No Party For Cao Dong biggest winner at Golden Melody Awards

Taipei, June 30 (CNA) Taiwanese indie rock band No Party For Cao Dong (草東沒有派對) emerged as the biggest winner of this year's Golden Melody Awards (GMA) on Saturday after bagging some of the top prizes of the night.

The quartet bagged Album of the Year, Best Mandarin Album, and Best Band for their sophomore album "The Clod" (瓦合).

No Party For Cao Dong's manager accepted the awards on the group's behalf, saying they had "prior work-related engagements" and could not appear at Saturday's award ceremony at Taipei Arena.

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The band took Taiwan's music scene by storm when they took home the GMA Best New Artist, Best Band, and Song of the Year in 2017.

Other major award winners include MC HotDog (姚中仁), who grabbed Best Male Mandarin Singer for his latest album "Disgusted Artist" (髒藝術家), and Shi Shi (孫盛希), who was named Best Female Mandarin Singer for her album "Boomerang."

Justin Su (蘇明淵) won in the Best Male Taiwanese Singer category for his album Empty Side of the Heart (心內烏空), while Huang Fei (黃妃) clinched Best Female Taiwanese Singer - her third time winning the title - for her album "Eighteen Martial Arts" (十八般武藝).

Panai Kusui, an Indigenous rights advocate, grabbed Best Taiwanese Album with "Iā-Pô" (夜婆).

In her acceptance speech, Panai said: "Don't think that pop music has nothing to do with politics" and highlighted that this year marks not just the 35th year of the GMA but also the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

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Meanwhile, Best Hakka Album was awarded to Chiu Shu-chan's (邱淑蟬) "Shape of Life" (繭的形狀). Zoomie (陳彥竹) took home Best Hakka Singer for her album Zhin Moi (鎮妹).

Best Indigenous-language Singer went to Usay Kawlu, nominated for her album "Harateng no Pangcah (The Beauty of Pangcah)" (美感).

Makav, a member of the Indigenous Bunun Tribe, was named Best New Artist for her album "Treasure" (寶藏), which was also named Best Indigenous Language Album.

"Song of the Year" went to "We Will Be Fine" (又到天黑) by Taiwanese indie rock band Accusefive's (告五人) 2023 album of the same title.

Notably, all four Chinese nominees, Xu Jun (許鈞) and Jude Chiu (裘德) for Best Male Mandarin Singer, and Tia Ray (袁婭維) and Su Yunying (蘇運瑩) in the Best Female Mandarin Singer category were absent from the ceremony.

Jude Chiu (裘德), who received a total of five nods, arrived in Taiwan earlier in the week, but was indisposed and had to return to China on Saturday before the ceremony began, the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development said in a statement.

In a separate statement, Chiu's record label AsiaMuse said Chiu had to miss the event due to "personal matters."

Except for Chiu, none of the 26 Chinese nominees for this year's GMA came to Taiwan for the ceremony. The Ministry of Culture, which oversees the event, noted some of them had prior engagements they would have needed to cancel to attend.

Known as the Grammys of the Mandarin pop world, the Golden Melody Awards has been honoring outstanding work by recording industry talent with songs in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka, and Indigenous languages since its launch in 1990.

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