Original Score & Soundtracks
All the soundtracks of OMW were originally composed and written by Michele Cheng, except Track #2, #5, and #7 which incorporated melodies from a Taiwanese folk song and Taiwanese indigenous tune. The compositions were inspired by Taiwanese folk songs, indigenous peoples tunes, Japanese traditional music, and jazz-- all of which have deeply influenced the culture and history of Taiwan. The album was recorded with a string quartet, piano, vocal, and guest Taiko artist Shih-wei Willie Wu.
Tracks:
01- Playful Kids 4:27
02- Song of Magic Birds- Queena's Theme 5:30
03- Kokoro- Willie's Theme 4:53
04- Urban Romance- Michun's Theme 5:49
05- Taiwanese Lullaby 4:45
06- OMW Theme Song 2:36
07- Lullaby of Nostalgia 3:53
08- On My Way Piano Improvisation I 5:31
09- On My Way Piano Improvisation II 6:55
10- OMW Theme Song (Chinese Version) 2:36
Performers:
Piano, vocal, improviser: Michele Cheng
Violin & Improviser: Anna Savery
Violin & Improviser: Nina Kang
Viola & Improviser: Hui-yi Kao
Cello: Cynthia Tsai
Taiko: Shih-wei Willie Wu
Production:
Producer & Composer: Michele Cheng
Recording Engineer:
Hassan Estakhrian: #1,3,4,5,7
George Wheeler: #2,8,9
Sound Engineer:
Hassan Estakhrian: #1,3,4,5,6,7,10
Jordan Watson: #2,3,8,9
About the project
OMW is a feature-length documentary film. By interviewing, creating musical work, and having community events, the project promotes and speaks to the diversity of Southern California. The project is commissioned by DECADE Program at the University of California, Irvine in partnership with Bowers Museum and Orange County Historical Society.
To documentary film was recognized a finalist of the Formosa Festival of International Filmmaker Awards in 2017.
Synopsis
Four young 1.5 generation Taiwanese-Americans living in Southern California find themselves balancing between two contrasting cultures. As emerging artists in their mid-twenties, Queena, Willie, Michun, and Michele discuss their intergenerational, personal, and honest stories and how these emotional and goofy, yet insightful, experiences shape their art and personal identities.
Queena, metalsmithing artist, was born in the U.S. and raised in Taiwan; Willie, taiko performer, was born in Taiwan and raised in the U.S.; Michun, multifaceted artist who was born in the U.S. and raised in Taiwan, was born to European American father and Taiwanese mother. Michele, composer and director of this film, was the childhood sweetheart of Michun in Taiwan and colleague of Willie in the U.S. Hear the stories of these young Taiwanese American artists, about their cultural journey, about how those experiences become part of their arts and identities, and about how their life stories were connected.
Artworks © designed by Yu-jung Chen
Director Statement
I am 1.5 generation Asian American. That means I experience and identify local cultures from both Asia and America. The identities of Asian and Asian American are different, but my identity lies somewhere in between because I have existed in both cultural environments. I moved to the United States in my early twenties after growing up in Taiwan. Then I realized the definition of home became an obscured concept. The eagerness of finding the puzzles of who I am drove me to make this documentary after receiving a Diversity Awards from my graduate school, while I had just begun my new life at my foreign yet familiar hometown, the United States. I spent months field researching, interviewing people from Taiwanese communities in SoCal, and it eventually took me two years to finish the whole production. This documentary not only presents the cultural identities, experiences, and transformation of the young artists I interviewed with, but also reflects the diversity of immigration, relations between globalization and individuals, and who we are."
- Michele Cheng
