The strength of local affection
This same afternoon, Tsai Deng-tsai, who operates a construction business in Kezailiao, along with Kuo Chin-shun, who runs a fishing net business, and several other local business owners in the areas of fishing nets, metals, hand trucks, and automobile insurance, are gathered for a meal at a seafood restaurant near the fish market. Tsai and Kuo were two key promoters of the Small Oyster Rock festival.
Giang Giang describes this group as “uncles who really need to party.” Their life routine involves meeting frequently with seafood and alcohol as essentials, and karaoke on occasion to liven things up. When Tsai Deng-tsai explains it to us we gradually come to understand that this is because in the past making a living from the sea was a high-risk endeavor. As Tsai puts it, “Life was something you held onto by chance.” Fishermen didn’t think about saving money or accumulating assets for the future. Often when they came back from the sea, they felt as if they had survived a disaster. Having made a tidy packet, they would drink or even gamble, seeking pleasure in the moment. This culture of drinking and of living only for the present, which started with their fathers’ generation, continues to this day.
These unique environmental factors not only shaped the generous and optimistic character of local residents, it also produced a deep attachment to their hometown, in turn generating powerful cohesiveness.
For the festival, Tsai Deng-tsai and Kuo Chin-shun took responsibility for fundraising and public relations, targeting their fundraising efforts on the hometown friends with whom they normally drank and hung out together. Tseng Jhih-ling, a young homestay operator familiar with the indie music scene, handled contact with the singers and bands who were to perform and the execution of the festival. Li Xianlang, a retired teacher from Kaohsiung’s Haicing Vocational High School of Technology and Commerce, took charge of administrative work and getting government permission to use the site. Yu Chia-jung took on the task of implementing the cultural and creative program. And both before and after the festival, volunteers from the neighborhood watch team, as well as volunteer moms and dads from Ke-Liao Junior High and Ke Liao Elementary, were enlisted to clean up trash and put the venue in order.
In this way, the energies of the whole village were mobilized for the Small Oyster Rock festival, and famous singers and bands including Hsieh Ming-yu, Lin Shengxiang, Panai, Sorry Youth, and the Village Armed Youth Band (aka Armed Youth) all joined in this great undertaking.
The Small Oyster Rock music festival, by relying on the power of local residents, achieved huge resonance. Its success was no coincidence. (courtesy of Shih Ho Feng Film Studio)