The Fifth International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony ...

DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW
POLYPHONIC STYLE – CASE OF THE TAIWAN ABORIGINES
77
YU-HSIU LU (TAIWAN)
Abstract
<strong>The</strong> population of aborigines in Taiwan is more than 480 000 population (about 2.11% of the island).
<strong>The</strong>y are now divided into 14 tribes. Numerous polyphonic forms can be found in their traditional music,
passed along orally through generations. Heterophony, canon, parallel, drone, ostinato, harmony and free
counterpoint are found in their traditional songs. Although they have musical instruments, they seldom use
them for solo or ensemble performances.
<strong>The</strong> modernization and westernization of Taiwan in the second half of the 20th century has extended to
aboriginal society. American pop music has influenced aboriginal traditional song. <strong>The</strong>se influences include
not only western functional harmonies, but also the use of western musical instruments including guitar, bass,
jazz drums, and MIDI. All of them result in the development of a new polyphonic method of the Taiwan
aborigines – a combination of the indigenous polyphonic style with western polyphonic methods.
<strong>The</strong>re are 14 tribes of aborigines in Taiwan, who speak languages belonging to the Austronesian language
family. <strong>The</strong> aborigine population is estimated at about 480,000, representing 2.11% of the island’s population
(tab. 1). <strong>The</strong>ir language, blood, society and culture are significantly different from the other 97.89% of population
whose ancestors are mostly Han people from mainland China.
Tab. 1: 14 aboriginal tribes and their population (2009) 1
Tribe (traditional classification)
Tribe (accepted year after lifting of the
Taiwan Martial Law)
Population
Amis 183 799
(was classified as Amis) Sakizaya (since 2007) 442
Paiwan 88 323
Atayal 80 061
(was classified as Atayal) Taroko (since 2004) 25 857
(was classified as Atayal) Seediq (since 2008) 6 606
Bunun 51 447
Rukai 11 911
Puyuma 11 850
Tsou 6 733
Saysiyat 5 900
Thao 3 748
Thao (since 2001) 693
Kavalan (since 2002) 1 218
1. <strong>The</strong> Traditional Form of Polyphony – Sound and Concept
Despite representing only a small portion of Taiwan’s population, aborigines use a wide variety of
polyphonic sounds (tab. 2) (Hsu, 1991, 1994). Pasibutbut, a prayer song traditionally performed only once
a year for millet harvest from the Bunun tribe is a well-known example. Takatomo Kurosawa 2 , an authority