Neo19

XIN YI JI HUA QU,Taipei’s hottest new development area, is a vibrant picture of hip, young Taiwanese social life.WarnerVillage, its central complex, is a trendy place to meet up with friends for a meal, movie, shopping, or clubbing. 

It was January 2005. I had just released my “Shangri-la” album, and was looking forward to enjoying an evening alone to internally celebrate having completed such an arduous album production.

What better place to feel alone than amidst the bustlingTaipeinightlife? Subconsciously, I might have related the peaceful loneliness of being on stage in front of thousands of people to that night’s dinner plans. I decided to make a beeline for Warner’s colorful “Neo19”building. 

Upon entering, my ears immediately latched onto the catchy harp introduction of Britney Spears’s “Everytime” pumping into the gargantuan main room. One of her few songs that I actually like, this ballad’s arrangement created the exhilarating illusion of the restaurant’s lofty ceilings being somewhere beyond the stratosphere. I have a penchant for high ceilings, cloudless skies and astronomy. I like the place. 

By conditioned response, I sat myself down in a non-conspicuous corner, but was soon surrounded by a host of smiling waiters with paper coasters to be autographed. So began my mini-autographing session before even seeing a menu … sigh. While obliging as legibly as possible over the coasters’ green “Heineken” logos, I silently asked myself, “should I be signing THESE?” My thoughts were interrupted by the back of a cellular phone shoved in front of my down-turned gaze. “Mr. Wang, can you please sign this for me?” I looked up to see a slightly older, bespectacled restaurant manager. “Sure,” I said as I wrote my name over his phone’s removable battery. “But…”, I began and then stopped. 

I didn’t want to come across as arrogant or stringy, but staring at the stack of coasters to be signed, combined with the fact that the manager himself was standing in front of me, my words just came out! I swallowed and continued, “I just released my new album… and you play music (loudly) in your restaurant,” I was feeling awkward already, but I thought after signing so many autographs it was a fair request. “Could you play my new album here, sometimes?” The manager quickly made a wincing expression, and answered in an awkwardly polite way, that to me was no less caustic than a slap in the face. 

“Sorry Mr. Wang, our rules are that we can only play English songs here.” 

The restaurant manager’s words reverberate in my mind to this day like a gunshot. I’d been hit in the chest and was stunned. “What?” I thought, incredulously. “What kind of rule is that? We’re inTaiwanand you can’t play Chinese songs?” My first emotion was anger. As a musician who has dedicated so much of his life to Chinese music, I was feeling personally attached. But looking up at the bespectacled restaurant manager, I realized he meant no harm, and it wasn’t his fault. In an effort to make theWarnerVillageso cool, so hip, so international, they had actually set up rules to follow. Rules, in my eyes, that are sadly disillusioned.

I can understand if a Mexican restaurant wants to play only Mexican music to stay consistent with its decor, or a Japanese pub’s theme is to play J-pop music videos in the store. I respect and applaud those creative decisions. But if these establishments in Taiwan, in order to make themselves appear more “international”, embrace the prejudice that Chinese music is “too local” for their image, this is not only ludicrous, but also detrimental to the development of our popular culture, and its overall self-esteem. 

These rules (decreed, or unspoken) are accepted in many Taiwanese establishments that are trying to be “international”. It’s so ironic that Americans, many of whom know nothing of Chinese, Japanese, or Korean culture, (they’ve never even heard of British pop stars like Robbie Williams, Blue or Craig David, who sing in English!), have little or no exposure to international radio, television, movies, and print media, are the ones we often look up to as being “international”. The truth of the matter is, Chinese people are in many ways more “international” than theU.S., and more in touch with the goings on of other countries worldwide. 

Chinese establishments should feel proud to play the music of local artist. Now more than ever, we should embrace our own culture, and work hard to take it to a more international competitive level. As a musician, this is one of my paramount goals. I know it can be done if we take pride in our work, and in ourselves. 

Be proud to be Chinese. No one else has what we’ve got.

   説到台北最新與熱鬧的地段，非「信義計劃區」莫屬了，在這裡你可以看到台灣年輕人社交生活的豐富縮影。計劃區的中心-華納威秀，更是和朋友們相約吃飯、看電影、逛街，或到pub裡一起聼音樂、放輕鬆閒聊的熱門地方。

   2005年的一月，我剛發行了「心中的日月」專輯，因爲這張專輯的製作是如此的艱辛，這天晚上我期待享受一個獨處的傍晚，在心裡為自己慶祝一下。

   置身在熙來攘往繁華的台北夜生活中，還有一個地方能讓我感覺更孤獨嗎？下意識中，和可能我把此時心中想安靜獨享晚餐的感覺，聯想到當我獨自站在舞台上面對千萬觀衆表演時心中平靜的孤獨感。我決定直接走進華納威秀裡充滿五光十色的「Neo 19」。

