The Lantern Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar calendar. To celebrate, Taiwan puts together a massive outdoor illumination, an event called the Taiwan Lantern Festival.
Each year, a different part of Taiwan plays host to the illuminations. In 2020, the honor of hosting the event will fall to the central city of Taichung. An award-winning Taiwanese band has been invited to write the theme song for the festival’s 2020 edition.
As it prepares to host the 2020 Taiwan Lantern Festival, the Taichung City Government is pulling out all the stops. The city has asked a local band The Chairs to create a song for the event. This isn’t just any old band- The Chairs were named Best Vocal Group at the 2019 Golden Melody Awards, Taiwan’s equivalent of the Grammys.
The theme song the band has come up with is filled with nods to local scenery and culture. There are references to Taichung’s pearl milk tea, the city’s night scenery, and the wind turbines at the coastal Gaomei Wetlands. Even the local Houli Horse Farm and an art installation from the recent Taichung Flora Expo get mentions. The city’s connection with saxophone-making is played up, and the very saxophone heard in the song was made in Taichung.