The 18th Golden Voice Singing Contest announced the winners on May 1, 2004. Chang Shih-t’ang won the first prize and the prize for the best lyric writer for his “Can’t Be Found.” Ke Kuan-yu won the second prize and the best music arrangement for his “Shadow.” The former winner of the first prize, Chang Chieh, was invited to perform at the last show of this ceremony.

Chang Shih-t’ang, like his predecessor, is an artist of enormous potentiality. According to his remark, the winning song, “Can’t Be Found,” reveals an urgent thirst for congenial companion among his band members when they were searching for a drummer. Some of the members are from outside of TKU, such as Ta-Yeh University, Chinese Cultural University, and Tung-Fang Institute of Technology.

Ke Kuan-yu’s “Shadow” was impressive for his special arrangement of instruments, especially the violin accompaniment and rhythmic drumbeat—which was an exciting combination of elegance and passion.

Liu Chia-hsiao won the prize for best music composition for his “Separation”—an attribute to his heart-broken lovesickness last year. The third winner of the Creation Prize, Chen Kuan-ju was rocking and rolling the hall up with his superb Rock song with guitar accompaniment--“Match Girl.”

The Prize for Best Group Singing was won by the cute four-person-team (T’ien Yi-che, Ts’ai Chin-sheng, Lin Yi-hsuan, and Chen Ying-chen). They performed a Japanese song, “Strolling,” with three of them wearing suspenders, holding the umbrellas, strolling in childlike steps and singing on the stage. The second place gave to SUNNY BOY (Huang Han-chun, Liu Che-tso, Chang Chia-luen, Wang Ching-hu) for their “Green-Tined Sixties Mind.” The performers of “You Are My Eyes”—Chang Yun-pu, and Chen Chih-yun won the third prize.

The Best Solo Performer award was given to Lan Chu-han for his tender “The One Who Left.” His performance won the heart of the audience. However, the critics believed that he could do better if he could be more self-expressive and did not intentionally imitate certain artist. The former best solo performer, Ho Hsin-ju, won the second place this year. This time, with his own guitar accompaniment, he sang in a deep blue note, “Burning,” which did burn the audience’s heart. The third prize was given to a graduate of Chinese Department, Chow Wen-peng, whose “Miss Mama” made the listeners feel free and released.

Chih-hsien Ou’s and Kai-jen Hsieh’s innovative song, “The Rioters,” which criticizes the current political turmoil, tingled the audience’s spine. The critics praised their originality but regretted that the lyric and music composition were a little rough.

The five critics, Lin Chiang; Kuo Tsung-shao, Lin Cheng-ju, Wang Yi-lung, and Wu Ching-tsun, unanimously recommended that the attendants of the contest should “sing the songs suitable for them, not the songs they like,” for one’s favorite song may not the one that the signer versed in. Critic Lin Cheng-ju, a TKU alumnus, remarked that “an artist should not easily lose oneself in any specific style, or there will be no innovative music style and the musical world will be nothing but imitation.”

UPDATE： 2010/09/27 CLICKS： 1721 DOWNLOADS：