Taiwan Indigenous News

Tuesday, 25 October 2005

Female head of the national park system seeks to improve parks
... She said she could sense the wisdom of the mountain forests as passed down throughout the ages by Taiwan's indigenous peoples. The ...

Hsieh reveals moves to help indigenous students
... crystal display television to the students at an elementary school in Taitung County and announced more measures to help Taiwan's indigenous children secure ...

Tribe wants official recognition
... "Taiwan's indigenous tribes are all unique minorities in this country, but we are all the original residents of the island. Every ...

The Thao

Thao Lakeshore Pestle Song

The “Sound of the Pestle” is easily the most distinctive feature of Thao dance and music. It can best be described as the sublimation of an everyday activity (pounding grains in a mortar with a pestle) into a particularly moving and aesthetically pleasing music, the clear sound of which echoes beautifully across the mist-covered waters of the Sun Moon Lake.

The stunning scenery of the Sun Moon Lake, with its wide expanse of water surrounded by lush green mountains, is a popular tourist attraction not only among the Taiwanese, but also among international travelers. When Taiwan’s tourism industry was still in its infancy, one of the most frequently used backdrops for brochures and advertisements was the Sun Moon Lake, often in combination with descriptions of the Thao tribe’s trademark Shih-Yin Pestle Tune—an obvious indication of the Lake’s attraction.

The Thaos’ “Sound of the Pestle” can be divided into two elements: Pestle Percussive Rhythms and Pestle Song. The percussive rhythms involve groups of several women beating on stone slabs with pestles of differing length and thickness to produce a wonderful variety of percussive sounds that form the background for the women’s melodious singing (Pestle Song). The rhythm of the pestle beat and the crisp and vibrant voices of the women combine to form a harmonious symphony brimming with the Thaos’ deepest emotion as it floats above the silent lake and the mist-shrouded landscape.

Thao Dancing

1. Bamboo Pole Dance (Tinikling)
   This dance developed out of a hunting method employed by the Thao. In the old days, the hunters would use nets and bamboo poles to drive animals in desired directions and catch them. Now stylized, the dance originally imitated the moves of the hunters.
2. Welcome Dance
   The Thao Welcome Dance is an expression of the highest respect for visitors and guests. It is usually reserved for high-ranking officials and visiting dignitaries and has been known since the time of Japanese colonial rule.
3. Bumper Millet Harvest Dance
   This is a relatively new dance created through a combination of traditional features with modern dance moves and choreographic arrangements. It depicts, in a stylized fashion, the pounding and husking of millet as it was done by the early Thaos. At the same time, dancers wield the “sun moon shields”, which are representative of the tribe’s ancestors and thus an important religious totem. The Bumper Millet Harvest Dance’s mixture of new and old, of the conventional and the innovative, is typical for Thao dance and music in general: enriched and stimulated by contact with other cultures, they have developed in new directions, absorbing different styles to reinvent and rejuvenate traditional songs and dances—a successful blending process that has allowed these aspects of Thao civilization to survive to this day.