To celebrate the 40th anniversary of France's World Cultures Institute, the Taiwan Cultural Center in Paris and the World Cultures Institute (French: Maison des Cultures du Monde) collaborate to invite the Bunun people of Hongye Tribe in Taitung to perform their traditional rituals and music at the Alliance Theatre in France on Oct. 10.
The Bunun is one of the 16 officially recognized indigenous groups and is part of the Gaoshan people in Taiwan. Among the 16 groups, the Bunun tribe has the most traditional rituals and their schedules of agricultural activities or hunting are determined by the law of nature. They attach great importance to the millet harvest, thereby developing a series of worship rituals that are complicated and require a great amount of time. At the same time, male members of the Bunun people (generally about six to 12 people; even number) would form a circle to jointly sing the song "Prayer for a Rich Millet Harvest (Bunun language: pasibutbut)."
The pasibutbut, an eight-part polyphony, is a prayer for a rewarding millet harvest in Taiwan's indigenous Bunun culture. Recorded by Japanese musicologist Kurosawa Takatomo (黑澤隆朝) in 1952, the unique polyphonic harmonies caught the attention of scholars after being released at an annual conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Later, the pasibutbut has become a major focal point for folk music studies as well as one of the channels to learn Bunun culture.
Founded in 1982, the World Cultures Institute aims to promote cultural diversity and support and sustain intangible cultural heritage throughout the world. In 2011, it was designated as the "French center for intangible cultural heritage."