Taiwanese aboriginal band to perform tonight
by Antonia Chiam reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on July 15, 2011, Friday
A GIFT: Yu (second right) presents the tribal flute to Tuku Kame leader Narawi Rashidi witnessed by Wee (third right), Samingad (fourth left) and other band members. - Photo by Louis Koh
KUCHING: Award-winning Taiwanese aboriginal band Samingad & Am Family will perform at the Kuching Civic Centre tonight at 7.30pm.
BIMP-Eaga Tourism Council chairman Datuk Wee Hong Seng said about 1,200 free tickets were given out and a full house is expected.
“Our very own award-winning band Tuku Kame from Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) will also be performing with them. It will be a spectacular musical feast. People can still go and try to find a place to sit or stand to enjoy the music,” he told a press conference yesterday.
The concert named ‘Sounds of Nature from Two Islands’ will see the two bands coming together for the finale, blending their different styles of folk music.
Female lead singer Samingad said the band chose Sarawak because the two places are very similar in terms of being multicultural and multi-ethnic.
“We believe that with similarities, we are able to get to know each other better and foster good friendship ties,” she said.
The band consists of accomplished singers, musicians and dancers from the Puyuma, Amis and Bunun aboriginal groups.
They use a wide variety of instruments to perform traditional songs, sung in crystalline quality voices that convey age-old and profound reverence for the spirits of their ancestors, the Earth and Mother Nature.
The name Am Family derives from the A minor chord, abbreviated as Am, which is the basis of many traditional songs among Taiwan’s indigenous people.
Meanwhile, Wee said the band had visited the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) and hopes to be invited for next year’s Rainforest World Music Festival.
“There haven’t been many, if any, Taiwanese aboriginal music groups represented at the festival, so it would be an interesting experience for the festival-goers,” he said.
Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia senior information officer Minford Yu later presented a Taiwanese tribal nose flute to SCV for display at the Rainforest Music House, where traditional instruments from around the world are showcased.
The concert is part of a series of events organised by the Taiwan Government Information Office and co-organised by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia.
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