Live performances by Taiwanese indigenous singers will take place in September at the Ueno Onshi Park in Tokyo, Japan, as part of the Taiwan Plus 2023 cultural festival. This year’s festival, organized by the General Association of Chinese Culture (GACC), will showcase the best Indigenous music by featuring three singers from Amis Kakeng Musical Group (AMIS旮亙樂團) and Nanguaq (那屋瓦).
GACC secretary-general Lee Hou-ching (李厚慶) said that Indigenous culture is an important element of Taiwan's culture. The theme of this year’s festival “Island Friends (海島好朋友) represents Taiwan as an ocean nation with strong cultural characteristics, strengthening bonds with neighboring countries through music. With support from the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP), Kivi, Dremedreman (曾妮), Makav (真愛) from the Amis Kakeng Musical Group and Nanguaq will perform live in Japan.
The CIP will also be showcasing its e-commerce brand at the festival. The brand name “LiMa,” meaning “five,” is a word common to Austronesian languages. With more than 1,000 types of products related to lifestyle, culture, traditional craft, and more, it is Taiwan’s largest Indigenous e-commerce brand. The CIP hopes that this will serve as a platform to promote the culture and products of the Indigenous peoples to the rest of the world.
According to GACC, an activity based on the theme of Taiwan will be held at Eslite Spectrum Nihonbashi in September for a month. Products made from banana tree fibers, a unique craft tradition of the Kavalan people of Taiwan, are on display at the venue. A Japanese version of a documentary that GACC previously filmed to share the stories of Aing Banday (嚴玉英) of the Indigenous Kavalan tribe in Hualien County and Kao Shu-chuan (高淑娟) of the Chu-Yin Culture and Arts Troupe (杵音文化藝術團) will also be available for viewing by the public.
(Photo courtesy of GACC)