Chen Da (also Chen Ta; ; b. 1905 (1906?) – d. April 11, 1981Wang Ying-fen gives Chen Da's year of birth as 1905 and the year he died as 1981. See: Wang Ying-fen, "Taiwan: From Innocence to Funny Rap," in: Simon Broughton, Mark Ellingham et al. (eds.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin and North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific. An A-Z of the Music, Musicians and Discs, New Edition. London (Rough Guides Ltd.) 2000, p.239). – Another source gives the year he was born as 1906. See: "Chen Da" (biographical data), in: Musicians of Taiwan, published by NCFTA (see in: external links http://musiciantw.ncfta.gov.tw/tw/profile.aspx?id=M039 ). – A third source, the Historical Dictionary, confirms the year 1905 and gives the date of his death as April 11, 1981. (Online version found on the following government website: . - See "External links" section.) was a Taiwanese folk singer. He was part of Taiwan's folk music scene and worked as an analphabetic creator of lyrics. His spontaneous performances of traditional tunes became an object of study for many scholars focused on the music of Taiwan and brought him to the attention of writers engaged in music criticism including the novelist Wang Tuoh.See for instance Jian, Shangren (2009); Rees, Helen (2009); Shih, Weiliang (史惟亮 ) (ed.), (1971); Wang, Tuo (王拓 ) (1977); Xu, Li-sha (=L.Hsu 徐麗紗 ) and L. Lin (Lin Liangzhe 林良哲) (2006). According to the Journal of Music in China, Chen Da was "the only noted singer of Taiwanese folk singing."Journal of Music in China, Vol. 4 (2003), p. 119. . Chen Da is also referred to as a singer of "Hoklo folk songs," a synonym of "Taiwanese folk songs."See: (listed in the External links section).
Chiang Ching-kuo sought to visit Chen Da in his hometown, according to reports in the press.See: "Chen Da" (biographical data), ibidem. The high esteem that the singer has been accorded is also mirrored by the language used when referring to Chen Da: Music scholar Jen Shangren has praised the singer, claiming that "Chen Da is a rare folksong gem in the history of Taiwanese folk music..."Jen Shangren, "Chén Dá de gē, zài yīnyuè hé wénxué shàng de yìyì hé jiàzhí 陳達的歌，在音樂和文學上的意義和價(Chen Da's Songs as well as The Meanings and Values of His Songs on Music and Literature)", in: 文史臺灣學報 Wénshǐ Táiwān Xuébào (Journal of Taiwan Literature and History), Vol. 1, No. 11 (Nov.2009), pp. 57-83; the quote is from the abstract. See also: Shang-Jen Chien (= Jen Shangren 簡上仁), "Chén Dá de gē, zài yīnyuè hé wénxué shàng de yìyì hé jiàzhí /陳達的歌，在音樂和文學上的意義和價值 (Chen Da's ballads: the meaning and value of music and the lyrics)", in: 台灣音樂論述 Táiwān yīnyuè lùnshù / Taiwan Music Discussion. Published online. Writing in the Taipei Times, the music critic Ho Yi has called Chen Da "the late folk legend" and "an exceptional yueqin musician famed for his Hengchun folk music sound (恆春調)."Ho Yi. "A living folk legend remains true to his grassroots spirit," in: The Taipei Times, Aug. 27, 2006, p.18. Helen Rees referred to Chen Da as the "wandering bard" in the "Introduction" to her book Lives in Chinese Music.Helen Rees, "Introduction," in: Lives in Chinese Music, edited by Helen Rees. Urbana IL (University of Illinois Press) 2009, p.19. Wang Ying-fen has called him "the best-known singer of the Hengchun Peninsula."Wang Ying-fen, ibidem, p.239.
During the late 1970s, Chen Da became a voice of socio-cultural resistance against the Kuomintang (KMT) in the eyes of many supporters of the Tangwai movement, as the democracy movement was called. As a folk singer, he "has inspired a host of musicians ... in Taiwan."
