Past and future
Not long after his move to the States, Lo went on to take up residence in Hong Kong, and there his creativity found even freer expression. In 1991, he recorded "Queens Road East" in Cantonese, creating a sensation in Hong Kong. Even as a sojourner, Lo managed to become the voice of Hong Kong. In that same year, his album Homeland collected many of his Taiwanese-language songs, recording the Taiwanese people's seafaring life and bitter experience of suppression under colonial and then authoritarian rule. Every word was saturated with the blood and tears of the people.
These albums span 5,000 years of history, thousands of miles of distance, and with an expansive style of "writing history through song," are considered among his masterworks.
Some have said that Lo has written all the music that is in him to write. Indeed, while in the past decade he has come out with a number of excellent works, his output has lessened considerably. The idea that his best days are behind him casts a definite shadow over him.
Lo maintains that in continuing to make music he is simply "keeping a diary through songs and lyrics." He has declared confidently, "I have faith in myself, and know that I will be making music all my life." To countless fans, Lo Ta-yu has already left behind an enduring legacy. In moments of quiet, one can sit back, pour out a glass of wine and, through his desolate and forthright songs, return again to those golden days gone by.
A Chronicle of
Lo Ta-yu
1979
Composes the song "Love Song 1980," taking only 30 minutes from start to finish. Taken on as an intern at Jen-Ai Hospital, Taipei.
1982
Releases his first solo album, Thus It Is. Holds a concert at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in mid-May, ushering in a fad for solo performances around Taiwan.
1983
Releases the album Master of the Future.Holds Taiwan's first New Year's concert at the Chunghua Stadium.
1984
Releases the album Home. Travels to the US after his year-end concert, taking temporary leave from the Taiwanese pop scene.
1985
Releases Taiwan's first live album, Dance Songs for Youth.
1988
Releases the album Lover/Comrade. Publishes a book of short essays entitled Yesterday's Will.
1991
Bursts onto the Hong Kong scene with his Cantonese-language album Queen's Road East. Also releases Homeland, which includes several of his own songs in Taiwanese.
1994
Releases Love Song 2000, to a lukewarm response from critics.
1995
Releases Goodbye, Sulan. Holds a 13-date concert tour of temples throughout Taiwan.
2000
Starts a concert tour of mainland China.
2001
Starts work on a new album.
2008
Forms SuperBand, goes on world tour.
2011
Starts Love Song 2100 solo tour.
Lo Ta-yu met Sylvia Chang (center) at the time he wrote the title song for the film The Golden Age. The photo shows Lo in the recording studio along with Chang and Hou Dejian.
SuperBand brought together four of the doyens of the Chinese language pop music scene. Their collective EP Northbound Train included new compositions by all four, and covers a lot of different ground in terms of rock and roll styles.