"Mother of Cliff" - Nakashi Performers in Mengjia / Monga Park | 「岸壁之母」 艋舺公園裡的那卡西

I stumbled upon a nakashi performance on a drizzly night in the Monga Park (also known as Mengjia Park) near the MRT exit for the Longshan Temple Station in Taipei in late May 2013. I was struck by the keyboardist' approach to accompanying the singers in particularly. He incessantly changed the tone of his keyboard, in the case of this song, between various Asian string instruments. He also played the keyboard in the style of a Guzheng (Koto) or Shamisen, doubling the vocal melody for the most part while striking a few chords to add rhythmic emphasis to the tune. I've heard this technique being used on a guitar or sanshin in an enka song, but never thought that it would translate so well into a keyboard instrument. That the singer is dressed in a Japanese faux-kimono outfit is typical of nakashi performances. I have seen this practice in tea parlor-style nakashi performances, but mostly in ad hoc street nakashi performances like this one. If you listen carefully, you would hear the sound of a generator in the background. Like most other ad hoc street performances, this nakashi ensemble used a diesel generators to power their PA system. Most nakashi performances are amplified these days. The reason, I guess, is the emphasis on vocality and its audibility. I also think that amplification resonates with the Taiwan street-level sensibility of renao 熱鬧.

I don't know the name of this song, so please comment if you do!

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