Music and Arts Cafés Become a Cultural Trend
音樂藝文咖啡館漸成風潮
Source: Literary Cafés
From: Secret Base — Taipei’s Music Landscape (Since ’90)
Date: First edition, May 2000. Author: Lo Yueh-ch’üan
In the 1990s, Italian-style cafés began to proliferate in Taiwan, packaged with a “literary and artistic” atmosphere. The “arts” flavour varied from café to café: some relied on expensive décor, some adopted an exotic atmosphere as their keynote, and some were decorated immaculately — with guests required to remove their shoes at the door. Among them, “Norwegian Forest,” opened in 1993, and “2.31,” opening in 1995, became known for specialising in non-mainstream music. The former reflected the owner’s personal musical tastes; the latter housed an in-store record shop called “Avant Garden” that specialised in playing avant-garde and experimental music.
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External Links
- Literary Youth (Art Today, September 2010)
- Preface to Secret Base — Taipei’s Music Landscape (Since ’90)
- Those Years We Were in Love with the Witch House (The Reporter)
- A Study of Taipei’s Cafés: Centred on Literary Activity (1949–1989) (Shen Meng-ying)