Aristophanes 貍貓 - 桃 The Peach Blossom
This is Aristophanes – also known as 貍貓 – a rapper from Taiwan, and seemingly an integral part of the hip hop/beats scene in Taipei. She’s involved with live music night MICRO’Session, which takes place at music institute/record-and-equipment shop/venue, iDear.
She raps in Mandarin Chinese, but anyone with ears can hear her vocal skill, as her effortless flow flies freely above her tastefully-chosen beats (here provided by Japanese producer Lidly). It can range from aching and full of emotion, as in the below track The Peach Blossom and Specimen to nigh-on venomous, as heard in The Apple and the Monster and Rite.
She’s collaborated with a wealth of talent from all over the world – from the USA (the glitchy experimentalism of Magic Nana and Dink’s smooth beats) to Japan (the retro beats of Lidly and genuinely delightful sampled percussion from canooooopy) and France (the medley of sounds that Khyro creates, the raw 90s hip hop of Arkadiusz’ and Chco’s chilled lounge-hop). The lyrical content, too, is impressive: there are her own interpretations of classical Chinese tales, references to Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, explorations of democracy and capitalism, as well as thoughts on new life being brought into the world.
Hear The Peach Blossom below, and immerse yourself in the rest of Aristophanes’s emotional catalogue on her Soundcloud page.
