Taiwan Indigenous News
Friday, 20 February 2009
TB Treatment Delays In Taiwan
It should also be noted that the mortality rate and incidence of TB are much greater in aboriginal communities in Taiwan than in non-aboriginal areas. ...
Taiwan's indigenous population up 2.05 percent
MOI officials said the increase was about six times that of the 0.34 percent rate of growth of Taiwan's overall population. Taiwan's indigenous people were ...
Not the same old song and dance
He aims to present a more authentic picture of Aboriginal performing arts and culture. “I want our customers to see the performances in their most original ...
President pushes to boost tourism in Taiwan's indigenous areas
8 (CNA) Concerned over the development of tourism in Taiwan's indigenous areas, President Ma Ying-jeou asked government agencies Sunday to work with travel ...
For the Bunun, the entire universe is breathing with life. Their myths and legends tell of events long before the arrival of man in a fashion that personifies nature’s abstract forces and phenomena. Since time immemorial, the Bunun have considered man and nature to be one. They perceive themselves as an integral part of the bigger cosmos and have developed subtle and delicate ways of communicating with the world and all the creatures in it.
This striving for integration and harmony is reflected in their singing. Amongst all the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, they are probably the most renowned for their music and songs.
To international audiences, their famous harmonic singing style has become the epitome of Taiwan’s folk music. The Bununs’ polyphonic choral singing with its eight-part harmony is well known among musicologists around the world. In 1943, the Japanese musicologist Kurosawa Takatomo came to Taiwan for ethno-musical research. It was in Bunun settlements deep in the mountains that he first heard the Pasibutbut, a song that is traditionally performed at the Millet Harvest Festival. Kurosawa was stunned by the unique beauty of this octophonic chorus, and brought knowledge of this complex and previously unheard of musical style to Europe and elsewhere, for the first time putting Taiwan on the map of the international music scene.
The festivals throughout the Bunun year are inextricably linked with and through song, dance and music. Rites and ceremonies may include body movements and gestures, but the main focus is clearly on the singing. Usually, the singers will sway gently or perform a slow dance together to build a “pillar of sound” that allows their resonating voices to rise to the heavens for the Spirits to hear.
In terms of content, the songs express ethical and emotional aspects of Bunun life, as well as exemplifying the laws and rules that govern the tribe’s life. For example, hunting routines are very much structured by specific songs, such as the Divination Song. Before they sally forth, hunters chant the Pisilahe (“Bless the Spear Song”), pouring their spirit and concentration into their weapons and praying that the Spirits may send much prey to their spears (or, in older times, arrows). Hunters are obliged to stick to their own hunting grounds, and there are strict rules against forays into the territory of other groups or communities. After a successful hunt, the hunters return to the village singing the “Song of Return” at the top of their voices, followed by the Manvai cici (“Song of the Heavy Load”) which announces to the villagers what kind of game they are bringing back. This is the cue for the women to start preparing the meal and get the wine ready, and as they do this they chant the Masasput Davus (“Wine Brewing Song”) with great gusto. Practically the entire repertoire of Bunun music consists of this kind of buoyant musical “dialogue” and finely-tuned choral harmony—solo performances are very rare. During the loud and bustling feast that follows a hunt, the hunters will take turns singing of their achievements. This is the exciting Malastapan (“Praising the Merits Song”). The basic format consists of four lines with four words each, sung in canonic fashion and with the entire tribe serving as a lively background chorus. The lyrics tell mostly of the bravery of the hunters and their great skill as marksmen, often described in a metaphorical and humorous fashion. For example, it may be sung how even the monkeys up in the trees let themselves fall to the ground to play dead as soon as they espy the huntsmen’s arrows from afar. From very early on, the Bunun children are thus surrounded by wonderfully inspiring and deeply stirring music. While listening to, and gradually joining in, the hum and chant of choral song, they also soak up the spirit and the values of their own culture.
The Bunun songs and ballads have come to be seen as a precious cultural treasure. Pieces such as the Malastapan, while appearing deceptively simple on the surface, are in practice a subtle mixture of taut four-line arrangement and improvised rendition—a mixture that is highly characteristic of Bunun choral music and continues to baffle musicologists and ethnologists to this day.