Friday, March 09, 2012

Amis Music

One of the benefits of traveling is learning about new cultures.
The Amis culture is one of many indigenous tribes of Taiwan. To preserve its culture, a folk center was created to share its heritage with others. We stopped here on our tour to listen to a traditional musical performance.
From what I read online, the Amis people had a spoken language, but no written language, so many of their history is passed on through folk songs from generation to generation.
I uploaded an abbreviated video below so you can hear a sample of their performance.


I did not realize it at first, but soon noticed that this young performer was playing her flute instrument (or tipolo) by blowing it through her nose.




- Karen

9 comments:

rainfield61 said...

They have fancy and colorful dress too.

Jenny Woolf said...

I was hoping you would post a movie and so I was glad to get to the little movie at the end. The pipes sound like South American ones but the music sounds very Chinese.

Anonymous said...

Sounds fun and great music. Thank you for sharing.

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

That's a new one for me, blowing a flute through the nose.

I love the regalia, it is very colorful.

FilipBlog said...

I have never heard of a population group with no written language. The clothing makes me think of tribes in Thailand.

Greetings,
Filip

betchai said...

i thought at first it is about the amis here, but then, learned something new. they have such colorful costumes.

AVCr8teur said...

Rainfield61: I like their modern shoes too. :)

Jenny: I agree, it's nice to get a flavor of the music other than seeing just the pictures.

cocomino: You are welcome. Very soothing music.

Yogi: The nose flute was a new one for me too.

Filip: I thought it was unusual too without a written language. If that is the case, many of their history can be lost.

betchai: I did not know there is more than one amis tribe. lol!

Anonymous said...

Ha! If you use your nose, you can play two flutes at the same time!

Jana said...

very colourful and very interesting indeed!