Early life
Early exposure to Hengchun folk music
Chen Da was born on May 12, 1906, in Kōshun District (modern-day Hengchun), a rural district in southern Taiwan, then under Japanese rule.The registrar who documented the date of birth on the basis of the first post-WWI census recorded April 16, 1906, however. Other sources mention other years of birth, perhaps based on hear-say.See: "Chen Da" (biographical data), in: Musicians of Taiwan, (published by NCFTA), ibidem. As a child, he witnessed the repression of anti-colonial protests by the Japanese military in his area which resulted in many victims in 1914. This experience influenced him considerably. In 1917, due to poverty-related problems at home, he was sent away and lived with a married elder sister in the Taitung area, near the east coast, for a time. The eleven-year-old boy went to work in sugarcane plantations of the area, together with his sister's husband. It was then that he began to learn to sing Hengchun ballads. He returned to Hengchun in 1922.
A young street singer
In 1925, Chen Da started to sing Hengchun ballads in public together with his brothers, encouraged by the example of his elder brother who was already a professional folk singer. His intake used to consist of two or three bowls of boiled rice per day, and some small change. During the Great Depression which affected Japan and her colonies severely (and which also triggered the expansionist urges of Japanese capital and the aggressive course that the government embarked on by invading China), Chen Da's survival as a street singer became even more difficult.
Chen Da suffered a brain stroke in 1934. From then on he could not use his hands and feet properly. His mouth remained slanted, and his eyesight was badly impaired. As a handicapped person, it was almost impossible for him to earn a living in any other way than by singing. His life as a street singer condemned him to extreme poverty.The fact that Chen Da's entire life was marked by dire poverty becomes apparent in several articles about him. Ho Yi writes for instance that "Chen lived most of his life in poverty..." See: Ho Yi, "A living folk legend remains true to his grassroots spirit," in: The Taipei Times, Aug. 27, 2006, p.18. See also: N.N., "Kuangye de beige ──Chen Da /曠野的悲歌──陳達 (Chen Da - The Wilderness Elegy) – Biography of Chen Da", ed. / published by Hengchun tazhen xuehui 恆春拓真學會 (Hengchun True Development Association), listed as additional information in the "External links" section. See also the photos of Chen Da and of his hut in: N.N., " Chen Da suiyue - Chen Da (3) 陳達歲月 - 陳達 : 3. (The Chen Da Years - Chen Da (Part 3)," listed as additional information in the "External links" section. Such poverty was, however, characteristic of the lives of the common people, most notably rent-paying peasants in rural districts.
The Post-war years
In the aftermath of World War II, Taiwan was handed over to Chinese rule. Chen Da continued his life as a street singer performing in the villages of remote districts of the rural south of Taiwan. It is not known how he reacted to the massacres of 1947 that came to be known as the February 28 Incident, or how he was affected by the subsequent years of White Terror.
As a poor and physically handicapped street singer, Chen Da found it impossible to marry. He lived with a widowed woman from 1946 until 1948, however. After their separation, this woman, surnamed Xie, gave birth to his only son.
In 1949, Chen Da lived at the east coast, in Taitung County. Here, he found another widow who was willing to live with him. Two years later, in 1951, the couple moved from Fugang Village (Peinan Hsiang, Taitung Hsien) to Hengchun Township.
In the 1951, Chen Da performed for the first time in a local cultural program. He was joined by another folk singer, Zhang Xi (長惜). As a duo, they improvised Hengchun folk songs.
Music scholars point out that Chen Da often improvised the lyrics.Jian, Shangren (2009); Shih, Weiliang (史惟亮 ) (ed.), (1971); Xu, Li-sha (=L.Hsu 徐麗紗 ) and L. Lin (Lin Liangzhe 林良哲) (2006). This was a common feature of Chinese folk ballad delivery. Various regional versions circulated and interpreters frequently changed the text, reacting both to given situations and the audience. Chen Da would also invent ballads spontaneously. For this reason, he has been referred to as a poet.
