Sunday June 11, 2006 Taiwan TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP): Taiwan's David Tao won the Golden Melody Award for best Mandarin Chinese pop record of the year at the 17th edition of the music prizes in Taiwan's capital, Taipei. The annual awards are regarded as some of the Chinese-language music industry's top honors. Tao, known for exploring serious topics, won for his album "The Great Leap 2005.'' In one track on the album, "Ghost,'' he examines the oppressiveness of city living. The singer was in the United States but sent his father, Tao Da-wei, to accept the award and read a statement on his behalf. "Music can be entertainment, but the ones who can change the world are we,'' the statement said. "My son, I'm proud of you,'' his father shouted in English as he left the stage at Saturday night's award ceremony. Fellow Taiwan singer Leehom Wang won the award for best male Mandarin Chinese singer of the year for "Heroes of Earth.'' Singapore's Tanya Chua won the award for best female Mandarin Chinese singer of the year for "Amphibian.'' She beat strong competition from her fellow Singaporean pop idol Stefanie Sun, Malaysia's Fish Leong and Penny Tai, and Taiwan's Cheer Chen. Taiwanese aboriginal singer Hu Defu marked his return to the music scene after three decades of absence by winning the prize for best song of the year with "Pacific Wind.'' Hu _ also known as Kimbo _ earned the nickname of the "Taiwanese Bob Dylan'' for his protest songs in the 1960s and 70s. Later he left the music scene and turned to social activism, especially on behalf of Taiwan's minority aboriginal peoples, who number about 400,000 out of a total population of 23 million mostly ethnic Chinese. Earlier Saturday, Hu also won the award for best lyricist for the song "Pacific Wind'' from his comeback album "Rush.'' The evening had its share of surprises. Taiwanese rocker Wu Bai had been one of the favorites to win awards for song of the year and best lyricist. Instead, he defeated six more conventional-sounding rivals to take the prize for best male singer in the Taiwanese dialect of Chinese, for the title cut of his album "Double-faced Man.'' Singapore's Sun failed to extend last year's title of best Mandarin Chinese female singer, but she sang a duet with Hong Kong pop star Eason Chan. The most upbeat moment of the night came when Taiwan rock star Chang Chen-yueh and rapper MC Hot Dog tried to fire up the crowd with a hip-hop ode to Taiwanese women, obviously drawing their inspiration from Will Smith's happy riffs. en.chinabroadcast.cn asianfanatics
