Chinese Name: 黃宇寒
Born: April 2, 1996
Birthplace: Taoyuan City (Northern Taiwan)
Huang Yu-han, winner of the 2020 Hakka Pop Music Contest, was born in Longtan, Taoyuan City. Her father is a Taiwanese Hakka, while her mother is an Indonesian Chinese. Her unique background is reflected in her art, where different cultures are represented. Her debut album, “Someday,” released in 2019 was a record of her childhood and youth. Huang hopes to pass on the beauty that is the Hakka culture, and produce moving works that would enable her to rediscover through her music that sense of unbridled fearlessness one possesses during one’s childhood days.
Huang’s senior in the field of music, Huang Zi-xuan (黃子軒, no relation), the leader of Hakka band ZiXuan & Slow Train (黃子軒與山平快), once advised her to try blending the Hakka and Bahasa Indonesia in her music – something that was possible because of her multicultural background – and to write her experiences growing up into her songs. The neophyte commented that she had always thought about doing so, but did not put her thoughts into action. With encouragement from her senior, Huang attempted to write a song that centered on her identity.
Huang conversed with her Indonesian Chinese mother in the Teochew dialect, as she only spoke a little Bahasa Indonesia. Huang stated that “my mother did not teach me Bahasa Indonesia, as she wanted to share some secrets with her friends, and did not want me to know what she said.” Huang’s multicultural background is depicted in her music, such as in her album “Someday” which incorporated both the Hakka and Bahasa Indonesia. On her lyrics, Huang explained that, for instance, she had a deeper impression of simpler phrases such as “aku rindu kamu” (I miss you); “kamu” meant “you” while “aku” meant “I”. Through “Someday,” Huang successfully displayed her multilingual and multicultural aspects – these ethnocultural elements became a signature highlight of her music.
(Image: Huang Yu-han’s music video “Someday”)
Another impetus spurring her to create music in the Hakka was also because Huang hopes to let friends around her learn a bit of the language. She recalled then when she sang her own creations, curious friends would ask if she was singing in Korean or Japanese, to which she would proudly reply that she was singing in the Hakka. Huang hopes to spark a desire in the young to learn the Hakka, and strive to use music as the medium to let more and more people know about her culture.
(Translator: James Loo
In collaboration with Fu Jen Catholic University, Department of English)