A Cappella Poetic Voices - HANGUANG VOCAL BAND-Anecdotes

HanGuang Anecdotes

2011~2013

Date	Content
2011.12	【Band Members Recruiting】 In order to promote perpetual cultural deep-rooting, HanGuang Vocal Band experimentally fused classical poetry with music. Delivering literary heritage through human voices, we created a first in Taiwan a cappella history. We recruited our members on a salary base, and we got Teacher Allegro, Chu, also know as Father of Taiwan A Cappella, to be our director. We hope through his series of professional planning, he would be able to cultivate Taiwan’s own a cappella band and make poetry singing as another way to culture people’s characters.
2012.02	【Creation of the Band】 After strict screening, eight members were chosen to promote a cappella through the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures. HanGuang Vocal Band was created by integrating literary heritage, musical elements, stage arts, performing arts.
2012.03	【Origin of Band’s Nickname】 In order to fit the young and popular trend, group members discussed passionately and decided to adopt "HanGuang Drill" as the group's nickname. This name opens the door to merging classical art and popular culture.
2012.09	【HanGuang Vocal Band Mission Statement】 Our Mission: HanGuang is a band with social responsibility as its mission. We pursuit to create exceptional value in vocal arts. We hope to create performing arts quality with Asian characteristics. Like sprinkling seeds, we cultivate performers with a passion for singing, and hope the legacy will continue for generations to come. We may be a small vocal band, but we love our homeland and cherish its kind people. We will devote all our profits back to the society to improve social welfare. We will do all abovementioned because we are from Taiwan.
2012.09.07	【HanGuang’s First Performance】: Mr. Chou-Yu Zheng 80, Traveler’s Dream 20 Literary Concert We collaborated with Mr. Chou-Yu Zheng, Mr. Fu-Jian Lee, and Ms. Hui Zhou in ‘Traveler’s Dream 20’ concert for two shows at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. It was HanGuang Vocal Band’s first time performing in a large concert. We added a cappella from HanGuang Vocal Band and made this concert truly a traveler’s dream with musical surprises!
2012.10.19	【First For-profit performance】 We were invited by Ministry of Economic Affairs under Department of Commerce to open and perform in its ‘Smart Identification Service and Competition’ at Big City in Hsinchu.
2012.10	【First time participating in Taiwan International Contemporary A Cappella Festival】 We participated for the first time in the annual 'Taiwan International Contemporary A Cappella Festival’ organized by Taiwan Choral Music Center as the opening guests for ‘Elegantly Jazz, Night of A Cappella’ by Sonic Suite from Germany.' Taiwan International Contemporary A Cappella Festival is a multi-dimensional choral competition that combines modern a cappella with choral music.
2012.11	【First time performing at the 11th Commemoration of Museum of World Religions】 We sang at the 11th Commemoration of Museum of World Religions before an audience of leaders from religious and political arenas.
2012.11	【First time performing at a large award ceremony of a governmental organization】 We were invited by the Ministry of Finance to perform at the 6th Outstanding Financial Elite Award Ceremony.
2012.12	【First time participating in ‘Old Tune with New Poetic Lyrics’ as a demonstration】 HanGuang Vocal Band refitted classical poem ‘Chai Tou Feng’ and ‘Chia Yuan – Ren Qu Yue Qin Lang’ as demonstrations.

