Taiwan Music Archives - Talking Taiwan Podcast

Vincent Hsu (徐崇育) Award-Winning Taiwanese Jazz Bassist Composer Bridges Cultures through his Musical Works | Ep 358

Felicia Lin — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 11:36:22 +0000

Vincent Hsu (徐崇育) is a Taiwanese bassist, composer and the leader of Vincent Hsu & Soy La Ley Afro-Cuban Jazz band. We sat down to speak a few days before his concert, Spirits from Both Sides. The concert was held on August 15th at Flushing Town Hall with Vincent and Arturo O’Farrill- a six-time GRAMMY Award winner and two-time Latin GRAMMY Award winner. Hsu planned to premiere a big-band arrangement of his Taiwanese Trilogy Music Suite (台灣人三部曲), at the August 15th performance.

We talked about the parallels between Taiwanese folk culture and Afro-Latin spiritual beliefs and how his musical composition, Taiwanese Trilogy Music Suite, draws inspiration from Taiwanese Hakka writer Chao-Cheng Chung (鍾肇政).

Taiwanese Waves Celebrates its 10th year Anniversary at SummerStage in NYC’s Central Park | Ep 356

Felicia Lin — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 21:12:29 +0000

This year Taiwanese Waves is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and will be back at SummerStage in New York City’s Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield on Sunday August 16th. Doors open at 5:00pm. When Taiwanese Waves debuted in 2016, it set an all-time record for the highest single-day attendance at SummerStage. And since then it’s continued to introduce audiences to Taiwanese Music.

This year’s lineup includes Golden Melody Award regulars 9m88, YELLOW and ØZI.

You’ll also be hearing the psychedelic sounds of Mong Tong and from Taiwanese American singer-song writer Chance Emerson, and finally New York’s Chinatown Records will spin tracks from past Taiwanese Waves alumni.

Nymphia Wind Brings Taiwan’s Betel Nut Beauty Culture to the New York Pride March | Ep 349

Felicia Lin — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 06:57:10 +0000

This year’s Taiwan Pride Float at the New York City Pride March was inspired by Taiwan’s Betel Nut Beauty culture. The concept and design was conceived by Nymphia Wind, who was already an established drag queen in Taiwan when she won RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 in 2024.

Nymphia dedicated her win to Taiwan and that same year Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen congratulated Nymphia and invited her to perform at the presidential office. In 2024 Nymphia also appeared on the Taiwan Pride Float at the New York City Pride March. In 2025 Nymphia performed at the Paris Cultural Olympiad.

Right before the New York City Pride March on Sunday, June 28th, we were invited to an event where Nymphia shared her creative vision behind this year’s Taiwan Pride float. We also had a chance to meet the other betel nut beauties Yolanda Mesula and Tina Banana, who would be joining Nymphia on the float. After Nymphia’s initial comments, I did have a chance to ask her a question and to get some other soundbites.

Vickie Wang (王宇平) On Who Gets to Be Taiwanese and Stand-Up Comedy Part 2 | Ep 344

Felicia Lin — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 11:51:28 +0000

In part two of our interview with Vickie Wang (王宇平), she talked about how the COVID lockdown of 2022 in Shanghai affected her mental health, her thoughts on the Great Recall movement in Taiwan last year, how she questions her Taiwanese-ness i.e. if she’s Taiwanese enough, generative propaganda, and how she got into stand-up comedy.

Vickie Wang a writer, interpreter, and stand-up comedian born and raised in Taiwan. Now based in New City York she co-produces a monthly stand-up show called Wang’s World Comedy.

Vickie will be emceeing this year’s Talking Taiwan Fundraising Gala on Friday, May 1.

As our emcee Vickie will bring her signature wit and energy to the evening. Purchase tickets to the Talking Taiwan

Fundraising Gala or to make a contribution visit: https://events.humanitix.com/talking-taiwan-2026-fundraising-gala/tickets

Talking Taiwan’s 2025 Inaugural Fundraising Gala! Ep 332

Felicia Lin — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 02:39:55 +0000

Get Access to the Replay of the Talking Taiwan Gala Make a Donation at Humanitix

https://events.humanitix.com/talking-taiwan-2025-fundraising-gala

For Free Access the Replay of the Talking Taiwan Gala Give Us Your Feedback by emailing podcast@talkingtaiwan.con with the Subject Line: 12 MORE

Talking Taiwan’s inaugural fundraising gala was on April 30^th here in New York City at the elegant Eichholtz showroom in Chelsea. The gala was a celebration of Taiwanese American cuisine, culture and community.

