TAMA will be holding an online music symposium in both Chinese and English on May 29 (Saturday), inviting music industry players from Taiwan and five ASEAN countries to share about their respective local music industries as well as discussing the New Southbound Music Policy, promoting exchange through conversations.

Both sessions will be held on May 29, whereby the English session will start at 2pm while the Chinese session will commence at 4pm.

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 host for this session is PM Wong, a DJ from 988, who will be speaking with Chen Kuan Heng, the editor of the 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 the Singaporean music magazine “Freshmusic”.

Singapore and Malaysia are the biggest Chinese music market after Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. There are also many Singaporean and Malaysian artists who seek opportunities in Taiwan, establishing close relations with the Taiwanese music scene. In fact, one of the speakers of the symposium, Keon Chia, who is the writer of ‘Your Name Engraved Herein’, won the Best Original Film Song at the Golden Horse Awards, which at the same time nominated for a 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, 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 Philippines 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 Facebook via https://www.facebook.com/taiwanaseanmusicaction.

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. In addition, social media and a website will be developed and utilized to 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 to 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 a 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, please log on to www.taiwanaseanmusicaction.com or follow TAMA on Facebook at www.facebook.com/taiwanaseanmusicaction.

For interview requests and further information, please contact Miss Carmen Lim at +60126294018.

This content is provided by TAMA Online Symposium.

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