Celebrate Taiwanese American Heritage Month – TAGS Concert Featuring Artists from Taiwan

By adminEvents, RSVP

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

7 PM at Kirkland Performance Center – 350 Kirkland Ave, Kirkland, WA 98033

Ticket Price – $10 – Contact 425-736-8476 for tickets

O-Kai A Cappella 

O-Kai is a contemporary a cappella group that is composed of members from a diverse background.  The six member group is composed of three students, a bubble tea shop owner, a deep-mountain mushroom harvester, and a winner of the Golden Timepiece Award.  Their musical creations have crossed cultural divides and were performed in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Taiwan, and the United States for competitions and showcases.

 

Displaying the uniqueness of Taiwan, O-Kai will be singing in Mandarin, Taiwanese, and Tai-Ya aboriginal dialect.  Although homegrown in Taiwan, O-Kai A Cappella Group draws their inspiration from the world wide music genres including jazz, pop music, classical music, rock and roll, Peking opera, techno, and musicals.

Hsieh Yu-Wei’s Band 

Hsieh Yu-Wei, a Hakka raised in one of Taiwan’s great metropolis, is constantly searching for the life’s ideals and life’s root experiences.  Upon getting to know Yu-Wei, he would elucidate and share his recollections of childhood memories, love’s sensitivity, life’s relational connections as well as family ties.

 

Not wanting the Hakka culture to become the limitation to music and conversely not wanting music to bound Hakka identity, Yu-Wei’s music is a harmonization of both cultural identity and music beauty.  Upon hearing his songs, the realization is instant that Hakka music is graceful and emotionally expressive.  For his work, Yu-Wei has garnered 15 Best Hakka Language Performer Awards in Taiwan.

 

Celebrating Taiwanese American Heritage Month in May Over the past 40 years, three generations of Taiwanese Americans have weaved their unique culture into the fabric of the American society.  Coming from an island nation and planting a new beginning in this country, immigrant Taiwanese have found the United States a place of worthy ideals, opportunities, and the perfect place for their future generations to live and prosper.  In their efforts to create a better future for themselves and their family, they have disseminated into all walks of life in this nation, thickening the texture of the American social fabric.  Day in and day out, they have strived for a brighter future but not forgetting their root as Taiwanese and the beautiful island that they came from. In 1999, President Clinton designated the month of May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month.  To recognize the contributions made by Taiwanese Americans and to celebrate their heritage, one week out of this month was formally designated as Taiwanese American Heritage Week.  Since 1999, Taiwanese communities around the United States have taken this special week to showcase and share their heritage to fellow Americans. In Seattle we will be celebrating this year’s Taiwanese American Heritage Month through the following events: 

  • Music performances from O-Kai A Cappella and Hsieh Yu-Wei’s band at the Kirkland Performance Center on May 3rd, 7:15pm.  Contact: 425-736-8476

 

  • Taste of Taiwanese Cuisine, Bites of Asia on the University of Washington HUB Lawn on Sunday, May 7th, 11AM ~ 3PM.  Contact: tosa@u.washington.edu

 

  • Taiwanese Night Market on the University of Washington HUB Lawn on Saturday, May 16th at 6pm.  Contact: www.areyouhungry.org

 

  • Visit the Taiwan Information Booth at the U-District Street Fair, May 16th & 17th 10AM~6PM.  Contact: 206-633-1211

Note: API (Asian Pacific Islander) Heritage Month Celebration Event at the Seattle Center on May 3rd,  12 – 5 PM, featuring Tatum Jones.  For details go to http://www.seattlecenter.com/events/festivals/festal/detail.asp?EV_EventNum=6.

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