We had Peter Lin’s AAPI Jazz Collective perform, and food catered by 886 Restaurant, DAE tea and Taiwan Beer. It was a memorable, magical night and if you’re wondering what you missed out on it, don’t worry, later on in the episode I’ll be sharing how you can watch the replay that we made of the event. We’ll also share the Humanitix link where you can make a donation to watch the replay of the Talking Taiwan Gala.

At the gala I interviewed comedian Esther Chen, Thomas Duh of DAE Tea, artist Kaarina Chu MacKenzie, and Jonny Lee, President of TAP-NY (Taiwanese American Professionals- NY chapter). And that’s what we’ll be sharing in this episode.

The Real Life “Love in Taipei” Story: Virtuoso Musician Couple Antoine Boyer and Yeore Kim Ep 329

Felicia Lin — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 14:21:32 +0000

In this episode, the husband-and-wife team, gypsy jazz and classical guitarist Antoine Boyer and chromatic harmonica player Yeore Kim shared about their real life “Love in Taipei” story. He’s from France and she’s from South Korea, so music was their first common language. We also talked about how they navigate their partnership as life partners and as musical partners, and their debut duet album You and I.

If you’d like to know more about Antoine you can check out Kaju’s in-depth interview with Antoine on YouTube

Working in the Intersection of Ceramics Sound and History: Taiwanese American Maker Eugenie Chao Ep 326

Felicia Lin — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 07:05:20 +0000

In this episode of Talking Taiwan we sat down to speak with Eugenie Chao who describes herself as Taiwanese American maker, educator, and musician who works in the intersection of ceramics, sound, and history. Her exhibit at the Taiwanese American Arts Council House 17 on Governors Island aptly named Listening Vessels, features ceramic objects turned musical instruments created by Chao and is on display until September 7th.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

What came first for Eugenie music or working with clay?
What made her combine ceramics with music?
Where did that idea come from?
How did she get interested or start working with clay?
Eugenie’s musical training and what instruments she plays?
What was her early artwork like?
How her artwork has evolved over time?
What does it mean to work at the intersection of ceramics, sound, and history?
What is her creative process is like?
How sound affects her artwork?
How she decides the size of the objects she creates?
The challenges involved with making large scale pieces vs pieces that can be made by hand
How does the size of an object affects the sound it makes
The ceramic instruments from ancient cultures that inspire her, how she discovered them and what was their purpose
What inspires you? Where do you get your inspiration?
Eugenie’s connection to Taiwan
How Eugenie considers herself a maker and not an artist
What can we expect to see and experience from Eugenie’s Listening Vessels exhibit at the TAAC house on Governors Island
The most ambitious or challenging piece of work that Eugenie has made
How Eugenie deals with a creative block
Eugenie’s future projects can we expect to see from you?

Taiwanese Waves 2025 is Back! Ep 319

Felicia Lin — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 12:00:12 +0000

Summer is upon us and I’m sure that a lot of our listeners especially those in New York will be happy to know that Taiwanese Waves will be returning to Central Park’s Summer Stage on August 3 at the Rumsey Playfield. Doors open at 5:00pm

Since 2016 Taiwanese Waves has introduced Taiwanese music to audiences at Central Park’s Summer Stage. If you’re not familiar with Taiwanese Waves you’re in for a treat. In this episode I sat down with Mia, the main organizer of Taiwanese Waves and we are about to walk through and give you a taste of all of the acts that have performed at Summer Stage in the past nine years. You’ll also get to hear a preview of what to expect at this year’s concert.

Taiwan on the Margins of CSW 69: Celebrating Women’s Resilience & Progress at Taiwan Main Stage Ep 307

Felicia Lin — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 10:48:23 +0000

If you’ve listened to our most recent episode of Talking Taiwan, you’ll know that the sixty-ninth session of the Commission on the Status of Women or CSW69 is now taking place at United Nations Headquarters in New York. It began on March 10th and runs until March 21st.

On March 12th the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York (TECO-NY) hosted an event called “Taiwan Main Stage: Celebrating Women’s Resilience & Progress on the margins of CSW 69.” This smartly worded event title is undoubtedly a soft reference the fact that Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, and therefore on the margins of CSW69.

