EXPANDING PRACTICES AND PERFORMING POPULAR SONGS IN TAIWANESE OPERA

Taiwanese opera (gezaixi), the most vibrant type of traditional theatre in Taiwan today, is sustained as a living art primarily through temple performances and secondarily through government-sponsored events. During temple festivities, patrons hire troupes for daylong performances that include a ritual performance, and opera performances in the afternoon and evening. On any specific day, professional troupes usually perform in different styles for the afternoon and evening shows, with a notable variance in vocal musical repertoire. The music of the "classic style" opera performed in the afternoon consists of songs from a pool of uniquely Taiwanese opera tunes. In contrast, popular songs dominate the musical repertoire used for the evening's "hybrid style" performances. Although hybrid style opera has been performed for over forty years and the two operatic styles are both equally important to the performance practices of professional troupes, hybrid style opera continues to be marginalized. Surprisingly, some practitioners and scholars reject and critique hybrid style opera as deviant and non-traditional, particularly in its inclusion of popular songs. Government-sponsored events heavily favor classic style operas. My field research experience with Taiwanese opera, however, has led me to deconstruct the disapproving viewpoint of hybrid style opera and reconsider the nature of the opera's musical repertoire formation. Through analyses of performance practices and dramatic functions of songs, I contend that performers select and use popular songs in corresponding manners as they do for that of non-popular, that is, traditionally-based, music. Furthermore, I delve into the formation of the opera's vocal repertoire to argue that the bulk of the repertoire is formed through the appropriation of existing songs. Performers' selection and usage of songs from the popular music genres is part and parcel of the vocal repertoire's formation process. The latest transformation is in the performance of popular songs and the ways in which actors are featured in unprecedented fashions.