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Mayday’s new
politically tinged video proves a hit
By Wang Yu-hui and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The new version of the video for War Dance for Lord Lanling (蘭陵王入陣曲) by popular
rock group Mayday (五月天) proved an immediate hit, when it was released online on
Friday, receiving more than 1 million hits in just three days.
Mayday wrote the song for the popular TV drama Lord Lanling (蘭陵王), a
fictionalized reproduction of the general’s later life.
Netizens felt that the new video, which will be performed on the group’s Nowhere
tour, fitted the mood and meaning of the song, adding that it embodied the “true
Mayday spirit.”
Some netizens said that the lyrics of the song reflected contemporary issues,
adding that additional footage and pictures have made the band’s treatment of
the issues more evident and poignant.
The netizens’ comments referred to the lyrics “when a single person can hide the
truth,” (當一份真相 隻手能隱藏), and “the hungry young, the homeless people, who divides
the spoils?” (幼無糧，民無房，誰在分贓), the first of which was taken to allude to the case
of former Army Corporal Hung Chung-chiu case (洪仲丘) and the latter to the
demolition of homes in Dapu Borough (大埔), Miaoli County.
Hung died on July 4 after alleged mistreatment. Military investigators have
allowed Colonel Ho Chiang-chung (何江忠), former company commander Major Hsu Shin-cheng
(徐信正) and Staff Sergeant Fan Tso-hsien (范佐憲) to post bail, but following the
amendment to the Code of Court Martial Procedure (軍事審判法), the Taoyuan District
Court ruled that they be taken into custody again.
The amendments to the Code stipulated that jurisdiction over judicial cases
within the military during peacetime would be transferred to civilian courts.
The Dapu case refers to public anger at the Miaoli County Government’s forced
demolition of houses on land expropriated for the expansion of the Hsinchu
Science Park in Jhunan Township (竹南).
Netizens said the band had guts to make the video.
Chang Sen-wen (張森文), a resident of Dapu whose home was demolished on July 18,
was found dead on Wednesday after having suffered from depression. Although his
death was an apparent suicide, an autopsy was conducted late last week.
An image of Chang in tears appears at the end of the video.
Meanwhile, Mayday said that they have always been socially aware, adding that at
the Golden Melody Awards in July, they had sung Rise Up (起來) with Backquarters
(四分衛), Luantan A-hsiang (亂彈阿翔) and The Chairman (董事長樂團) as a video highlighting
recent social issues played in the background.
Yu Pei-wu (于培武) of The Chairman, who wrote the song Long be phainn se (攏袂歹勢) in
1999 to express their discontent with the government, also praised Mayday.
“We’re not in a competition to do the right thing,” Yu said. “We are very happy
to see Mayday take a stand [on the issue] at this time, and we hope others in
the industry with some influence over the younger generation can also take a
stand and support what is right.”
Mayday’s lead singer Ashin (阿信) said in a Facebook posting that it was not
difficult to write songs like War Dance for Lord Lanling, but finding an
audience who would listen to them was harder, adding that he had the patience to
wait for his audience to come to like his songs.
In other news, a rumor that tickets for Mayday concerts would have the words
“Tear Down Dapu [Borough] today, we’ll overthrow the government tomorrow,” were
denied by B’in Music Co, the group’s public relations company.
“It was a mistake on our part. The rumors referred to an event in June featuring
The Chairman, where stickers with the words ‘Tear Down Dapu [Borough] today,
we’ll overthrow the government tomorrow,’ were distributed,” the company said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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