The 32nd Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music (傳藝金曲獎) announced a total of 91 shortlisted artists and 43 works of which the special awards will be given to late founder of Four Seas Record Publishing Co. Liao Chien-yuan (廖乾元) and Taiwanese opera performer Liao Chiung-chih (廖瓊枝) in an awards ceremony at the Taiwan Traditional Theatre Center on Oct. 9.
Annie Chen (陳悅宜), director of the National Center for Traditional Arts said in the press conference that the submission period was extended by two months due to COVID-19. At the same time, Chen indicated that in order to encourage diversification in music publishing and distribution, digital entries, such as media saved on USBs were allowed for the first time.
The late founder of Four Seas Record Publishing Co. Liao Chien-yuan will be awarded the special prize in the Publishing category. Liao collaborated with composer Chou Lan-ping (周藍萍) to pioneer the first original Taiwanese Mandopop song productions. After a successful career, he devoted himself to the production of records, which included Chinese music, Western music, chorus music and art songs, in addition to preserving important works by Chinese-language musicians such as Hsu Tsang-houei (許常惠), Ma Sicong (馬思聰), Li Bao-chen (李抱忱) and Hwang Yau-tai (黃友棣) in the second half of the 20th century.
The special prize in the Performance category will be awarded to the national treasure of Taiwanese opera Liao Chiung-chih. Liao has been engaged in Taiwanese opera for more than 70 years, having personally experienced the development of traditional Taiwanese opera in each period. For many years, Liao has devoted herself to the promotion of Taiwanese opera in school campuses and the wider society, while pushing for a more sophisticated and educated approach to the national craft.