60 Years of Singing Ballad in Hakka：Mu-Zhen Xiu
Hakka Ballad is the traditional medium for the Hakka to express feelings or tell history in the agricultural society. People would sing their thoughts by impromptu lyrics, which was called Sui-Keu-Loi(sing as it comes).
Mu-Zhen Xiu was born in the Hsinchu countryside in 1944. Due to his blindness, he was good at singing Hakka Ballad along with urheen since childhood, and became a famous Hakka Ballad grand master later.
Today, with the gradual loss of the language, Hakka Ballad has become a form of performance. The Hakka do not communicate with ballads anymore. The excellent skill of Sui-Keu-Loi makes Mu-Zhen Xiu seem lonely and precious.
The grand master passed away at the end of 2020, and this film records his story.
Previous Screenings
Directors
Ku Shao Chi
Shao-Chi Ku is a senior Hakka culture worker born in Qishan. Her family was originally from Meinong. Sixiian dialect is her native tongue. She has been living and working in Hsinchu for long so she speak fluent Hoiliu dialect as well. Currently, she devotes herself to video content creating and favors oral history. She produced Folk History Library for Department of Cultural Affairs, Hsinchu County Government and Oral History of Senior Civilization for Hakka Affairs Council. She was nominated for Golden Harvest Awards for Outstanding Short Films and awarded merit award twice in Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival. She won first prize of Nonfiction in Zhao-Zhen Zhong Literature Prize and second prize of Modern Poetry in Zhuo-Liu Wu Literature Prize.