This year’s Jade Music Fest will feature a Taiwanese folk-rock wandering minstrel. Cliff 克里夫 has travelled all over the East Asian island nation, collecting people’s stories and turning them into songs.
“Most of the songs are about hometowns,” Cliff tells Pancouver in an interview at the Annex in downtown Vancouver. “Taiwan is a special country because there are so many different types of people from different counties. Different people have different stories.”
He reflects the diversity of Taiwan by singing in different languages—Mandarin, Taiwanese, and Hakka. He has even included some Indonesian lyrics in his music as Taiwan is home to about 320,000 nationals from that country. And in the inspiring and throbbing “黑子 Sunspots”, Cliff delivers the final verse in English.
“Sunspots” embraces the fear of death gently but firmly by quoting the British poet William Ernest Henley.
“I have not winced nor cried aloud,” Cliff sings. “You shall not find me unafraid / How strait the gate / But I am the master of my fate / I am the captain of my soul.”
Cliff captures loneliness of urban life
Cliff wasn’t supposed to be a professional musician. His parents make their living in the fishing industry and after he graduated from National Taiwan University, the New Taipei City resident worked as a mechanical engineer.
“After seven years, I decided to quit my job, pick up my guitar, and started writing songs,” he says.
That’s what prompted him to travel around the country, meeting as many people as possible. Cliff believes that he had to do this to strengthen his songwriting.
When asked about the differences between the southern city of Tainan and the more northern Taipei, Cliff puts it this way: “My friends say Tainan is chill and they live in a chill style. In Taipei, it’s faster and there is more pressure.”
Cliff captures the stress and loneliness of an urban office job in his melancholic song 褪色也沒關係的 (It’s Okay If It Fades).
“Wanting to escape this building / but stuck to my desk. / Wanting to work hard, but my hands are trembling,” he sings.
The lyrics go on to mention how the sun is painted grey as old news keeps playing and there is not a single notification on the phone.
“Emptiness, like a caged beast, gnaws at me /… I can do anything in this building / But I can’t leave this room / Can this still be called freedom?”
Inspired by Chang Yu-sheng
Cliff released his first EP, “Before the Fog Disperses”, in 2017. KKBOX cited the title track as one of the must-listen Chinese-language indie songs of the first half of 2017.
Cliff then wrote his “Passerby Trilogy” of songs in 2020 and 2021, embracing his love of wandering across Taiwan. The first was “Passerby” followed by “Kuroko” and “Road”. In 2022, Cliff dropped his debut solo album, Good Days. One of the singles, “The Wind Through the Island Brings Me Home”, won the Best of Asia – Asian Pop honour at the 2024 InterContinental Music Awards.
He’s currently working on his second album. One of Cliff’s musical inspirations is Chang Yu-sheng, a Taiwanese pop vocalist and songwriter known for hitting high notes. Chang died in a car crash in 1997 at the age of 31.
Cliff also mentions Swedish singer-songwriter José Gabriel González as another musician who has impressed him.
In Vancouver, Cliff will perform solo with his guitar and harmonica. But back at home, he’s equally comfortable playing with his band.
“If people want to know my music, they can follow my social media,” Cliff says. “I will release a new single this month.”
The Jade Music Fest will present Cliff at a free showcase at 6:30 p.m. on Friday (November 7) at Waterfront Theatre (1412 Cartwright Street) on Granville Island. Toronto alt-pop artist Vicki Lovelee and Kaohsiung-based Hakka folk singer-songwriter Shu Chan Chiu 邱淑蟬 will also perform that evening. For more information, visit the Jade Music Fest website.
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