The Presidential Office and the General Association of Chinese Culture (GACC) revealed this year’s inauguration ceremony program on Thursday which includes musical, acrobatic, and dance performances as well as the late Wen Hsia (文夏) reappearing through AI.
Taiwanese singer and actor Wen Hsia was born in 1928 and passed away in 2022 at the age of 93. Some thought of Wen as the “king of banned songs'' as nearly 100 of his songs were banned during Taiwan’s martial law period from 1949 to 1987. During the period of severe censorship, musicians could have songs banned for a multitude of reasons including gloomy lyrics or “unclean” melodies.
Now celebrated as a national treasure, Wen will make an AI reappearance at the state banquet to sing a song he had never sung before with musician Siri Lee (李竺芯). GACC Secretary-General Li Hou-ching (李厚慶) says that it took a month to synthesize Wen’s voice. Their team worked with Wen’s family to make adjustments and confirm the final version.
Li shared several reasons behind the decision to feature the AI performance for the inauguration, including that AI is one of the five trusted industry sectors Lai Ching-te (賴清德) plans to develop. Li says that this year’s state banquet is being held in Wen’s hometown of Tainan for the first time, and that May 20 is not only the date of the inauguration ceremony but also Wen’s birthdate.