žžWei-Chi
InterContinental Music Awards Winner
2024 – Best of Asia | Asian Jazz & Crossover
žžWei-Chi, an urban Paiwan Indigenous artist born in Taipei, is a singer-songwriter with both Taiwanese Han and Indigenous heritage. Her multiple identities, husky and mellow voice, and deep connection to both urban and rural areas make her voice rich in storytelling.
Shuttling between the city and tribal areas, she captures the subtle nuances of historical stories and daily life. She uses her music to express the questions and conflicts in life, characterized by a fusion of traditional Indigenous music and jazz.
The origins of blues music share many similarities with Indigenous Linban songs, which prompted žžWei-Chi to boldly combine the Paiwan language and jazz. In 2023, she collaborated with producer Musa Ming Martin to release the album “Siasing.”
“Siasing,” meaning “photograph” in Paiwanese and derived from the Japanese word “写真 (しゃしん),” expresses her pursuit and care for her ethnic history. žžWei-Chi excels at weaving sharp satire into the moderate texture of jazz music, combining vocals with pure instrumental performances, forming her unique jazz aesthetic rich in dramatic conflicts. The themes and narrative structures of jazz music also inspire žžWei-Chi to delve deeper into addressing historical, gender, and ethnic issues.
*Indigenous Linban songs: Improvised songs sung by Taiwanese Indigenous peoples during government forestry projects in the 1960s.