While there existed much space for spontaneous variation or fresh creation with respect to the lyrics in Hengchun folk music (恆春民謠 Hengchūn minyao), Chen Da – like other folk singers – used traditional tunes. The delivery of these tunes by the singer and the accompaniment on the yueqin or moon guitar was also marked by improvisation.Speaking of Chen Da's performances, P.-S. Tsai (蔡佩珊) notes his use of "Hengchun folk tunes (恆春民謠 Hengchūn minyao)... coupled with improvised lyrics (配上即興歌詞 pèi shàng jíxìng gēcí)." See: Pei-Shan Tsai (Cài Pèishān 蔡佩珊),"從民謠看台灣女性的堅韌－以《青蚵仔嫂》為例 (Cóng mínyáo kàn Táiwān nǚxìng de jiānrèn --- yǐ "qīng hézǐ sǎo" wéi lì / Recognizing the tenacity of Taiwan's women in folk music --- "Qīng hézǐ sǎo / Green oyster Sister" as an example)," in: . (This is the online copy of a printed article.)
As a singer, Chen Da was a story teller. Improvisation of the stories told by this ballad singer was both a result both of Chen Da's restless life as a wandering bard (thus Helen Rees) and of the fact that he confronted changing audiences and paid attention to the situation that existed while he was facing a specific audience. It reflected his awareness of the events that 'moved' people. But above all, it shows his rootedness in an oral tradition and his illiteracy which made it impossible to refer to and merely reproduce, in a slavishly 'faithful' manner, existing written lyrics.
On the occasion of the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival in 1951, Chen Da was invited for the first time to take part in a ballad singing contest (民謠歌唱比賽). This contest took place at the Fu An Temple (福安宮) in Checheng Village (車城鄉). It was the first folk singing contests held at the Fuan Temple. Since 1951, it has taken place every year.Under Japanese occupation, temples were often hotbeds of political and cultural resistance. It cannot be excluded that in rural Southern Taiwan districts and perhaps all over Taiwan, they continued to perform this function, even though mildly and with utter caution, under the watchful eyes of the KMT-regime.
For Chen Da, participation in the contest was a small breakthrough. Still, not everyone in South Taiwan respected him. Jen Shangren remarks that in the eyes of some local citizens, he was just a "beggar" performing in the streets, hoping to get a few mao (cents) in order to survive.Jen Shangren (Shang-Jen Chien簡上仁) writes that "he was only a 'beggar living on performance' in the eyes of ordinary people." See: Jen Shangren, ibidem. Jen Shang-ren also notes, however, that Chen Da "received considerable acclaim from his audience and deeply touched them" when performing.Jen Shangren, ibidem.
The early and mid-1960s Since 1960 until his death the folk singer lived alone, as the woman he had lived with since 1949 left him in that year. His domicile remained a simple, straw-thatched "hut at Shawei Road (砂尾路 ) in Hengchun Township" until his death in 1981.
His biography says very little about Chen Da's life as a street singer in the early 1960s. White Terror and KMT rule had initimated large segments of the population since 1947. It chilled the atmosphere on the island and it is hardly possible that this did not have an effect on street performances. Both ways: it made singers and audiences careful and apprehensive, and it must have fanned veiled commentaries by a singer who is known to have commented, in his ballads, on social ills and historical injustice.See his ballad "The Gangkou Incident / Ah Yuan and Ah Fa –Tragic story of a father and a son." 《港口事件─阿遠與阿發父子的悲慘故事》(Gangkou shijian / A Yuan yu A Fa fuzi de beican gushi") – according to a critic, a noteworthy "piece of Hengchun social realism." This sly resistance, worthy of The Good Soldier Švejk, a proverbial figure invented by the satirical writer Jaroslav Hašek, is even more likely in a social-cultural setting far from the cities, with an audience that consisted almost exclusively of non-Mainlanders who suffered from considerable discrimination under KMT-rule.