Music and cultural politics in Taiwan

This article aims to examine the current debate concerning the complicated interplay of nationalism and globalization that, along with associated social changes, determines the cultural diversity of contemporary Taiwanese music today. Despite the deep cultural entanglements of Taiwan's political history, the ethnic identities of Taiwanese indigenous and popular music are crystallized by the ways in which identity is constructed and represented in culture and social relations. Over the past two decades, Taiwanese musical culture has been developed largely in relation to policies to integrate traditional Chinese, local Taiwanese and Western music. The historical and political processes in Taiwan's music are factors are pertinent to what is cultural about politics and what is political about culture. Ethnic indigenization and market globalization are part of the conception and practice of the state/party regime's efforts to co-opt the interest of diverse musical elements in a new collective Taiwanese music identity.