Department of Cultural Affairs

     Commuters in Taipei now can enjoy a feast of music hopping on and off the trains as the MRT Sound Landscape Plan part III made its debut on Dec. 19, 2015. Initiated jointly by the Taipei City Government and MRT Corp., Department of Cultural Affairs,the Taipei Soundscape Project has seen progress on transit, terminal broadcasting, and entering music.
Following renowned musician Summer Lei’s melody piece created for Tamsui-Sinyi (Red) Line, passengers on board the MRT transfer stations on Jhonghe-Sinlu (Orange) Line, Bannan (Blue) Line, and Songshan-Sindian (Green) Line will be treated with distinguished music catered to different commuter groups.
     “The project has made a connection between soundscape and human’s attachment to urban life,” said project director Siva Yuan. The project sourced musicians locally, recruiting from Golden Melody Award winners, with principles such as not too fashion, sheer instrumental, and time-enduring. The four composers spent nearly one month to produce a 30 seconds music piece each with distinguished styles.
The move received wide welcome among passengers as they are placed in an unprecedented joyful atmosphere when the signal lit up.
Preventing any influence on living quality of the neighborhood is the premise when deciding which stations are suitable to play the record music. Also, the interference of different music is also taken into consideration.
     Jhonghe-Sinlu (Orange) Line features renowned musician George Chen’s work. Familiar with producing background music for theater, drama series, movies, and commercials, Chen tuned to the channel of humor and lightness this time, hoping the magical and fairytale-like melody will ease the tense of commuters.
　　Musician Cin Cin Lee, a frequent Golden Melody Awards winner compose a special music track for Blue Line. She observed that most stations of this line characterize as an influx of tourists and commuters. Lee bore in her mind that the music should be able to slow down the rustle urban tempo.
For Songshan-Sindian (Green) Line, the two-time Golden Melody Awards winner Ken Chou pinpointed the traits shared by commuters, and mixed well-known Chopin’s classical music with Jazz, electronic sounds, guitar and piano to produce a soothingly beautiful melody reminder.