A new television series was launched in Taiwan on Monday to showcase the original music of Taiwanese artists and bands as well as those active in the country's music scene. The Ministry of Culture provided a NT$12-million grant to help produce the series.
The 60-episode series, titled 'The Next Big Thing,' will feature 45 singer-songwriters and bands performing a total of 180 songs, said StreetVoice.com, Taiwan's largest online music publishing platform, which produced the program.
Among the artists and bands to be featured are Taiwanese singer-songwriter William Wei, rap artist MC HotDog, reggae-rock band Matzka, rock bands Tizzy Bac and The Chairman, and Singaporean singer-songwriter Tanya Chua.
The series, which had a budget of NT$26 million (US$869,304), was filmed over a period of one year and used seven high-definition cameras and 14 different stage sets, according to the producers.
Culture Minister Lung Ying-tai called the singer-songwriters and bands the 'nation's treasures' and said she hoped that the TV series could help introduce the music of independent artists and bands to the mainstream audience.
Lung stressed that Taiwan must pay attention to three things to project its cultural and national power. 'The first is original work. The second is original work. The third is original work,' she stated.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's 'King of Rock' Wu Bai called Taiwan 'the Hollywood of the Chinese-language music world' and said he was very excited to learn about the TV program, as there are around 4,000 bands in Taiwan but no such platforms for them to get exposure.
The series of half-hour shows will be broadcast on Azio TV at 12:30 a.m. every Monday to Friday starting April 15 and on NextTV at 12:00 a.m. every Saturday and Sunday starting April 20.
