A few days ago, a friend and I watched the movie Listen Before You Sing (聽見歌再唱), which was released last month. In the film, a Bunun elder explains that Bunun sing by ear, so the only way they can sing their unique eight-part polyphony harmoniously is by listening to the voices of the other singers.
Bunun might not understand five-line musical notation, and they do not emphasize accuracy of pitch in singing, so there is no question of singing in or out of tune, but only of where it is best for each singer to stand, the elder says.
So, “when Bunun people sing, they can be accurate together or inaccurate together, but singing inaccurately together can also sound good,” the elder says.
This film helped me to understand the listening spirit of Bunun culture, but it also made me ashamed about my shallow understanding of Aborigines.
Although 21st-century Taiwan is a nation where numerous ethnic groups live and interact, and where democracy has struck deep roots, Taiwan still has some niches where discrimination against Aborigines or “new residents” — immigrants who have settled in the past few decades — still exists, be it based on class or other prejudices.
Notably, the majority ethnic Han people’s knowledge and understanding of Aborigines is quite shallow and limited, and cultural barriers between ethnic groups remain in place. Consequently, laws and regulations have always been formulated according to Han culture and ideology, while ignoring the cultural differences that exist between Taiwan’s various ethnic groups, and the general public still views Aboriginal communities from a Han-centric perspective.
In the film, Bunun schoolgirls perform the Bunun song Mama (媽媽頌, known as Cina in Bunun) and the Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) song My Precious Baby (心肝寶貝). These songs, which both extol the love between mother and child, brought tears to my eyes, and they made me reflect that whenever I visit an Aboriginal village, the local people talk to me in fluent Hoklo, but I know little about their language and culture.
The government and many social sectors are making great efforts to preserve and promote the languages and cultures of all ethnic groups. While striving to revive our own mother tongues, we should at the same time humbly recognize the beauty of the languages and cultures of Taiwan’s other ethnic groups, and respect and tolerate the differences between them.
We should follow the example of the Bunun’s grace and generosity in listening to others by studying and listening to the voices of other language speakers.
Let us hope that one day Taiwan’s pop music scene can “listen before it sings.” Then we will hear a polyphonic chorus of songs in the Aboriginal languages, as well as Hoklo, Hakka, Taiwan-style Mandarin and new residents’ languages, composing with musical notes a melodic ensemble of many tongues.
Pan Hui-hua holds a doctorate from National Taiwan Normal University’s Department of Taiwan Culture, Languages and Literature.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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