The nine-day Festival of Austronesian Cultures kicked off Nov. 19 in the eastern county of Taitung, home to six of Taiwan’s 14 aboriginal tribes.
“The annual Austronesian cultural festival, now in its 11th year, is having a transformation this year,” said County Magistrate Justin Huang.
He noted that performances at the festival feature local musicians and artists and those from other Austronesian groups scattered throughout the Pacific Oceans.
“We hope that Taitung County can build closer ties with other Austronesian groups worldwide, through exchanges between artists and musicians,” Huang said.
A variety of musical styles will be showcased at the festival, including performances by the Amis, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, Truku and Tsou peoples, and song and dance routines by visiting artists from Hawaii, Indonesia and Madagascar.
As part of the festivities, local and foreign wood sculptors will carve artworks out of driftwood resulting from the heavy rains of Typhoon Morakot in 2009.
Some of the more prominent sculptors who will be performing include Iyo Kacaw of the Amis, Kulele Tapuwoan of the Paiwan and Iming of the Puyuma, as well as international wood carvers from such places as Fuji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga.
The climax of the festival is the Night of the Golden Melody Winners, scheduled to take place Nov. 27. It will feature performances by groups and individuals that have won the prestigious Golden Melody Awards,including the aboriginal singing trio, The Nanwan Sisters.
There are an estimated 200 million speakers of Austronesian worldwide. They live in places stretching from Madagascar off the coast of Africa to Easter Island off the coast of Chile, from Taiwan in the north to New Zealand in the south. Some scholars believe that the Austronesian peoples originated from Taiwan and migrated outward more than 6,000 years ago. Some, however, believe the Austronesian first dispersed from the east of Papua New Guinea. (HZW)