Nakasi

Nakasi (Chinese: 那卡西, pinyin na4ka3xi1) is an essential traditional popular music form in Taiwan, most stereotypically associated with elements of working-class culture such as the old tea parlors and drinking bars. The term is borrowed from the Japanese word nagashi (流し), which means "flow", but also means accompaniment. One explanation supposes that the word describes the migratory lifestyle of Nakasi musicians, who traditionally travelled from one tea parlor to another.

Lin Sheng-hsiang of Labor Exchange Band has described the style as "a very rustic and urban-rooty form of music, normally with a keyboard, which has replaced the accordion, and drums accompanying the singers." [1] As such, the form is a favorite of pro-labor bands and musical groups. One of the most prominent groups, Blackhand Nakasi, is named after it.