Formosa Aboriginal Song and Dance Troupe (原舞者) has long played an important role in the renaissance of Aboriginal culture taking place in Taiwan. The troupe's young performers aim to preserve and revive the disappearing songs and dances of their ancestors by exposing audiences to traditional stories and myths.
Tomorrow's performance at Novel Hall (新舞台), however, will take a different approach.
"This is the first time we've used the life of a single person to mount a performance," said Moly Chen (陳孟莉), the troupe's spokeswoman.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF FORMOSA ABORIGINAL SONG AND DANCE TROUPE
Memories of Azalea Mountain pays tribute to Uyongu Yatauyungana (高一生), a musician, educator and politician of the Tsou (鄒族) tribe who is today considered a hero by many.
Another unique feature of this piece is that it includes the music of other cultures. The result is a seamless performance that blends traditional music of an Aboriginal tribe with the compositions of one of its members and places his musical compositions into the greater context of Taiwan's recent history.
The performance, like the last hundred years of Taiwan's history, has Aboriginal, Japanese and Chinese elements. Complementing the performance are American and Latin American songs.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF FORMOSA ABORIGINAL SONG AND DANCE TROUPE
Born a decade after the beginning of Japanese colonization, Yatauyungana studied at Tainan Normal College, where he showed an aptitude for literature and music. After graduating, he worked as a teacher and policeman, all the while composing songs based on the oral myths of his people and learning the popular songs of the island's colonial rulers.
"[Yatauyungana] lived during a time of enormous change in Taiwan," said Chen. "This is reflected in the music used in the performance."
Yatauyungana served as mayor of Wu Fong Township (吳鳳鄉) - since renamed Alishan Township (阿里山) - in 1945, demonstrating his leadership in the community and the respect the Japanese showed him.
Shortly after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) assumed control of the island, Yatauyungana was arrested and jailed during the 228 Incident (二二八事件) because his tribe had trapped a number of KMT soldiers in the Chiayi airport, but also, reportedly, because he promoted the idea of Aboriginal autonomy.
While Yatauyungana was in prison, his daughter Gao Chu-hua (高菊花) supported the family by singing American and Latin music to US soldiers stationed in Taiwan - the reason for infusing the program with these musical elements.
He was later accused of harboring former Tainan County Governor Yuen Kuo-chin (袁國欽), who the KMT considered a communist spy, and was executed in 1954.
Yatauyungana's life was memorialized in a biography published last year by the Council of Cultural Affairs that included his musical works.
Like all of Formosa Aboriginal Song and Dance Troupe's performances, Memories of Azalea Mountain is based on long-term field observation and participation. Assisted by anthropologists and tribal elders, troupe members and Aboriginal students are dispatched to different villages to study their rituals through the oral tradition.
Since its inception in 1991, the company has toured Taiwan, staging hundreds of performances and holding workshops to spark the interest of young Aboriginal people in traditional dance through reinterpretations and integration with contemporary theatrical elements. The troupe has gained considerable international recognition and has performed at art festivals in the US, Belgium, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Singapore and Hong Kong.
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
A sultry sea mist blankets New Taipei City as I pedal from Tamsui District (淡水) up the coast. This might not be ideal beach weather but it’s fine weather for riding –– the cloud cover sheltering arms and legs from the scourge of the subtropical sun. The dedicated bikeway that connects downtown Taipei with the west coast of New Taipei City ends just past Fisherman’s Wharf (漁人碼頭) so I’m not the only cyclist jostling for space among the SUVs and scooters on National Highway No. 2. Many Lycra-clad enthusiasts are racing north on stealthy Giants and Meridas, rounding “the crown coast”
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and