The Power of Tao People’s Mianoanood: Songs, Taboos and the Life of the Tao, Lin Wei-Ya (postdoc, université de Vienne)
2016-05-02 14:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Paris) | Lesc – salle 308F (3e étage) - 21, allée de l’Université, Nanterre, , 92000, France
Tao (chi. 達悟 or Yami 雅美) is one of the sixteen recognized indigenous ethnic groups in Taiwan. Their language belongs to the Austronesian language group and is orally transmitted. The traditional music of the Tao consists primarily of songs. There is no word in the Tao language that can be translated as ‘music’. They use the term mianoanood, which means ‘singing songs’. Through traditional singing practices, the Tao transmit their history, their views of life, and they learn to follow the taboos. Since the 1960s, there have been many policies undertaken by the government, which aim to support the “development” and “modernization” of ethnic minority qcommunities in Taiwan. In 1980, an “intermediate deposit” for “weak” radioactive waste was established on the island, with many scams and close cooperation of the Taiwan Power Company and the government. This presentation is based on my PhD research project – The Music in the Life of the Tao: Tradition and Innovation.

Wei-Ya LIN was born in Taipei, Taiwan. She is currently employed as a research fellow in the project Bi-Musicality at the Institute of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Furthermore, she is working for the project Music without Borders at the Franz Schubert Institute, and as an adjunct lecturer at the Institute of Composition and Electro-Acoustics. In 2006 she completed her M.A. in viola performance with distinction, in 2007 the postgraduate curriculum in chamber music, and she studied composition from 2005 to 2007. In 2015 she received her PhD in Ethnomusicology from the same university for the thesis Music in the Life of the Tao (Taiwanese indigenous ethnic group): Tradition and Innovation, graduation with distiction.
