Template:Taiwan 2009
From Psychedelic-Traveller
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[2009] Psy-Trance in TAIWAN
- written by Stuart Wilson
I left South Africa in 2004 to come and teach English in Taiwan and to travel around Asia. In South Africa, I was completely lost in the trance culture in Cape Town and one of the hardest things about leaving was saying good bye to the awesome people and amazing parties we have almost every weekend in summer.
I had only been in Taiwan for a few months, when I heard of a small trance party going down in the mountains at a beautiful spot called Kun Lun Garden in Long Tan, not too far from Tao Yuen. I gathered my psychedelic crew and headed off into the mountains to see what was on offer on the psy-scene in Taiwan.
It was October 31st, Halloween and when we arrived. We were greeted by all sorts of ghouls, freaks and hideous monsters... and some people were even in costume, too. It was chilly up there as winter was approaching and most people were huddled around a big bonfire that was burning at the back. To my delight there was a giant neon mushroom radiating a blueish glow in the middle of the dance floor. Perhaps a sign of things to come?
The party was very small, probably only fifty people including staff and Dj's, but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it made the vibe more intimate and I got to meet a lot of the DJ's, producers and artists that were pioneering the scene.
One of these was Dragon, a local Taiwanese guy who, with the help of his friends, organized this party and many others that followed. Dragon (aka Kerlivin Lui) has been working hard to promote psy-trance music and culture in Taiwan for many years.
In the five years I've been living here, I've seen the scene blossom from a few friends dancing around a fire, to big crowd pulling stomp-sessions in the mountains with big rig sound systems and famous trance acts like S.U.N. Projects coming out to play.
Still, when compared to South Africa and Japan, the psy–scene here is still in it's infancy. But that wasn't always the case. A few years before I arrived in Taiwan the scene had already been through the teething stages and Taiwan was well on it's way to becoming one of the hottest trance locations in Asia. Parties were pulling people out of the smoky, dingy clubs and more and more local Taiwanese were beginning to see the allure of dancing under the stars, and getting down with nature all around to the sounds of the sick psy-beats. People were traveling to Taiwan from as far away as Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore as news of these parties spread far and wide. World renown DJ's like Astrix were even gracing the beautiful island (Formosa) with their presence. Crowds at parties were numbering in the thousands, until there was a massive police clamp-down and all parties stopped for a long time.
There was a lot of speculation about why this happened: some say it was because the authorities were worried about drug abuse, others say the Taiwanese maffia put pressure on the police to act since the parties were threatening the profits of their night clubs.
Today
Regardless of the reasons, one thing is clear: the psy-trance scene is unique in that it encourages those who participate to break away from normality, to think outside the box, to break free from the rest of the herd and to find their own path. Sometimes this freedom can clash with cultural pressures. It Taiwan, following the heard is almost like a national sport. It is in-grained from a young age. At school, kids are taught to simply say and repeat, not to ask questions. Independent thinking is rarely encouraged. This makes the population of 23 million people living on this small island, only 390 km in length, much easier to control.
But the desire for freedom, free thought and free love, are overwhelming and cannot be stamped out or pushed down, easily. It is for this reason that we have seen a re-emergence of the scene in Taiwan recently, the younger generation are embracing there values with open arms. In recent times the police have been very co-operative with party producers and organizers. Once a license has been obtained for the party, the police rarely intrude unless there are issues with noise complaints or illegal activities.
Schools of trance
There are two main schools of trance operating in Taiwan: Full-On/Progressive and Dark. As there are only a few parties each summer, there is a bit of competition for dj sets, but one can expect to hear a wide variation of music at the average party. Most parties start Saturday and end Sunday morning, although there are two and three day parties from time to time. Line-ups typically start off slow and ambient, with a little psy-dub thrown into the mix to add some spice. DJ LazyDaze is a master of gently persuading the crowd to unhinge their inhibitions and to simply let go and project themselves into the flow. When the progressive trance starts thumping, things start to warm up. And when the Full-On DJ's come on the furnace is burning furiously. DJ's Urban Myth and Xemitone from South Africa never fail to impress the crowds with their slick, cutting-edge styles and eclectic beats. As the moon disappears behind the mountains, the Dark DJ's carry it through with lots of mind shattering madness until the sun comes up and the tunes start to open up a bit. The music becomes a little happier and people can be seen wandering around the dance floor in the early morning light trying to pick up the broken pieces of their sanity. Even once the music has been turned off and the equipment has been packed away, there is usually a crowd of never-say-die revellers that stick around at the venue for a small after-party. Drums and djembes provide the beats and it's a good way to prepare for the long journey home and the system shock of returning to reality for the week ahead.
Difficult challenge
The most difficult challenge facing the scene in Taiwan is awareness. Most parties are organized by local Taiwanese and most promotion is done in Chinese so information can be hard to obtain for foreigners. Parties are promoted by word of mouth and Internet sources like blogs and Facebook. There are no English speaking psy-radio stations I'm aware of so it is hard to get the word out. If you're new in Taiwan and want to come check out the scene, search 'psy-trance in Taiwan' online and you will be pointed in the right direction.
Facts
Tickets prices usually go for 400 or 500 NT dollars. drinks are usually 100 NT for two beers, The best time for trance is from May till November.. and there is usually a new years eve party somewhere, but it starts getting too cold for outdoor parties in Winter. There are usually only about 5 parties a year in taiwan, although we are trying to stimulate the scene and hold more.