   踏進餐廳，小甜甜布蘭妮的「Everytime」這首歌正在諾大的正廳裡播放著，我的耳朵立刻被這首歌前奏中豎琴的琴聲給吸引了，在小甜甜所演唱的歌曲中，我真正喜歡的並不多，而這首「Everytime」正是我喜歡的一首。這首抒情歌的編曲創造了一股奇妙的幻覺，仿佛餐廳裡挑高的天花板是在大氣層之外的世界。我一直對挑高的天花板、萬里無雲的晴空以及天文學有濃烈的愛好，這樣的幻覺讓我喜歡上了這家餐廳。

   後天環境的訓練，讓我習慣性的挑選了一個不明顯的角落坐下，但很快地還是被店裡的服務生團團包圍，一個個笑瞇瞇地拿著紙做的杯墊向我索取簽名。沒想到連菜單的影子都沒看到，我就先舉辦了一場小型的簽名會~唉！我一面盡可能清楚地把名字簽在綠色海尼根的杯墊上，一面在心中問自己：「我是不是該簽這些呢？」這時，一隻手機突然放在我正在埋頭簽名的視線前，打斷了我的思緒。「王先生，可以幫我在這上面簽個名嗎？」抬頭一看，是一位戴著眼鏡、年紀稍長的餐廳經理。「當然可以」，回答的同時我接過手機，在背面的電池上留下了我的簽名。「對了……」我突然想到一個要求，但是，當我真正要開始説話時卻欲言又止。

   我並不想讓人覺得我自以爲是或斤斤計較，然而看著眼前一堆等待簽名的綠色杯墊，餐廳經理又正好近在眼前，我嚥了嚥口水，話就這麽溜出了口：「幾個星期前，我剛剛發行了我的新專輯，正好你們餐廳會播放音樂……」說這些話時，我覺得非常尷尬，但是我想，簽了這麽多名之後做這個要求應該是很公平的，於是我接著對經理說：「請問你們的餐廳有的時候可以播放一下我的新專輯嗎？」此時，餐廳經理的臉上快速地閃過一絲難堪的表情，然後用客氣得顯得僵硬的口氣給了我他的回答，而他的回答對我來説，就像是我當面被打了一個火辣辣的耳光。

   「對不起，王先生，我們這裡規定只能放英文歌曲。」

   餐廳經理的回答至今仍像劃破寂靜的槍聲在我的心中迴盪著，好像是胸口被重擊了一拳，我愣住了。「什麽？」我心想，真不可思議「這是什麽規定？爲什麽這裡明明是台灣卻不能放中文歌？」我第一個反應是心中充滿了憤怒，身為一個將大部分心力奉獻給華語樂壇的音樂人，聽到這種説法讓我有種被人身攻擊的感覺；但是看著這位戴著眼鏡的餐廳經理，我知道他沒有惡意，這並不是他的錯。因爲要使華納威秀顯得「酷勁時尚又國際化」，他們當然必須擬定一些「規則」讓店家遵守，但這個「規則」在我眼裡看來，是多麽的荒誕不稽。

    我能了解在台北的墨西哥餐廳，爲了配合餐廳裡的裝潢，他們只播放墨西哥音樂；或著在日本居酒屋中爲了營造氣氛，只播放日本音樂錄影帶。我尊重並對這些創意給予肯定。但是，倘若台灣的一些店家，爲了讓自己顯得更國際化，而抱持著華人音樂「太本土」的偏頗思維，認爲播放中文歌曲不符合他們「國際化」的形象，這不僅是荒唐而已，這樣的偏見不但對我們大衆流行文化的發展有害，更傷害了華人整體的自我意識。

    台灣有太多的店家爲了試圖營造所謂「國際化」的氣氛，把這些自視可以成爲「國際化」的「規則」（成文或不成文的）奉為圭臬，遵行不諱。諷刺的是，其實許多美國人完全不了解中國、日本或韓國文化（甚至那些唱英文歌的英國歌手如Robbie Williams、Blue或是Craig David，他們從來也沒聼過），很少、或者是幾乎沒聼過國際電台、更沒看過外國的電視、電影、書報雜誌；而我們卻常常以爲美國人比我們「國際化」並希望向他們看齊。事實上，在很多方面，許多中國人比美國人更國際化，更常接觸世界咨詢，更關注其他國家發展的脈動。

   我們應該要以播放本地藝人的音樂為榮，我們更應該擁抱自己的文化，並努力把它提升到在國際上更有競爭力的位置。身為一個音樂人，這是我想達到最重要的目標之一。我知道，只要我們對自己有信心，對自己的作品感到驕傲，我們一定做得到！

   讓我們以身為中國人自豪！我們擁有的特質是別人沒有的！

                                               [2006-03-05 23:05:23]