Taiwanese rock group No Party for Cao Dong won triple prizes for best band, album of the year and best Mandarin album over the weekend at the Golden Melody Awards.
Taiwanese rapper MC HotDog won the best Mandarin male singer award, while the best Mandarin female singer award went to Shi Shi Sun.
The Taiwan-based awards, celebrating their 35th edition, style themselves as the Grammys of the Mandarin pop world. They honor outstanding work by recording industry talent working in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka and Indigenous languages including Bunun.
No Party for Cao Dong quartet achieved fame seven years ago with a previous trio of awards; best new artist, best band and song of the year – at the 2017 edition of the GMAs. “The Clod” is their first album since then.
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The quartet were not present at the ceremony and were instead represented by their manager. “This album captures the most genuine aspects of that time. We are still striving to return to the path of pure creation,” she said from the stage.
Sun and MC HotDog are also both previous GMA participants. HotDog previously won the best Mandarin album award at the 18th Golden Melody Awards with “Wake Up.” Sun was nominated for best Mandarin female singer at the 30th GMA in 2019 with her album “Shi’s Journey.” Her latest album is “Boomerang.”
Panai Kusui, an Indigenous rights advocate, won the best Taiwanese album award, with “Iā-Pô.” She used her acceptance speech, to mark a parallel between the anniversary edition of the GMAs and the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square incident in mainland China, when Chinese authorities used tanks to quell pro-democracy student protesters in Beijing.
“The reason why I mentioned that event on stage is because Taiwan’s democracy is a process that all of us need to cherish. Our freedom and freedom of speech is what we need to protect,” Kusui added offstage, the Reuters news agency reported.
The GMAs gave nominations to mainland Chinese artists in multiple categories, but local media reported that none attended the ceremony. Chinese singer Jude Chiu arrived in Taiwan, but returned home sick, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.
The GMAs sit alongside the Golden Melody Festival, a music business-focused event. Held annually, it invites music experts, festival curators and promoters from around the world to Taiwan to seek opportunities in the Mandarin music scene. Activities range from explorations of international music trends to structured matchmaking meetings among music professionals.
Participants included representatives from overseas organizations including: France’s MaMA Music & Convention; the SPIKE Bulgarian Music Showcase; Future Echoes from Sweden; Summer Sonic from Japan; the Busan International Rock Festival from South Korea; We The Fest in Indonesia; Clockenflap from Hong Kong; promoter GMM Grammy from Thailand; and the American Association of Independent Music.
Of course, no music event is complete without performances. These were structured in two linked events, the Golden Melody Festival Showcase and concert series and GMA Heat, which presents the most promising Mandarin pop music artists.
The three-night 2024 Showcase featured nine Taiwanese artists, including The Wanted, Haezee, The Crane, Cicada, Kivi, LÜCY, A_Root, Mandark and Lilium.
Returning after five years, GMA Heat included seven nominees for this year’s Golden Melody Award for best new artist, including singer and established actor, Rhydian Vaughan; Joyceln9.4.0; ADEN Wang; Makav; Tēnn Pîng ; Hogan T.; and Vash Hsu. With musical genres ranging from pop and hip-hop through rock and R&B, they performed together ahead of the 35th Golden Melody Awards ceremony.
GMA Heat also featured five potential new-generation artists and groups from the Mandarin music scene: JOYCE, JUD, U:NUS, Lu Yun and Aquaman.
