城市音樂生活與政治之研究-以臺北市街頭音樂為個案

Abstract

音樂早已普遍地瀰漫進入當代城市生活，在購物中心、商廊、地鐵/捷運站公共空間、商店、公車、計程車裡，甚至伴隨著隨身聽、ipod的城市漫步。音樂總是無所不在構築著我們的城市日常經驗……一種隨處可見的景觀、細膩地介入我們的生活，成為我們生活裡普遍存在的成分。然而，它與城市生活間關係的探討，卻仍是一有待充分探索的領域。本研究以音樂及城市生活間的關係為核心論題—首先，以「日常調節(everyday regulation)」觀點，切入並描繪通俗音樂在當代城市生活中所扮演的（調節）角色，指出當代通俗音樂的疑旨，乃存於生活政治(life politics)範疇中。其次，通俗音樂作為一種解放道路（這是喧騰於上世紀關於通俗文化產品作為資本主義附庸抑或抵抗出路的論辯一方），在此仍有所啟發，本研究用以思索在當代城市生活場域，通俗音樂是否仍具可能性。 近年臺北，伴隨市府對於街頭藝人的推動，街頭音樂(street music)隨處可聞，豐富了城市街景，已成為21世紀後臺北市公共生活特有的文化現象，當城市看（聽）似更加多姿多彩，當政權聲稱「街頭藝人讓藝術融入生活」並鼓吹市民「不吝打賞」時，街頭藝人被視為能夠為城市公共生活注入活水。然而依據本研究觀察，市民其實往往只能依據政權所圈限，在特定時間地點進行這種一般城市音樂經驗之外（隨身聽、室內/戶外大型演唱會、KTV）的戶外音樂活動，所謂「藝術融入生活」，已普遍成為假日商業鬧區公共空間裡，一種另類的個體消費，在街頭音樂家演出的現場，安分駐足聆聽、「打賞」的個體身體，隨處可見。重回上述思考軸線，我們懷疑當代臺北的街頭音樂，其實正牽連著某種調節，在公共空間裡塑造著安分合宜的城市身體—當代臺北街頭音樂遂成了本研究經驗層次的疑旨對象。 本研究主要藉由晚近興盛於臺北的街頭音樂（藝人）現象，來回饋「通俗音樂、城市生活與政治」這個論題，主要理論及經驗性的疑旨在於：街頭音樂對於晚近臺北城市生活的意義何在？是作為城市（生活）調節的一部份，抑或具有開啟嶄新城市生活的可能？為了回答這些問題，本研究首先必須釐清當代「通俗音樂、城市生活及政治」間的聯繫，也就是建立分析當代「城市音樂生活」的理論架構（第二章）。接著，鋪陳臺北街頭音樂生活(street musical life)的歷史脈絡，以為本研究場域構築所需的歷史地理基礎（第四章）。其三，從鉅觀/整體性角度對臺北市街頭音樂進行切入，描繪其所牽涉之日常調節政治（第五章），同時也在微觀及具體經驗層次，對特定街頭音樂進行檢視（第六章），最後，作出結論（第七章）。 綜觀之，臺北市這個晚近的街頭文化現象，在「聽」似多采多姿的城市流動聲景裡，框架著(framing)某種身體馴化(taming)及個體式經驗邏輯，使得街頭音樂普遍所彰顯的公共生活，必須歸屬於城市生活疏離(alienation)的一部份予以理解。結果，臺北市民面對了另一回合，在聽覺美學面向上的身體調節政治，過程中，（急著向西方城市看齊的）城市政權，主流市民及媒體皆扮演著積極角色。但即使如此，街頭表演作為市民一另類「發聲」管道，本身即意涵著與城市遭逢(encounter the city)，畢竟音樂是足以渲染集體情緒的媒介，當本地或自各地蜂擁而至的街頭音樂家，表演只為了某種交往性的身體愉悅（與人為善地自我展現），演出當下即可能形成某種去除疏離的結界，藉由音樂，誘發（人際）交往、肢體開展…愉悅的城市身體，使城市成為遭逢會遇的場所。 關於「音樂解放性」以及「城市解放性」兩個延續通俗音樂及城市研究脈絡的傳統論題，本研究發現，在「日常生活」的平臺上，「音樂作為藝術之解放性」與「城市作為人類解放場域」兩者的遭逢、交會與融合—「音樂解放性必須在城市生活裡實現，而音樂的解放也就變成了城市的解放」。只是，不能不注意，街頭音樂為臺北市所開啟，在公共空間哼唱、演奏、聆聽，甚至隨音樂起舞的嶄新生活經驗，背後的安全閥：時空安置、關於社會秩序之法規，藝人甄選下，並非人人有資格上街頭哼唱演奏等，使得我們無法對於街頭音樂抱持過度樂觀的態度。最後，本研究重申應政治性地看待「通俗音樂—城市生活」，通俗音樂對於當代城市生活的意義，是作為城市（生活）調節的一部份，同時亦具有開啟嶄新城市生活的可能，但可能究竟為何，則必須回到具體的歷史地理中。

