Lin Sheng Xiang

Lin Shengxiang (Mandarin: 林生祥)(November 25, 1971–) is an independent music composer born in Meinong, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, known for his Hakka compositions that are concerned with his hometown.

Lin Sheng Xiang graduated from Tainan No. 2 High School and Tamkang University.

During his college years, he founded the Kuan Tsu Music Pit (Mandarin: 觀子音樂坑) and served as guitarist and vocalist.

After returning to Meinong, Kuan Tsu Music Pit reformed into "Labor Exchange Band" (Mandarin: 交工樂隊), playing guitar, Yueqin, sanxian, and vocals, and after Labor Exchange Band disbanded, Sheng Xiang and Wajao Pit 3 (Mandarin: 生祥與瓦窯坑3) formed for the release of the album "Getting Dark" (Mandarin: 臨暗), playing guitar and vocals.

After that, he played guitar, Yueqin and vocals for "Sheng Xiang & Band" (Mandarin: 生祥樂隊) with an indefinite number of members.

After Labor Exchange Band disbanded in 2003, Lin Sheng Xiang continued to collaborate with Chung Yung Feng (Mandarin: 鍾永豐) on lyrics, and since the album "Planting Trees" (Mandarin: 種樹), he has been working with Japanese guitarist Ken Ohtake (Mandarin: 大竹研) on his music.

Bassist Toru Hayakawa (Mandarin: 早川徹) joined the band in the spring of 2010 on Ken Ohtake's recommendation, and they have been working together since the album "The Land Is My Study" (Mandarin: 大地書房), and in the summer of 2011, percussionist Alex Wu (Mandarin: 吳政君) joined the band before they went to Japan to perform at the Fuji Rock Festival, and in July 2012, the band changed its name because their friends made a stroke of their name and thought that it would be good luck for the band to be named "Sheng Xiang & Band" (Mandarin: 生祥樂隊).

In 2012, the band commissioned luthier Liu Zhi-Wei to make a six-stringed Yueqin, Kanaji Kawabaka (Mandarin: 川畑完之) to make an electric moon organ, and customized a unique moon organ.

On August 14, 2013, Lin Sheng Xiang, director Ko I-Chen (Mandarin: 柯一正), writer Neil Peng(Mandarin: 馮光遠), environmental lawyer Robin Winkler, writer Nan Fang Shuo, and retired professor emeritus of National Tsing Hua University Ming-Fui-Pang (Mandarin: 彭明輝) launched the "Constitution 133 Practice Alliance" to promote the recall of legislators who are "following Ma and violating public opinion, to show that democracy is not only about elections held once every four years, and recall is not only an empty word written in Article 17 and Article 133 of the Constitution. The Alliance issued a "Statement on Citizen's Recall Campaign", but because the threshold for recalling the president is too high, it will mobilize to recall Ma's legislators from each constituency.

In 2015, he recorded the anti-air pollution concept double album "Village Besieged" (Mandarin: 圍庄), including the second part "Village Besieged" and the third part "Moving On" (Mandarin: 動身) of the "I-Village Trilogy" (Mandarin: 我庄), with musicians Ken Ohtake, Toru Hayakawa, Noriaki Fukushima (Mandarin: 福島紀明), Alex Wu and Huang Po Yu (Mandarin: 黃博裕).

The "Village Besieged" concept double album sought to raise funds on online platforms in 2016 as it did not receive record label investment.

The Village Besieged double album was released on May 21, 2016, and has been on campus tour since of October 2016, eventually winning the Golden Melody Award Jury Prize.

In 2017 Lin Sheng Xiang and Wang Zhao-hua (Mandarin: 王昭華) collaborated to produce the movie soundtrack of "The Great Buddha+" (Mandarin: 大佛普拉斯), which won the Golden Horse Award for Best Original Film Song and the Golden Melody Award for Best Single Producer.

Other awards