The Taitung County collective management commission formed to manage one of the Amis people’s most famous songs yesterday signed an agreement granting its use to promote cultural development of Aborigines.
The commission, formed on Oct. 22 last year by the Greater Malan community and 26 other Amis communities in Taitung to protect their traditional knowledge from commercial profit by outsiders, have authorized the Indigenous Peoples’ Cultural Development Center to use the Elders Drinking Song (飲酒歡樂歌) and Youth Messengers Song (少年報訊曲).
The Council of Indigenous Peoples had previously certified the collective’s right to manage the properties.
Photo: CNA
The Elders Drinking Song was made famous by Amis duo Difang and Igay Duana, who in 1988 were invited to Europe and were recorded singing the song at France’s Maison des Cultures du Monde, the commission said.
In 1993, European group Enigma sampled the song and mixed it with other music in the song Return to Innocence, which became a hit single and was played as part of the promotional music for the 1996 Summer Olympics, commission convener Lo Fu-ching (羅福慶) said.
The commission said that it had earlier formed a committee to negotiate the rights for three Malan traditional songs used by singer A-Lin (黃麗玲), who is from Taitung’s Amis community, as part of a track on an album released in 2016.
Lo said that the commission managed the rights to traditional knowledge such as music, language, crafts, practices, traditional costumes and headwear, as well religious ceremonies.
People can consult with the management commission for the nonprofit use of traditional knowledge, it said.
According to the council, 74 works of traditional knowledge and original creations from 14 recognized Aboriginal groups have received certification for intellectual property protection.
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