Similar but different
Ten Drum’s ability to find common ground with foreigners and transcend cultural backgrounds is why the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has selected Ten Drum to go on several tours abroad. For instance, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Taiwan’s and Vietnam’s respective missions, in November of 2022, shortly after Covid border controls were lifted, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Vietnam invited Ten Drum to perform in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as part of its 2022 Taiwan Culture and Tourism Promotion Fair.
Hsieh has spent much energy designing musical programs to capture audiences’ hearts and minds. He took the impressions he had gained of Vietnam on an earlier visit—of its simple farming villages that recalled the Taiwan of his youth—as a thread to connect eight pieces for a regular program and two encores. Drawing on rural legends, Taoist temples, and mountain forest landscapes, he created a program called Impression of Taiwan.
The program included “General Order,” which was inspired by the Eight Generals Taoist performance troupes unique to Southern Taiwan, and “The Door of Memories,” which tells the story of Taiwan’s first self-declared emperor, Zhu Yigui, along with “White Deer Running, Sun Moon Lake Shining,” based on a Thao tribal legend, and “The Mountain’s Summoning,” which offers impressions of Alishan’s lofty magnificence.
“Amused Rooster,” with its cleverly depicted anthropomorphized bickering roosters, was a number that Hsieh insisted on including. Found on the album Drum Music Land, which was nominated for a Grammy and an Independent Music Award, the composition imitates the calls of animals with musical instruments, both strongly evoking rural life and adding humor to the awe-inspiring grandeur of drum music. And it doesn’t just resonate with Asian audiences—it has brought the house down on tours of Europe and Africa as well.
(upper photo) Ten Drum’s founder, Hsieh Shih.(photo by Lin Min-hsuan)
The Ten Drum Cultural Village has invited artists from various nations to take up residencies there, broadening the horizons of group members while enabling the artists to become better acquainted with Taiwan. (courtesy of Ten Drum Art Percussion Group)