Taipei City has well and truly established itself as a center of the arts, offering the visitor and citizen alike a wide range of cultural and artistic events. The Migration Music Festival, however, stands out from other party-like festivals due to its varied program and focus on social issues. It is also Taiwan's only music event dedicated specifically to global folk music.
The festival has been held annually since 2001, with programming each year surrounding a different theme. This year's festival ran from Sept. 29 to Oct. 10, and activities were held in Tainan, Chiayi and Taipei. Spread out over nine days, the events in Taipei's Da-an Park included performances by international groups, documentary screenings, as well as workshops on the sidelines that provide the opportunity for interactive exchanges between artists and members of the public. There are also activities designed for specific groups in society, such as recent immigrants to Taiwan.
To add to the logistical challenge this year, festival organizers and volunteers had to deal with Typhoon Krosa Oct. 6 and 7, which rampaged through the venue destroying tents and causing performances to be rescheduled.
Chung Shefong, director of Trees Music and Art and the festival's coordinator, recalled how a small contingent of festivalgoers braved the typhoon and crammed into the tiny office of Trees Music and Art, which became the new venue for many of the activities. "It was frustrating and rewarding at the same time," she said Oct. 18, referring to the sense of solidarity that she felt.
Chung went on to explain that she decided as far back as 1997 to establish some kind of folk festival because it had become clear to her there was no real framework in Taiwan for people to truly appreciate cultural music. However, a decade ago, "world music" was far from popular, and it took another four years of hard work before her dream was realized.
The Migration Music Festival can best be described as an event "for the public" that is "rooted in the land," she said. On the one hand, she added, the festival looks to provide knowledge about folk music, while on the other hand it emphasizes the importance of understanding the context or environment in which the various folk sounds were created.
Emphasizing the music's context was particularly vital because many aboriginal activities in Taiwan are promoted by the public sector without any involvement by aboriginal people themselves, she commented.
Without first telling people about aboriginal practices and legends, the music in a sense becomes stereotypical, giving people a one-dimensional image of folk music, Chung said, stressing "any aboriginal music is closely connected with the land, from which traditions and living skills of that ethnic group grow. Without the land, some of the songs, melodies or rites would not even exist."
Stereotypes serve only to harm aboriginal people around the world, she said, as over time an indigenous person might even change his habits to satisfy society's notion of what an aboriginal is, especially when faced with the pressure of earning a living in today's modern world. "In that case, musicians will lose their ability to find their position and identity in society," she went on to say.
The naming of each festival, therefore, takes on huge significance. From "Loud and Free" in 2004 to "Crossing" in 2006 and "Land and Freedom" in 2007, each theme highlights the organizer's intention to celebrate the diversity of folk music and traditions around the world.
Organized in partnership with the Riddu Riddu Festival from Norway, a festival that celebrates the Sami from northern Scandinavia, this year's MMF brought together musicians from as far away as Africa and Europe. Some of this year's highlights at the festival's three locations were a trio of musicians from eastern Taiwan called Wild Fire, Atayal singer Inka Mbing, the Khoi Khollektif from the Khoisan tribe in South Africa, Wimme Saari from Finland and WAI from New Zealand.
The RRF was born in 1991 in response to the younger generation of the Sami people, who were trying to recover their identity after having endured years of the Norwegian government's assimilation policies. Fifteen years later, the RRF has developed into one of the most significant folk celebrations in North Europe. The MMF first contacted the RRF in 2003, when Chung accompanied Mongolian singer Urna Chahartugchi to perform at the Norwegian festival. After three years of successful collaborations, the two festivals decided to join forces for this year's "Land and Freedom" festival.
Documentary films made by aborigines themselves were also displayed at this year's event.
For example, both "Let's Dance!" and "The Story of Arctic Love" by Finnish Sami director Paul-Anders Simma tell simple love stories of young Sami people, using the modern world as a backdrop. The Sami language is used in both films. Taiwan's Mayaw Biho also demonstrated his documentary skills with two films titled "Malakacaway" and "Tsou." The former follows the lives of two men from the Pangcah people in Hualien as they embark on a path that leads them to a traditional wine ceremony, and the latter tells of how the Tsou people map out their traditional territory.
"Others might deem these subjects insignificant, yet [all issues are] important as long as a minority of people think they are," Chung said.
Full expression and the ability to debate matters are vital for a culture to continue to flourish, and it is the same with a music festival, Chung said.
"A musical festival is not just about attracting people," she added. It must also help to bring about profound public debate, incite thoughts and promote discourse on the music and the culture associated with it, she stressed.
Since 2006, a substantive book, titled "Migration," has been published to help familiarize the general public with activities that are being held at the festival as well as music-related issues.
Chung explained that the name of the festival and the informative book are designed to portray Taiwanese society as one that is distinctly made up of generations of immigrants. Music that evolves from such a society would most certainly therefore incorporate diverse ethnic elements, she said, adding "all musical forms are the fruit of migrations." Along their journey from many different places, elements fuse together, transform and reinvent the very fabric of the land from which they arose, she explained.
Due to such a variety of backgrounds, Chung said, there should be sufficient information, writings and discussions for listeners to be able to appreciate different types of music and learn to respect the culture each represents. The accompanying book is therefore part of the effort to help continue to "stir up debate on music and culture," Chung says in the foreword of this year's "Migration."
Already pondering a theme for next year's event, Chung said she has yet to come up with a theme, as there are too many good musicians in the world and many more issues yet to be explored. "I am just doing what needs to be done in my field," she said.
Write to June Tsai at june@mail.gio.gov.tw