An Aboriginal children’s choir from Pingtung is leaving today for Europe, where they will perform ancient songs from the Paiwan tribe.
The tour, which will cover Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Germany, will be the first performance abroad by the 20-member choir from Tai Wu Elementary School, school principal Jean Yen-hui (簡炎輝) said.
Jean said the choir would perform traditional Paiwan tunes passed down through generations. Many of these songs have become unfamiliar to younger Paiwan, a common cultural problem among Aboriginal tribes, Jean said.
Because of past oppression of Aborigines and continuing pressure to assimilate into mainstream society, fewer young Aborigines can speak their native language or sing their tribal songs.
The songs were taught to students after the school recorded demonstrations of the songs by Paiwan elders, Jean said.
Schoolteacher and choir conductor Camake Valaule said the choir’s faithfulness to tradition had distinguished it from others.
The choir’s commitment to “singing one’s own songs” attracted the support of the public, and eventually helped it win the rare opportunity of performing in Europe, Camake said.
Although the choir was not established until 2006, the children’s talent was first recognized in 2003 when a member won the top prize in a nationl Aboriginal singing contest.
Over the past few years, the school’s singing group has received numerous invitations to perform around the country. Some of their songs have been included in music recordings.
With the assistance of the Teco Technology Foundation, the choir has received NT$200,000 per year in corporate sponsorships since 2007, Jean said.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS