Chinese Name: 謝宇威
Born: June 12, 1969
Birthplace: Taipei City (Northern Taiwan)
Hsieh Yu-wei was born in Taipei in 1969. His parents were Hakkas from Taoyuan City’s Xinwu District. Influenced by his father, he often listened to music during his childhood. In elementary school, he liked the songs of Andy Williams and The Beatles. Although he also studied piano, because his father was a painter, Hsieh was expected to develop his talents in fine arts from the time he was a child. After graduating from high school, he studied in the Fine Arts Department of Chinese Culture University.
When Hsieh was in elementary school, he saw the iconic Hakka singer Wu Sheng-chih (吳盛智) singing original modern Hakka songs on TV for the first time. He was moved and empathized with Wu’s loneliness in the entire Chinese and Taiwanese music scene. It was precisely because of memories of this feeling which made him leave a place for Hakka music in his creative direction when he accidentally embarked on the road of music.
At first, Hsieh thought that he would embark on the road of painting like his father, but by chance he entered the world of music creation when he was in college. In 1990, he won the Fifth "Star of Youth" Southeast Asia and National Championship and Best Arrangement Award with his song "Made in Taiwan" which is a fusion of Mandarin, Hoklo (Taiwanese Hokkien) and Hakka. In 1991, he won the championship, best composer and best vocal awards at the 9th "University Town" singing competition in one fell swoop with a song written in pure Hakka called “Song of Inquiries (問卜歌).” After that, he formally learned music composition from Yen Chi-wen (顏志文), a well-respected Hakka musician.
In 1995, Hsieh Yu-wei released his first solo album "Until Now, My Only Excuse Is That I Still Don’t Understand (直到現在我還不明白是我唯一的藉口)." It was one of the top ten albums selected by radio stations and magazines that year. It included two Hakka songs, one of which was influenced by the New Taiwanese Folk Song Movement - the "Song of Inquiries" written deliberately in Hakka, and the other "Do you remember? (你記得嗎?)" which was written based on his childhood impressions of his grandmother. Regardless of the level of language and cultural awareness, they are full of Hakka feelings, and Hsieh therefore became regarded as a Hakka singer.
In 1997, Hsieh Yu-wei served as the director of Formosa Hakka Radio Station. In 1998, he joined the "San-geu-tai Band (山狗大樂團)" as the lead singer and guitarist. A rich and busy music life continued to unfold, and he also actively participated in more activities related to the development of Hakka music culture. He once hosted the second "Taipei Hakka Culture Festival", coordinated and helped produce singer Liu Shao-hsi's (劉劭希) " Hip Hak (嬉哈客)," Taiwan's first Hakka electronic music album, and organized large-scale concerts sponsored by the Hakka Affairs Council.
Hsieh Yu-wei has published albums, including "I am Hsieh Yu-wei. Do you remember? (我是謝宇威─你記得嗎?)", "I-Sa, Fa Shu Ha (一儕、花樹下)", "What Time (青春舞曲)", and "Cute Little Baby (ㄤ咕ㄤ咕)". In 2020, he released his latest album "Those Three Years (那三年)." Hsieh has the courage to challenge new styles and make new attempts. In his creations, he has merged Beiguan, electronic music and traditional Hakka folk songs, collaging completely different musical elements, and achieving cross-generation works with his imagination. In addition to traditional Hakka ballads, Hsieh has also paid tribute to the literary tradition. His sixth album "Jazz Tang Dynasty (爵士唐詩)" features modern jazz style music with Tang poems, and is sung in his native language, showing his cross-field musical talent and profound aesthetics of music.