ZenKwun

Soon after being established in 2006, ZenKwun Band won the Hohaiyan Rock Festival’s Jury Prize. In 2009, it won the Top Prize in the YAMAHA Asian Beat Band Competition. In the same year, its debut album "Wan Fo Chao Zong" (萬佛朝宗) won praises from various sectors of society. In 2012, its song "Provincial Highway 9" was selected as the "Best Rock Single" in the 3rd Golden Indie Music Awards.

The band combines Western rock music with music played with Chinese instruments, such as suona (嗩吶), pipa (琵琶), erhu (二胡), gongs (鑼鼓), guqin (古琴), and morin khuur (馬頭琴), as well as Nanbeiguan, Buddhist, Taoist, Hakka, and Mongolian music.


All the songs are composed by the lead singer Chen Zheng-hang (陳正航). The music elements, along with the band’s performances on stage associated with “Tongji (童乩)” that refers to the shaman, are unique among Taiwan Indie bands; therefore, they named their own music style “Tongji Rock."


The group’s name "ZenKwun" originated from folk beliefs. It refers to those, in religion or clergy, self-proclaimed living Buddhas or liars claiming to have God's power and extraordinary abilities to carry out activities that are not religious, and are motivated by self-interest or political purposes. Most of these people are leaders of new sects. They recruit followers to help advertise their abilities and ideas, so that the public can believe in and enshrine them, enabling them to achieve their purpose of propaganda.


The head of the band, Chen, explained that the reason for using this name "ZenKwun" (the god’s stick in Mandarin) for the group was that it is easy to remember, as it gives people a strong impression. Behind the name is the band’s critique of society. He believes that some people in today's society, such as political figures, continue to use religion to hypnotize the public. This behavior is similar to that of a swindler or “god’s stick.” A large part of ZenKwun’s music reflects such a phenomenon.


The name of the band also implies the music style. The original intention is to add elements of Hakka music; there are sounds of cymbals, suona, huqin, and Beiguan (北管) percussion music. These elements give the band’s music a sense of being like temple fair music, and that’s why it’s associated with the words "god’s stick."


When the audience hears the band’s music, which combines Western rock music with oriental traditional instruments, they can’t help but marvel that the musical instruments of their grandpa’s generation – the suona, erhu, and gongs – can be used to make rock music like this!


The members of the band are often invited to perform at Hakka festivals, such as the annual Yimin Festival and the Tung Blossom Festival. Because their music is full of traditional religious folk elements, it sounds very lively and is very suitable for the occasions of celebration.


The band also participates in live house performances, in addition to performing at music festivals. In 2017, they took part in the closing ceremony of the Summer Universiade in Taipei and performed in a transnational cooperation with the Sibongie African Drumming and Dancing Crew to make the music of ZenKwun Band more diverse.


As an independent band, the creative concept of the ZenKwun is not only to let non-mainstream voices and sounds be heard, but also to criticize the absurd myth and the state of society in the spirit of rock and roll, and to present the strange situation from the perspective of the gods the folk beliefs. Their creative music will not only shock the audience, but also prompt them to think deeper about the insights hidden in their songs.