Located in a remote mountainous village, tiny Taiwu Elementary School in southern Taiwan might have only 44 students, but it has gained international recognition through its 19-member choir dedicated to singing the traditional songs of the Paiwan tribe.
The choir, the brainchild of choirmaster, schoolteacher and musicologist Camake Valaule, was formed to raise cultural awareness and preserve the musical heritage of the Paiwan, who number 86,000 and are the third most populous among the nation’s 14 formally recognized Aboriginal tribes.
Aborigines have lived on Taiwan for thousands of years, long before settlers began arriving from China.
Now, however, there are fewer than 500,000, and modernization and assimilation into mainstream society has led to the disappearance or near disappearance of many Aboriginal traditions, including music.
This problem is compounded for the Paiwan by their lack of a written language, meaning that songs are handed down verbally from one generation to the next.
But this is changing thanks to the efforts of Camake and the choir, who have preserved many almost forgotten Paiwan tunes, while garnering widespread attention for Paiwan culture.
The children from the tribe’s Taiwu and Jiasing settlements in Pingtung County first rose to prominence in 2003 when they won first prize in a national Aboriginal singing contest.
Three years later, in 2006, the Taiwu school choir was formed, and since then the choir’s mission of maintaining the tribe’s musical heritage has drawn ever-increasing recognition.
Their songs have been included in various recordings and the choir has received numerous invitations to perform around Taiwan.
Furthermore, it has traveled to Shanghai twice this year and in June performed in Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Germany.
“The choir won great acclaim,” Camake said. “Our adherence to tradition distinguishes our choir from others.”
Camake said the choir’s rise to fame came as a bit of a surprise.
“My principal aim was to collect and document our traditional songs so that youngsters could learn about their ancestors’ musical legacy and way of life,” the 30-year-old said.
Camake said the centuries-old ballads and songs can help Paiwan children take pride in their identity.
“We are known for our rich heritage of mythology and artistry. We love to sing and traditionally, music imbued our everyday lives with color and meaning,” he said.
For the Paiwan, their songs are a means of expressing personal feelings and narrating the tribe’s history or tales of a settlement, a clan or a social class, Camake said.
In order to teach his choir, Camake needed to record the songs being sung by Paiwan elders, or vuvu.
Each song, whether a love ballad or a ritual chant, should be sung with strict adherence to certain tones, styles and traditions, he said.
Take the song titled Bulaqa — usually sung by the daughter of a chieftain in Jiasing settlement before her wedding. In the song, the bride not only thanks her parents, but also narrates glorious aspects of her family’s history to inform the guests about her aristocratic bloodline.
Sikiqeci, meanwhile, is sung by a homecoming warrior or hunter to chronicle his clan’s history and relate acts of courage during his expedition.
As the Paiwan tribe has no written history, Camake said it is not always easy to understand what the lyrics of the songs mean.
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