In this research, street music is the focus, as a form of everyday musical space in the city. The author examines contemporary street music in Taipei, unraveling its political reality in terms of ‘making art a part of city life’ as part of street arts, proposed by the Taipei city government. Street music is a relatively ubiquitous activity in daily urban life in many Western cities, particularly since the folk-song revival in the 1960s (Prato 1984: 153). There are many performers with guitar, harmonica, or some other musical instrument or equipment in hand, bringing music and song to a passing audience, motivated by a variety of forces: a desire for fun and self-expression, to meet people, and usually also to earn money. Street music is associated with street art, while street art is not only linked to street music (street artists put on many other types of performances, such as miming, juggling, puppetry and acrobatics). In the West, contemporary street music can be traced to the cultural-political turmoil in the 1960s. Avant-garde art, left wing theatrical circles, and the counterculture reconceived the relationship between politics and culture, choosing city streets as venues to express politics in order to narrow the gulf between everyday life and politics. Street music’s ‘gradual disappearance was due to a lowering of urban soundscape fidelity (the invention of the automobile) and to the advent of new means of musical reproduction’, involving in this trend, and leading to a rebirth of the ‘folksinger’ as a popular stereotype, and a ‘return to the street’, which contributed to the breaking down of barriers between art and life. In the same period, following the integration of street arts as an element of urban development, street music has gone hand in hand with the growth in the role of culture in the economic development of cities. More generally, the 1980s and 1990s in Europe were marked by strong growth in this sector (street art) in terms of number of companies, shows and festivals, as well as attendance by the public. Today, there is a real correspondence between the artistic approach of street artists and the cities’ new concerns: insertion of cultural programming into a strategy of attracting tourism, institutional communication of social action in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and the ‘redynamising’ of the local economy. Street music now has been subjected to institutionalization, to varying degrees: in some cities street art is regarded as a formal sector in the government, and street music benefits from direct financial support; however, in some other cities street music is considered more as a spontaneous entertainment, and unavoidably confronts passive regulation in the interest of public order. Historically, street music in Taipei (as well as Taiwan and most Chinese societies) was once performed as an inseparable part of traditional folk life, and served as a means for the underclass to make a living, which endowed street musicians with an inescapable image of begging. In the post World-War II era and particularly in the 1960s, while the population in Taipei grew rapidly with rural-to-urban migration, street music joined with street vendors at nighttime as a way for the authoritarian government to help solve unemployment problems. Under Martial Law, this period also witnessed a general loss of a more grassroots and spontaneous street music life. In the post-authoritarian era (1987-), starting from 2003, in response to urban competition under economic globalization, street music integrated into street art, and was incorporated as a means to re-imagine Taipei as a global city, in which a more charming, accessible city was conceived. The outcome is a rapid change of the astheticization of landscape and soundscape in parts of Taipei city, which seems to be making street music life possible again, just like the slogan ‘making art a part of city life’ proposed by the Taipei city government. Though this blossoming of street music could also be deemed a response to Taipei citizens’ aspirations in the 1990s for multiple and cultural access to urban public spaces, how street music has been managed to a large degree has been a top-down development, rather than coming from any direct appeals from the citizens of Taipei. Currently, street musicians often emerge on weekends in the three main commercial and leisure districts of Taipei, where most potential consumers gather. Except for some underground passages in rapid transit stations, street performances are hardly to be seen in everyday life of Taipei. We see no prevailing ‘art becoming a part of city life’, but rather some selected showcases conveying how fancy Taipei city has become. This raises a concern about the appearance of ‘public music life’ as unfolded by the Taipei city government. Street music serves as a main component of the street art scene in Taipei, although promotion by the government is not confined just to that. Thus, street music of Taipei offers a route to examine the political reality of ‘public art life’ in general, and ‘public music life’ specifically. Briefly, this research demonstrates how street music is used as an aesthetic instrument for imagining a global city. It argues that since the claim ‘making art a part of city life’ from the city authorities is embedded in the logic of city competition rather than city life per se, ‘street music life’ on a daily basis can only be true in a restricted sense and for limited citizens. It is less possible for more essential or deep transformation of city life to emerge via street music. Through the ways it is managed, street music is more like a consumptive embellishment in the daily life for citizens of Taipei as a whole.