioned Chinese flow live on stage at shows and battles had gained him a celebrity status within the Chinese hip-hop scene. Joining forces with Yin Ts’ and Young Kin continued his trek towards the top; securing a first place trophy at the Iron Mic Chinese MC battle. Acting as marketing director at the biggest hip-hop website in China, www.hiphop.cn and collaborating with artists such as Royce 5’9’, Saigon, Skyzoon, Havor from Mobb Deep and Taiwanese recording artist Pan Meichen. Young Kin combines the determination of an athlete, the spirit of hustler, the swagger of a gentleman and the wits of a college boy. Creating a dangerous amalgamation that his foes must learn to fear and respect.
XYZ 鍾翔宇 (Roc Yella)
As a member of a new generation of the Taiwan rap scene, XYZ gained attention on various underground hip-hop discussion boards throughout Taiwan.
He is also known as XYZ (Roc Yella) is a rapper from Midlothian, who began listening to the rap six years ago in middle school. The newfound passion, mixed with the love for the culture of his home, Taiwan, and traditional culture in general, inspired him to begin writing mandarin lyrics on scraps of paper in high school As a believer of Bruce Lee’s philosophy of making no limit the only limit, XYZ believes that there are no cultural boundaries of hip-hop and that it can assimilate into whatever community in which it exists, rejecting the idea that it is strictly limited to the black community in America. Rappers well known in Taiwan, who have also gained widespread popularity throughout the region, have also debunked this myth. As a member of a new generation of the Taiwan rap scene, XYZ gained attention on various underground hip-hop discussion boards throughout Taiwan, and has since released a mixtape that is downloadable from his Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/twrap. Focusing on lyrical content and wordplay, he followed Lil Wayne’s mixtape model of utilizing beats of other rappers, and plans on using original beats for upcoming non-mixtape projects. XYZ is returning to Taiwan this summer, and hopes to have opportunities to perform there.
Feature Artist: Jonathan Lee
In a world where pre-ordered artists are given songs to sing, choreography to execute, and images to assume, Jonathan Lee steps outside the boundaries with a self contained refreshing outlook on music and entertainment. Jonathan has a unique look, sound and vibe that he feels will change the way we listen to music. The Pop/Soul singer is comprised of several different strengths.
Artist Bio: Jonathan Lee was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Growing up in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn, Jonathan stayed out of trouble by finding solace in music and dance. He became involved with the City Kids Repertory Company which gave him several opportunities to work with various recording artists including Grammy Award winners Madonna, Gloria Estefan, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Diddy, Tracy Chapman, Mya and Joe.
As a listener and lover of music, Jonathan was greatly inspired by Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Prince, James Brown and Donny Hathaway. Following the likes of his predecessors, he pens poetry to the music, placing him in the moment of emotions, heart pouring off the page with the hope that his words engulf and uplift. He is an observer of life who captures the pleasantries and hardships of himself and others. He decorates bars with words, creates infinite notes arranged on Beethoven’s scrap sheets to be implanted in the back of every listeners mind. Yet, he mesmerizes audiences with his intense performances and thrills them with his dance ability and energy.
*** Also after the day festival ends on Sunday***
AsianInNY presents – Passport to Taiwan Festival After-Party: To continue the celebration for Taiwanese American Heritage!
Venue: Slate (http://www.slate-ny.com/ )
Date: (Sun) 5/29
Time: 10pm until 3am
Address: 54 West 21st Street NYC 10010
Admission: Free whole night when mentioning Passport to Taiwan (or AsianInNY)
