Invited by Western Arts Alliance, Freedom Beat from Taiwan will perform at its annual conference on August 28th, 2019. In addition, Freedom Beat will also conduct a music workshop at the Culture Center of TECO in Orange County on August 31st, and will have an outdoor performance at Bowers Museum in Orange County on September 1st.
Western Arts Alliance was founded in 1967. Its annual conference takes place in major cities on the west coast of North America. Its members include program curators of performing art venues, agents, artists, as well as consultants of affiliated professions. Freedom Beat, with the support from Ministry of Culture and Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles, is invited to perform at the annual conference. Through this opportunity, Freedom Beat will showcase its traits of blending eastern and western cultural musical elements, to increase the band’s visibility in order to further embark on a tour around North America.
Freedom Beat was founded in 2010. Its uniqueness is mixing electronic music with percussion music, and creates pieces in various genres such as pop, rock, and techno. The performance of this international tour, titled “Fu-Hua,” combines different eastern and western percussion instruments, and presents the musical style of Taiwanese composers. The piece “Canal,” created by DJ Cheer, incorporates traditional Taiwanese beiguan, gongs and drums, and western metallophone instruments and melodica, to create a unique musical style, which embodies the Taiwanese characteristics integrating both eastern and western cultures. “Traffic Light,” on the other hand, imitates, through music, the sound of traffic lights in real life, with an attempt to reenact the pedestrians hustling around in the streets in Taipei. “Sway” in some parts uses elements of Taiwanese traditional Din Tao percussion music. Three performers simultaneously beat the western bass drum, while the techno music reproduces sounds of Taiwanese indigenous Tayal xylophone. Classical instruments integrate with western rhythms and beats. “Sway” oscillates between eastern and western cultures.
In addition to the performance for the professionals, Freedom Beat is also invited to perform “Fu-Hua” during the Family Festival at the Bowers Museum, and will interact with the audience, allowing them to experience the abundance and diversity of percussion instruments. Meanwhile, Taiwan Academy collaborates with Southern California Council of Chinese Schools to host a music workshop for children. Children are welcomed to bring bottles, cans and plastic supplies to the workshop, and follow the band to beat the rhythm themselves.
▲Performance Information
The 2019 annual meeting at Western Arts Alliance (ticket is required)
Time: Wednesday, August 28th, 2019 at 1:35pm
Location: JW Marriot at LA Live Hotel (Platinum Ballroom)
Family Festival at Bowers Museum
Time: Sunday, September 1st, 2019 at 2pm
Location: Bowers Museum (2002 North Main Street, Santa Ana, CA 92706)
▲Music Workshop Information
Time: Saturday, August 31st, 2019 at 10:30am
Location: Culture Center of TECO in Orange County (2901 W. MacArthur Blvd., Suite 115, Santa Ana, CA 92704)
Press contact:
Hsu Ling Chiu
Cultural Officer of Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles
Email: hsuling@moc.gov.tw