She says she still performs at the Driftwood Cafe and Peshawar, another Aboriginal cafe near Taiwan Normal University. And though she spends most of her time in Taipei, her thoughts remain with the people closest to her back in Taitung.
Like her uncle Pau-dull, who, after gaining fame as a singer-songwriter, continued to work as a policeman, Samingad says staying close to her roots and keeping her life simple are part and parcel of her music. The dress she wore to last year's presidential inauguration, for example, a modified traditional Puyuma gown, was a gift her mother made by hand.
It could hardly be otherwise. Samingad's music draws its inspiration from the oral traditions about hunting and agricultural life passed through generations and from the plight of a people alienated from their own home.
"They're songs my grandmother has taught me," Samingad said. "Some of them are songs in themselves and some have been made into songs from chants she taught me when I was young."
It's an oral tradition that had to be stringently maintained, given that the Puyuma had no written language. Samingad, while not among the pantheon of Mando-pop stars, has nonetheless become idolized in her home community for having kept that oral tradition beautifully and vibrantly alive.
She's also gained the appreciation of her musical peers. Popular Aboriginal singer and human-rights activist Kimbo Hu (胡德夫) once said of Samingad that "she had a young person's outward appearance, but the heart of a grandmother."
Performance notes:
WHO: Samingad and AM Family
WHAT: MIDEM Preview Concert
WHEN: Tonight at 7:30pm
WHERE: Red Theater (紅樓劇場), 10 Chengdu Rd, Ximending, Taipei
(台北市成都路10號)
TICKETS: General tickets cost NT$600. Tickets for NT$1,000 get copies of a Samingad album and a Taiwan Colors Music compilation. Both are available at the door.
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