Have you ever heard nian ge (read songs) traditional Taiwanese opera? This folk singing art expresses the special features of the culture and language of Taiwan’s Han Chinese and does not just provide entertainment it also passes on knowledge ad ethics. Of all nian ge performers none is more active than Madame Yang Xiu-qing; and to allow niang ge art to be passed on in the 21st century, some people have taken on the task of digitally archiving Yang Xiu-qing’s work for posterity.

Mr. Qiu Wen-xi of the Taiwanese Opera Troupe has taken upon himself the work of digitizing the songs of Yang Xiu-qing

Mr. Qiu Wen-xi hs been actively involved in the promotion of nian ge for many years and his love of local culture spurred him to think about how he could use his own computer programming knowledge to digitize the recordings of “national treasure” Yang Xiu-qing and display them on the Internet. The first  song to be digitized on a trial basis was the “Cases by Judge Bao Zheng.” Users can only not just listen to the song, they can also read the Chinese lyrics and see the phonetic symbols and Romanization of the Taiwanese and, even more exciting,is that there is a function that marks the line that is being sung by Madame Yang at a particular time, just like a karaoke machine, a big help for those wanting to understand the meaning of the lyrics or learn Taiwanese.

The lyric annotation function is a big help for understanding the meaning of the lyrics.
As well as performing in art and culture venues, Madam Yang also performs on local TV stations. As well as singing songs that have been passed down, she also, in tune with current affairs, has written songs like “Song of the live-alone old person” in which she warns of the dangers of con artists.

Prof. Li Qin-an of NTNU says that the lyrics of Taiwanese opera songs are replete with Taiwanese folk culture and have extremely high reference and research value

Madame Yang's performance of Nian Ge

Prof. Li Qin-an of NTNU’s Graduate Institute of Taiwan Culture, Language and Literature, thinks that Madame Yang Xiu-qing has not only preserved “nian ge” traditional Taiwanese opera, she also shows tremendous creativity in impromptu; composition of lyrics. The lyrics describe traditional ethical values and also tell all about Taiwan’s folk culture, making them well-worth researching for anyone interested in understanding Taiwan’s popular culture. Mr. Qiu Wen-xi said that the work of digitizing Yang Xiu-qing’s artistic achievements  is in its early stages and Metadata search, audio-visual data bank establishment, even searching using sound all need the support of experts and financial support so that Yang Xiu-qing’s achievements can be displayed through the Internet, making them cultural property owned by all the people.

Chinese Version:http://newsletter.teldap.tw/news/InsightReportContent.php?nid=4201&lid=479