Golden Rice Waves & Harvest Art Festival: A-Mei Performs on Heaven’s Path

Text by MOOK Scenic Spots Family Travel Life Network Editorial Department, compiled and reported by Liao Qiyu

The annual Chihshang Harvest Rice Art Festival is returning. Continuing last year’s success, when Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, invited by Taiwan Good Foundation, gave audiences an early taste of their new piece “Rice” set against the backdrop of the Central Mountain Range and a stage of golden rice stalks—a truly beautiful and enchanting performance. This year, the festival will welcome A-Mei back to her hometown, Taitung, to celebrate the autumn harvest in Chihshang by singing songs for the land. Not only will A-MEI give back to her hometown through song, but she will also offer her voice to the land, nurturing endless possibilities. Her melodies will echo through the valley, and her hope is for a bountiful harvest for all farmers.

The Chihshang Harvest Rice Art Festival first began in 2009, when Taiwan Good Foundation invited “Piano Prince” Chen Guanyu to perform in Chihshang. The concert received an enthusiastic response and was even featured on the website of TIME Magazine. In 2010 and 2011, the festival respectively hosted performances by the “Yeh Shuh-han Brass Quintet” and the “Musikzeit Orchestra.” In the autumn of 2012, the festival specially invited the “Unity of Tao and Art” U-Theatre, bringing a distinctive non-musical performance style that attracted over 3,000 attendees—marking the discovery of Chihshang’s potential as a natural venue for international-caliber performances. In 2013, on the 40th anniversary of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, the troupe danced among the rice fields, using movement to celebrate the beauty of Taiwan and creating a magical, moving, and unforgettable experience for audiences from home and abroad. This year, Taiwan Good Foundation invites A-Mei to Chihshang to sing praises of this boundless land with her rich, resonant voice.

This year, on November 1st and 2nd, 2014—the Chihshang Harvest Rice Art Festival – A-Mei’s Song for the Landwill unfold with cascading clouds as the curtain and golden rice fields as the stage. A-Mei will sing amidst Chihshang’s beautiful paddies, delivering a rich and diverse performance. With a voice as bright and joyful as sunshine, she will express her gratitude to her homeland, performing touching songs that celebrate the abundance of this land. The breath and pulse of the soil, the fullness of the rice ears—A-Mei sings for the first time across Chihshang’s vast fields. A-Mei’s Song for the Land is dedicated to the beautiful Chihshang.