The Relationship between Temples, Immigrants and Musical Activities of Nanguan Clubs – Take Great Kaohsiung Area for Example

In this paper, I took Nanguan clubs in greater Kaohsiung area as research subjects. First, I outlined appearance of Nanguan musical events in greater Kaohsiung area according to field survey data, and then I explored the relationship between musical activities of Nanguan clubs and temples, as well as the Nanguan musical activities in local residents, immigrants from Penghu, and Holo people after 1949. This research discovered the close relationship between the temples and Nanguan clubs in greater Kaohsiung area, as was generally agreed that Nanguan music is one of the most divine love, but also the most suitable for divine worship, so the vast majority of temples provided Nanguan club relative use of the venues or funding support. Furthermore, by comparing the presented situations of Nanguan music in different ethnic groups, I found that the use of Nanguan music had formed close interpersonal networks with the original township for the new immigrants. By participating in the Nanguan musical activities, the new immigrants could maintain or extend their interpersonal networks. However, these interpersonal networks were only lasted for peers, and could not extend to the next generations, so Nanguan could not go on in these communities. On the other hand, with the remembrance of the ancestors, or family responsibilities on the temples, the local residents appeared to have more missions to Nanguan music heritage. Besides, by observing those clubs that still have activities at present days, I also noticed that those clubs located in the earlier development of the traditional settlements seems able to maintain relative long period of time. It seems a more stable, less mobile population region is more conducive to the maintenance of Nanguan music. What’s more worrying is that the people in charge of the temples nowadays appear to have less and less attention to Nanguan, and the importance of Nanguan music to the Dieties has gradually been weakened. The impact of this situation to the future of in greater Kaohsiung area deserves our observations.