In the musical world of Huang Chen-ming there are no limitations or boundaries. He sees no problem combining traditional Taiwanese and Chinese music with elements of Western rock, African music or Scottish folk songs. Wang, the founder of the Chai Found Music Workshop, has set himself the goal of broadening the scope of traditional music and creating more opportunities for Taiwan musicians to play all over the world. Since his return from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada earlier this year and a tour of several United States cities, Huang thinks he has been moving closer to this goal. His life mission is to promote traditional music, he told the Central News Agency. 'I want to create limitless possibilities for traditional music and I hope more composers worldwide would join us,' he said. Since he established the music workshop 19 years ago, Huang has brought together a group of musicians that include pipa player Lin Hui-Kuan and di player Wu Chung-Hsien. As the group's artistic director and composer, Huang uses traditional Chinese instruments as a central thematic element and has created a unique musical space that not only facilitates the performance of Sizhu music -- Chinese chamber music -- but also provides other composers with an inspirational platform for experimentation. The group preserves traditional elements by fully exploiting the distinctive sounds of Eastern instruments, while also introducing light innovation into the genre of folk and world music. The aim is to create a groundbreaking expression of the diversity, vitality and richness of Taiwanese contemporary music, according to Huang. He thinks that traditional music could encompass all kinds of experimentation. One of his latest concepts is that music should not only be heard, but also be seen. With this in mind, he plans to incorporate tai-chi into his group's musical performances. 'All of our musicians will begin to learn tai-chi in May so that they can express that art form through music and with their bodies,' he said. As part of his efforts to expand the expression of traditional music, Huang last year held a composers' competition based on the theme of the ancient Chinese 'five movements' philosophy which describes the interactions and relationships among five elements -- wood, water, earth, fire and metal. The competition attracted many composers from the West and the East, eight of whom were chosen to present their works at a concert. Huang is holding a similar competition this year, this time under the theme of yin-yang, which describes the interconnectedness and interdependency of seeming polar forces in the natural world. 'In this competition, we could see quite different and very creative works from Western and Eastern composers, which could also open another window for the enrichment of traditional music,' Huang said. The winning compositions will be presented at a concert in October, he added. Over the years, Huang 's group has been invited to several international festivals such as the Barcelona Arts Festival in Spain in 1992, the Costa Rica Culture Festival in 1998, the Hoergaenge Contemporary Music Festival in Austria in 2000, the Cologne Music Festival in Germany 2001, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in England in 2004; and the Festival Dimension in Seoul, Korea in 2009. 'This year, we will have more opportunities to go abroad, to connect with other countries, including France where we will perform with musicians in Paris at the end of the year' Huang said. 'But this is also the year for training for a great future, ' he added. selfnews Photo 57 By Sunnie Chen selfnews Staff reporter 