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Listening to the World Locally – The Homecoming Tour of Taiwanese Musicians
Listening to the World Locally – The Homecoming Tour of Taiwanese Musicians

Publication date: 20 Aug 2024
Author: Lee Yi-ling, Wang Li-Chiao | Staff member at the Archives of Institute of Taiwan History

Ninety years ago, in August 1934, a group of young Taiwanese musicians embarked on the first Western music concert tour in Taiwan’s history. The Homecoming Concert Tour began with great fanfare during the scorching summer of the South Island, kicking off at the Taipei Medical School Auditorium. With a packed itinerary, the tour traveled southward, stopping at public assembly halls in Hsinchu, Taichung, Changhua, Chiayi, and Tainan, before culminating in a final performance at the Kaohsiung Youth Hall. Despite the demanding schedule, the musicians delivered exquisite piano melodies and harmonies to audiences across Taiwan, sparking widespread acclaim.

This article focuses on Taiwan’s first “Homecoming Concert Tour,” which was rapidly organized in just over a month. The program primarily featured Western musical compositions. During the scorching summer of the South Island, this grand musical feast unfolded with enthusiasm, traveling from north to south with seven performances. It offered audiences across Taiwan an auditory delight, broadened their horizons, and brought Western music closer to the local population. This tour marked the beginning of Taiwan’s musical diversity and led to Taiwan’s music being recognized on the Olympic stage, where Taiwanese music shone brightly on the global scene.

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The Photographic Materials of Michael H. Finegan Collections
The Photographic Materials of Michael H. Finegan Collections

Author & Photo: The Archives of Institute of Taiwan History

Michael H. Finegan Collections of the Archives of the Institution of Taiwan History include copious photographs and post cards. These archives are mainly original copies and the publication year (Meiji, Taisho and Showa) and related references are well preserved. In addition, many photographic materials stored in the Institution of Taiwan History were collected from our researchers or donated by private collectors. These materials feature a wide range of topics including politics, economics, society and cultures. These images are precious historical resources that serve as research materials of Taiwan history, teaching materials of local education and museum exhibits. However, due to limited manpower in Historical Records Office (the predecessor of the ITH Archives), the materials were left unsorted. Few people know about these materials, let alone utilize them. Hence, in order to offer the archive as public references, image digitization and the establishment of a quality information system need to be done immediately.

In January 2003, National Science Council (now the Ministry of Science and Technology) initiated National Digital Archives Program and publicly quested for the establishment of digital database of precious artifacts and records. Director of the Preparatory Office of Institute of Taiwan History, Liu Ts’ui-jung, and Director of the Institute of Folk Arts of Taipei National University of the Arts, Chiang Shao-ying, cooperated on the main project “Taiwan Visual Memory Digitization and Preservation Project.” Historical Records Office was assigned to execute the subproject “Digitization and Analysis of the Photographic Materials Stored by the Institute of Taiwan History of Academia Sinica”, sorting photographic materials including old photographs and post cards.

The Institute of Folk Arts of Taipei National University of the Arts and the Institute of Taiwan History jointly cooperated to revise and establish an appropriate photographic database and its field design from 2002 to 2004. As of 2004, 2,168 photographic materials have been scanned, adjusted and added to the online database. Now, the result of the digitization project is merged into「Michael H. Finegan Collections」 which is in Taiwan Archival Information System. The archive is publicly available to researchers and readers who are interested to refer to this archive online.
Photographs of Michael H. Finegan Collections ›

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