The band\u2019s most popular song \u201cTurn on the Disco Ball\u201d remains one of the hottest tunes in local karaoke bars, creating an unprecedented phenomenon for an indie band. Representative of the poppy side of Ying\u2019s music, the song\u2019s straightforward lyrics express emotions common to all \u2014 or, more precisely, to ordinary people under pressure of work, society and life in general. In concert, such catchy lines and fluent melodies are acted out in a kitsch style, accompanied by a variety of show elements and dancers on stage, reinforcing the spectacular and often exaggerated nature of the Clippers\u2019 performance. As a whole, their performance also implies a certain kitsch culture seen in some local people\u2019s clothing styles or visual details in daily life, vividly incarnated through Ying\u2019s outfit in the MV of Turn on the Disco Ball (3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, beneath this lighthearted surface, a keen audience might sense a pensiveness about human existence, along with a vulgar vitality pertaining to pop culture or the lower classes. While shifting between experimental and pop music styles, Ying continues to elaborate lyrics that convey more complex ideas. Notably, he sometimes sings or recites in a way that imitates \u201ccross talk\u201d (\u76f8\u8072) where he, alone, plays the two roles. Through the lyrics, Ying explores and excavates the hypocrisy inherent in modern society, and repressed feelings under a collective system of values \u2014 particularly in the context of Taiwan. The enterprise is carried out through abundant references to local history and culture, as well as Ying\u2019s witty, jumping, ridiculous and irrational yet thought-provoking expressions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parallel to his career as a musician and a performer, Ying is also an actor for theater, films and TV series. His strong performance orientation has led him into the field of video art and performance. In 2011, he presented the video work \u201cThe Very DVD Set: The Frenziness of a Salesman\u201d (\u9019\u5957 DVD (\u63a8\u92b7\u54e1\u4e4b\u72c2))(2011) in the group show \u201cLive Ammo\u201d (\u6d3b\u5f48\u85e5) at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Taipei. With the title referring to Arthur Miller\u2019s play Death of a Salesman<\/em> (1949), Ying plays the role of a TV shopping channel host selling a DVD set called \u201cThe Very DVD Set\u201d which, in fact, does not exist. The DVD set contains examples of improper laughing that would harm one\u2019s career; in his alternative role-play, Ying also acts as a high-school student whose episode reflects the uniform force imposed by education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the whole, Ying brings forth the fluent persuasion of a salesman whose speech implies work-place conventions and games as well as conflicting sentiments within the human psyche. Through copious and laborious litanies, \u201cThe Very DVD Set\u201d penetrates to the core of the emptiness of consumerism and, essentially, of the promise of a bright future which we are taught to hold onto from school days into adulthood. (4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having been a salaryman for almost three years, quitting before founding his band, and having served in a psychiatric hospital in his army days where he reflected on the idea of \u2018madness\u2019 and how all kinds of madness manifest themselves also in \u201cordinary people\u201d, only to lesser degrees, Ying\u2019s solo artistic career thus revolves around themes like the struggle between the ordinary (as approved by certain systems of values) and the insane, and psychological distortion under certain societal contexts. Throughout Hsiao-Ying\u2019s career, from indie musician to video artist and multimedia performer, his multi-faceted oeuvre represents a persistent existentialist study by means of satire. Themes of alienation or other forms of psychological repression recur, culminating in his first self-produced theatre piece Show of Happy Solitude<\/em> (\u5feb\u6a02\u5b64\u7368\u79c0)(2012). Written by Hsiao-Ying and featuring himself and three experimental theatre actors as well as Japanese artist Asako Otsuka (who also did the visual design), the play delivers individual confessions about his\/her own solitude alongside a live analysis of the psychology of laughing. As Guo Liang-Ting points out in his article (5), the play is characterized by its paradoxical and ambiguous nature: the jokes both prompt and hold back the audience\u2019s laughter; Hsiao-Ying\u2019s lines\u2014which are both flippant and reasonable\u2014can seem sincere and artificial at the same time. Such a subtle performance points precisely at the core of the unspeakable experience of solitude as it is revealed throughout the show\u2014an experience which one undergoes also through the experience of art. Finally, the oxymorons and ironies carried by the entire play (including its title) imply a nihilism which finds its \u201chappy\u201d and animated counterpart in Hsiao-Ying\u2019s song \u201cTurn on the Disco Ball\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTurn! Turn On! The colorful disco ball! Let me see through this life.<\/em> Turn! Turn On! People who sweat! Forget our sorrow and agony,<\/em> \u2014\u201dTurn on the Disco Ball\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Originally published on Pots Extra<\/em>, no. 358 (after the publication resumed), May 6-15, 2005 (Taiwan). \u201cCycling through the years, Hsiao-Ying h … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.randian-online.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/1-4-e1385699458358.jpg\" "\\"1")
<\/a>
\u300a\u8fd9\u5957 DVD\uff08\u63a8\u9500\u5458\u4e4b\u72c2\uff09\u300b\uff082011\uff09\uff0c\u5e94\u851a\u6c11\u63d0\u4f9b<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
These themes are seen extended in Ying\u2019s latest video-performance, \u201cMomentary Fantasia of a White Collar\u201d (\u4e0a\u73ed\u65cf\u4e00\u6642\u7684\u72c2\u60f3)(2013), where he plays a contemporary salaryman who fabricates a story to escape the boredom of work. The story is set in Taiwan in the 1950s, when the country sought development through petrochemical industries. It features a young couple whose conversation represents the mainstream values of the time. The sequences jump between the past, the present and recordings of the Clippers Band\u2019s concerts while Ying himself plays every role. Schizoid connotations are furthered by the arbitrary arrangement of settings \u2014 for example, the story of the 1950s might be acted out in a modern-day parking lot near the salaryman\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let the questions without answers<\/em>
all drop into the puddles after the rain! (rhymed)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Follow the singing that penetrates the brain, proving that this life is still colorful!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a>
\u53f0\u5317\u827a\u672f\u8ba1\u5212\u524d\u4f34\u968f\u300a\u4e0a\u73ed\u65cf\u4e00\u65f6\u7684\u72c2\u60f3\u300b\uff082013\uff09\u7684\u73b0\u573a\u8868\u6f14\uff0c\u5e94\u851a\u6c11\u63d0\u4f9b<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u5267\u573a\u4f5c\u54c1\u300a\u5feb\u4e50\u5b64\u72ec\u79c0\u300b\uff082012\uff09\uff0c\u5510\u5065\u54f2\u6444\u5f71\uff0c\u5e94\u851a\u6c11\u63d0\u4f9b<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
2. A musical style, \u2018the nasal, Japanese organ music that\u2019s like the country and western of Taiwan\u2019s past.\u2019 See David Frazier, ibid.
3. Watch the MV at http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TXtxiKaaVBU<\/a>
4. During the show in MOCA Taipei, Ying also made five live shows where he performed the entire content of \u201cthat DVD\u201d in an uninterrupted way. Watch MOCA performance and artist\u2019s interview at http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pCHVT5wn4ak<\/a> (Chinese speaking)
5. Original Chinese version published in Performance Art Review<\/em> (\u300a\u8868\u6f14\u85dd\u8853\u300b), n. 238, Oct. 5th, 2012 (Taiwan).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"