Taiwan heavy metal bands ready to rock Helsinki at the end of November

Taipei, Nov. 15 (CNA) Three Taiwanese bands will join Finnish music groups in Helsinki at the end of November to engage in "heavy metal diplomacy" at a festival organized by Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and General Association of Chinese Culture (GACC).

The GACC made the announcement at a Friday press event held to reveal the bands participating in the upcoming "F:F:F -- Formosa:Finland:Fest."

Taiwan's Crescent Lament (恆月三途), Flesh Juicer (血肉果汁機) and Chthonic (閃靈) will join Finnish folk metal band Korpiklaani, metal band Lost Society and folk metal violinist Olli Vänskä at F:F:F, which will take place on Nov. 27 at the Helsinki event venue Tiivistämö.

The Taiwanese heavy metal delegation will be led by Crescent Lament's frontwoman Muer Chou (周慕姿), who is also a well known published counseling psychologist in Taiwan.

Ahead of the concert, Chou praised Finland for being the happiest country in the world and also the mecca of heavy metal, and said she looked forward to collaborating with Finnish musicians.

"I believe that the collision between an extremely cold country and a super hot country will create new sparks," Chou said.

When they arrive in Finland, Chou and the other members of the Taiwanese bands will meet up with Chthonic's leader Doris Yeh (葉湘怡) and lead singer Freddy Lim (林昶佐), as the couple currently reside there because Lim is Taiwan's representative to the Nordic country.

Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said Friday that it was actually President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) idea to launch a "Rock in the North and Classical in the South" diplomacy initiative in Europe due to Lim's heavy metal background.

Taiwan's representative to Austria Liu Suan-yung (劉玄詠) made up the second half of Lai's plan, Lin said, as Liu is not only a renowned trombonist but was also the former director of the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra.

Finland's top representative in Taipei Lauri Raunio also said Friday that Finland has the highest density of metal musicians of any country in the world.

Describing the cultural collaboration between Taiwan and Finland as an exciting phenomenon to look forward to, Raunio said.

At Friday's press event, Lin said the heavy metal diplomacy was part of the "Taiwan Culture in Europe 2025" campaign to boost Taiwan's presence in Europe.

The campaign itself, which includes an exhibition of iconic treasures from the National Palace Museum at the National Museum in Prague, the Czech Republic from Sept. 11 to Dec. 31, was launched following the success of the Taiwanese program during the Paris 2024 Cultural Olympiad.