中文

The Tsou

Myth, Dance and Music

The Tsou have a rich musical tradition that comprises both homophonic and harmonic singing styles. Thematically, most of their ballads revolve around the mountains, the constant backdrop for the tribe’s everyday life. The songs feature exquisite melodies of a vigorous and down-to-earth quality. One can say that music and dance permeate virtually all aspects of Tsou society.

Ritual Songs: The songs and ballads of the Tsou are intricately connected with their customs and habits, religious beliefs, hunting and war ceremonies, myths and legends, as well as their tribal laws and ethics. In particular the worship of the War God, victory celebrations and other related sacrificial or celebratory rituals depend so much on their musical underpinnings that without dance and song, they would become empty formalities devoid of real life and meaning. In other words, whenever the Tsou want to summon and welcome the Gods, or see them off and send them back to Heaven, or simply praise and worship them, it is unimaginable that this could ever be done without a wide variety of ritual songs.

Some of the most important ritual songs include the Ehoyi (“Welcoming the Gods”), Eyao (“Seeing off the Gods”), Peyasvi no poha’o (“Slow War Song”), Peyasvi mayahe (“Fast War Song”), Toiso (“Song Commemorating Past Events”), Nakumo (“Praising the Warriors”), La Lingi (“Song in Praise of the Gods”), and Iyohe (“Song of Youth”). The Tapangu and the Tfuya community each have their own distinct versions of all these songs, and they sing them in a difference sequence. The basic style and technique are the same, though: the songs are performed by a lead singer who is supported by a chorus. In the past, the lead singer was always the head of the warriors who led them into war, or any renowned warrior. Since tribal wars are now a thing of the past, it is usually one of the elders, or even a young member of the tribe with a particularly good voice, who act as lead singers. Women, however, may not lead the tribe in song.

Dance

  1. Happy Gathering: For happy occasions, a variety of “Joyous Songs” is employed, to which all the members of the tribe will dance, sing and shout in carefree abandon, displaying their energy, passion and zest for life.
  2. Bumper Harvest Celebration: To celebrate a bumper crop, the Homeyaya (“Song of the Millet Harvest”) is performed. In significance and atmosphere, this is a kind of “Thanksgiving” festival, held every year between July and August (when the millet is ripe). The entire tribe participates in this festive occasion full of dance and merriment.
  3. Comical / Burlesque Dance: Performed to “Comical Songs”, this is a kind of dance mainly for the entertainment of the crowd—and the dancers themselves! Full of intentionally exaggerated and funny movements, but still synchronized with the rhythm and tune of the song, it’s a chance to give free rein to frisky exuberance.
  4. Adulthood Dance: As the name indicates, this dance is performed on occasion of the Adulthood Ceremony, when the tribe’s male youths undergo a number of initiation rites as a sign of their coming of age. They have their bottoms smacked by the tribe’s elders, a procedure that means the boys have now entered the ranks of the men and have the right and duty to go hunting and fight in wars.
  5. Warrior Dance: Performed to the Nakumo (“Praising the Warriors”).
  6. Seeing off the Spirits of the Dead: For this purpose, the Miyome (“Song for the Spirits of the Dead”) is performed repeatedly and without intermission whenever one of the tribe’s members has died. The lyrics are a plea to the moon to shine brightly on the path of the dead, leading the spirit to the Tashan (“Mount Ta”), the realm of those who have left the world of the living.
  7. Crab Dance: The musical accompaniment for this dance is the “Catching Crabs Song”. As it is sung, the performers imitate the way crabs move about, as well as acting out the catching of crabs, or mimicking the painful expression brought about by having a large crab pinch you with its pincers. Obviously, this piece is more on the comic, entertaining side.
  8. Mayasvi Ritual Dance: The traditional Mayasvi celebrations comprise a rather complex array of rituals and activities. In the past, it could take anywhere from ten days to a whole month to complete the entire cycle of rites and festivities. Today, the only communities celebrating Mayasvi are Tfuya and Tapangu, and the festivities begin on February 15 and August 15 (in the old days, Mayasvi was even held three times per year). The Tapangu Mayasvi takes place at the Kuba, or rather on the square in front of it, and lasts three days. Traditionally, it is forbidden for the women to participate in the most important rituals, and they are not allowed to join the celebrations until the Welcoming of the Gods, the Unity Ritual, and the Seeing Off of the Gods are finished.
  9. The Mocking Dance: This one went out with the custom of headhunting and hasn’t been performed for its “proper purpose” for more than half a century. In the old days, whenever warriors had successfully taken the heads off their enemies, they would then perform the Mocking Dance in front of the severed skulls. It is a dance full swagger and boast, with exaggerated movements and facial expressions, as if the victorious warriors were flaunting their prowess and might in front of their vanquished enemies. Later, it evolved into a dance used to satirize or ridicule the decadent and the lazy, taking on a lighter and more burlesque slant.
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