When Taiwanese musician Joyin Wang 王喬尹 began composing songs, she wrote lyrics in English. But now, she describes herself as the Hakka Voice of Taiwan on her website.
“The main reason I create Hakka songs is that I feel it resonates more with my inner self,” Wang tells Pancouver through a translator. “The Hakka village where I grew up was in the countryside—specifically on a small hillside.”
In those days, Wang would cool her feet in the stream, catch tadpoles, and soak up the sun. She also took comfort listening to elders speak Hakka at home in Nanzhuang, which is in the heart of Miaoli County in western Taiwan.
“Although I’ve lived in Taipei for a long time and still base myself there, I feel that when I need to recharge, everything from that hillside remains my home,” she declares. “It makes me believe that creating in Hakka allows me to express my true self the best.”
The Jade Music Fest will present Wang at a free Vancouver concert called Concurrent on Wednesday (November 6). She’ll be joined at the Annex (823 Seymour Street) by Vancouver-based Taiwanese Indigenous hip-hop artist Kapa Arkieh (Amis), Taiwanese indie duo Theseus, and Toronto-based Taiwanese Canadian singer-songwriter Chynna Lewis, who will each perform original music.
Most of her country’s pop stars write and sing in Mandarin, while others choose Taiwanese Hokkien. Despite this, Wang believes that Chinese-speaking Vancouverites will have a “certain level of understanding” of Hakka songs.
“Even for audiences from other ethnic backgrounds who are completely unfamiliar with Hakka, I hope to introduce the voices of Taiwan’s Hakka people to the world,” she adds.
Listen to Joylin Wang’s 老妹.
Wang reflects complexity through song
Wang dedicated her recent single, “Younger Sister” (老妹 in Hakka), to cousin, Christine. As the oldest sibling in her family, Wang wrote it not only for her younger sister, but also for her internal kiddish self. On YouTube, Wang states that she is reflecting “the complexity of society and human nature through a light and playful folk song”.
“Survival is not simple, and you must be gentle to yourself; life is not perfect, and you must align with your soul; life is difficult to fulfill your wishes, so you must protect yourself and move forward bravely,” Wang writes.
The Hakka people are a southern Han Chinese subgroup with a reputation for working hard and living in more remote areas on hillsides. Traditionally, Hakka people demonstrated more egalitarian attitudes toward gender than other groups of Chinese. Taiwan’s Ministry of Education has designated “Taiwanese Hakka” as one of the country’s languages.
Wang is a graduate of the drama department at National Taiwan University of Arts. She characterizes herself as an introvert, yet she presents an enthusiastic, outgoing personality on-stage. She reveals that she tends to adopt an “E-type” persona, as discussed in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
“However, as a singer, I can’t always express all my emotions through song,” Wang notes. “Sometimes, I need to rely on my imagination. The training I received in drama has been very helpful in those moments.”
Wang began writing music in her mother tongue of Hakka in 2019. The following year, she released her debut album, It’s Joyin Wang. One of the tracks, the dreamy-sounding “Reach Out and Touch the Moonlight (伸手就摸著月光)” captured second prize in the 2020 Hakka Pop Music Competition.
Listen to “Reach Out and Touch the Moonlight (伸手就摸著月光)”.
Hakka phonetics match the melodies
Whether she’s writing songs, participating in competitions or performing, Wang keeps one thought in mind. If this is her last act as a musician, what does she want to express to people?
She also sees real advantages to writing in her mother tongue.
“Hakka lyrics have their own distinct phonetics, much like English, with a unique rhythm,” Wang states. “When writing Hakka songs, I can naturally compose melodies that align with the phonetics of the language, which feels the most authentic and fitting.
“This is quite different from the clear-cut nature of Mandarin,” she continues. “Additionally, Hakka has many words that are gendered; for example, ‘train’ is feminine and ‘shrimp’ is masculine, a distinction that doesn’t exist in Mandarin.”
Wang is getting ready to release a new album of 10 fully self-composed songs in Hakka. Co-produced with Shan Lin, she expects that it will be out near the end of the year.
Earlier in her career, Wang was dubbed “Violent Fresh” by her fans because of the emotional nature of her music. She explains that at this time, she had gone through a painful break-up. Wang responded by writing songs that criticized her ex-boyfriend or poked fun at her own poor judgement.
“However, to be honest, I’ve written fewer songs like that recently,” Wang says. “I’ve moved beyond the creative bottleneck of only being able to write about love.”
The Jade Music Fest will present Joyin Wang 王喬尹 in a free concert on Wednesday (November 6) at the Annex (823 Seymour Street). This showcase will also feature Toronto singer-songwriter Chynna Lewis, Vancouver hip-hop and R&B artist Kapa Arkieh, and the Taiwanese indie band Theseus. Free tickets are available through Showpass. Follow Pancouver on Twitter @PancouverMedia and on Instagram @PancouverMedia.