2013~2014

Date	Content
2013.01	【Invited to National Taiwan Library Renaming Ceremony HanGuang Vocal Band was invited to perform at the renaming ceremony of National Taiwan Library.
2013.04	【First time participating in Spring Choral Competition】 Spring Choral Competition is one of the three major competitions held by Taiwan Choral Music Center annually to promote a cappella. We took part in the national group singing-relay competition on the 6th of April. We performed alongside Ommm from France and The Exchange from America at ‘Elegantly Jazz, Night of A Cappella.’
2013.04	【Performing at the home opening of the Brother Elephants of Chinese Professional Baseball League Season 24】 HanGuang Vocal Band was invited to perform by the Brother Elephants.
2013.05	【First major school performance】 We enjoyed a musical feast with 1,000 students and teachers at Taipei Neihu Senior High School with classical poetry and a cappella.
2013.05	【First time performing in a venue for foreigners】 We were invited to take part in Radio Taiwan International’s 9th Chinese Speech Contest for Foreigners as special guests, and it was our first time singing classical poetry in a cappella to hundreds of foreign participants.
2013.07	【First time performing live on television 】 We were invited by Ling Jiou Mountain on its 30th anniversary to perform in a charity event at CKS Memorial Hall. The performance was televised live on China Television.
2013.08	【Performed at Radio Taiwan International’s 85th Anniversary】 We were invited by Radio Taiwan International to sing songs that were culturally unique to Taiwan in front of hundreds of guests on its 85th anniversary show.
2013.08	【First time invited to tour national art camps】 We were invited by United Daily News and Yilan Country Government to tour art camps around Taiwan. We performed and celebrated with youth from around the country.
2013.08.31	【Crazy About A Cappella - Joint performance with O-Kai Singers】 (with O-Kai Singers) Crazy About A Cappella is a joint concert between HanGuang Vocal Band and O-Kai Singers. Through this new combination, we hope to show our enthusiasm about a cappella. This is an absolute vocal harmony between Chinese and aboriginal cultures.
2013.09	【First time participating in Chinese Characters Art Festival】 In Cross-Strait Chinese Characters Art Festival, we combined Tang poetry, Song verse, and Yuan drama with a cappella, and revealing the essence of Chinese characters through our voice. The crowd said our performance was simply divine.
2013.10.07	【First time performing at National Palace Museum】 We were invited by National Palace Museum to perform in ‘The All Complete Qianlong.’ For this special occasion, we specifically tailored our performance to incorporate imperial poetry by Emperor Qianlong.
2013.10	【First time performing for EMBA students】 We were invited, for the first time, by the EMBA class at National Chiao Tung University to perform for its returning alumni.
2013.10.11	【First Charity Concert】 We participated in the charity concert hosted by Taipei Orphan Welfare Foundation to raise funds. We embraced participating children with our songs to encourage them.
2013.11	【First time performing at Creative EXPO Taiwan】 We were the only designated performing group at the 2013 Creative EXPO Taiwan.
2013.12.03	【First concert at Zhongshan Hall】 We fused modern music with classical poetry and conveyed the artistic impression diversely. Songs were mainly classical poetry rearranged by a famous a cappella artist from overseas. Mr. Yuan-Lei Zhu said, " This is a cross-generation artistic performance. Old singing technique + modern a cappella structure, old tales + post-modern visual background. Combine an old soul with a young voice through most primitive human voice to present this new art form."

2014~2015.02

Date	Content
2014.01	【First time singing for aboriginal children】 It was a charity event and the first up-close a cappella performance for children of the Namasia tribe in Kaohsiung. It was very interactive, and all participating children excitedly expressed their intention to join HanGuang Vocal Band in the future as one of their choices for servicing the society.
2014.03.15	【First concert exclusively for our fans】 We held our first exclusive face-to-face concert for our fans in ‘A Cappella with HanGuang.’
2014.04.01	【First performance at an elementary school】 We served up a classical poetry and a cappella feast with 800 students and teachers at Taipei Xinyi Elementary School.
2014.06	【First time participating in Cross-Strait Conference on Modern Mandarin】 We were invited to perform in the welcoming of the Eighth Cross-Strait Conference on Modern Mandarin.
2014.07	【Taiwan Experience Tour】 We were invited to perform at the 2014 Taiwan Experience Tour, organized by Bureau of Foreign Trade and Taiwan External Trade Development Council.
2014.08	【Performing at the 100th anniversary of Taiwan Library】 We were invited to perform throughout the celebration for the 100th anniversary of Taiwan Library.
2014.10	【First performance abroad】 We were invited by China Hangzhou Cultural & Creative Industry EXPO to perform nine shows.
2014.11	【First Street Performance】 We were invited to perform as the opening for ‘South City Art Affairs – Chinese Characters Modern Art Exhibition’ organized by the General Association of Chinese Culture and Taipei City Government. It was our first time performing on a pedestrian-only street in Taipei.
2014.11	【Participated in DigiAsia】 We were invited to perform at DigiAsia by Chunghwa Telecom. Top-tier managements from Facebook, Weibo, Microsoft, Google, Ogilvy & Mather, and Carat Media were present for our performance. It was truly something special!
2014.11.19	【Second concert at Zhongshan Hall】 After entering our third year, we had our second annual concert – ‘Classical A Cappella in Modern Romance.’ The concert was completely sold out.
2015.01	【First EP and Album released】 HanGuang Vocal Band – ‘Through A Cappella’ album and ‘Fate of Tea’ EP will be released soon.
2015.02	【First performance invitation by Africa Taiwan Economic Forum】 We were invited to perform at the ‘2015 Ambassador and Embassy VIP Night’ by Africa Taiwan Economic Forum. We will perform classical poetry with a cappella to more than 500 honorary guests.

Source: HanGuang Vocal Band and HanGuang Vocal Band Facebook Page