We were there at TECO-NY’s fully packed event on the 12th where we heard from Po-Chun Sophiyah Liu and Chia-Hui Lu. Sophiyah is Ambassador-at-Large for Sports Diplomacy of Taiwan, and she is Taiwan’s first female umpire. Chia-Hui Lu is a classical musician, cross disciplinary artist and an associate professor at National Taiwan University of Arts.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

How Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations
Sophiyah Liu’s remarks at TECO-NY’s event called “Taiwan Main Stage: Celebrating Women’s Resilience & Progress on the margins of CSW 69”
How the Global Sports Mentoring Program that set Sophiyah on the path to sports diplomacy
How when Sophiyah won the IOC and UN Women: Women and Sport World trophy in 2019, a special arrangement was made for her to enter the UN building to receive the award
When Sophiyah was invited to attend the UN Global Sport Program working group which met in a conference room in the United Nations building but when it came time to attend the meeting, she was told she couldn’t enter the UN building because she has a passport from Taiwan
Sophiyah’s thoughts on the controversy over questions about the gender eligibility of female boxer Lin Yu-ting at the Paris Olympics
Sophiyah’s thoughts on gender eligibility testing in sports
Chia-Hui Lu’s remarks at TECO-NY’s event called “Taiwan Main Stage: Celebrating Women’s Resilience & Progress on the margins of CSW 69”
The technology, AI training and experimentation involved in creating the real-time music recognition system that captures melodies from Chia-Hui’s piano playing and transforms it into a surreal visual story
The mission and past projects of the Egret Cultural and Education Foundation
How the Egret Cultural and Education Foundation’s cross art productions combine theater, music, dance, technology, culture, and history
How the Egret Cultural and Education Foundation was published books about Taiwan’s history, nature, music, and art

Passport to Taiwan 20th Anniversary Catching Up with Rapper Dwagie and Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry Ep 285

Felicia Lin — Sun, 02 Jun 2024 08:33:48 +0000

On May 26^th we stopped by the annual Passport to Taiwan in New York City’s Union Square Park and I caught up with a few of our past guests, Taiwanese hip hop and rap artist, Dwagie who performed at this year’s Passport to Taiwan, and Lisa Cheng Smith who was also there with her Yun Hai co-founder Lillian Lin her co-founder. Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry 雲海 offers a selection of premium ingredients for Taiwanese and Chinese cooking online and at their shop located in Brooklyn.

I spoke Dwagie about his thoughts on the protests that have been happening around the legislative yuan in Taipei. Stay tuned for our next episode which will cover the protests around the legislative yuan that started around May 17^th.

I also spoke to Lillian and Lisa, co-founders of Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry about what it was like to have President Tsai Ing-wen visit their shop in Brooklyn, and a few of their products including their qq dragon T-shirt and dried mango.

To learn more about Dwagie check out episode 50 of Talking Taiwan and to learn more about Yun Hai check out episode 135.

Taiwan Music Archives - Talking Taiwan Podcast

Vincent Hsu (徐崇育) Award-Winning Taiwanese Jazz Bassist Composer Bridges Cultures through his Musical Works | Ep 358

Related Links:

Taiwanese Waves Celebrates its 10th year Anniversary at SummerStage in NYC’s Central Park | Ep 356

Related Links:

Nymphia Wind Brings Taiwan’s Betel Nut Beauty Culture to the New York Pride March | Ep 349

Related Links:

Vickie Wang (王宇平) On Who Gets to Be Taiwanese and Stand-Up Comedy Part 2 | Ep 344

Related Links:

Talking Taiwan’s 2025 Inaugural Fundraising Gala! Ep 332

Related Links:

The Real Life “Love in Taipei” Story: Virtuoso Musician Couple Antoine Boyer and Yeore Kim Ep 329

Related Links:

Working in the Intersection of Ceramics Sound and History: Taiwanese American Maker Eugenie Chao Ep 326

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

Taiwanese Waves 2025 is Back! Ep 319

Related Links:

Taiwan on the Margins of CSW 69: Celebrating Women’s Resilience & Progress at Taiwan Main Stage Ep 307

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

Passport to Taiwan 20th Anniversary Catching Up with Rapper Dwagie and Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry Ep 285

Related Links: