A film about Atayal singer Inka Mbing's experiences at Germany's largest folk music festival in Rudolstadt will be shown at this year's MMF. (Courtesy of Trees Music and Art)
By June Tsai
Toward the end of summer in recent years, Taipei's urbanites invariably, and eagerly, have come to expect some alternative offerings to enrich their cultural lives, and the Migration Music Festival never lets them down.
Themed around the broad topic of migration--a phenomenon palpable in big cities around the world--the MMF offers musical programs that focus on the sometimes-neglected cultural fare of traditional and folk music, as well as some of the different aspects that go along with human migration. The festival began its work of presenting thought-provoking performances while indulging the musical senses in 2001. Today music, film screenings, workshops and seminars still fill its program.
This year's theme is "City Borders," which aims at drawing attention to those who live on the border of different cultures and "dwell on the periphery of a multicultural setting," according to a media release from the event's main organizer, Trees Music and Art--a Taipei-based independent recording label.
Thus, the festival, opening Sept. 27 and continuing to Oct. 6, will showcase creations that are a hybrid of cultures. One example is Romanian trio "STriCat," now based in Amsterdam, who play accordion, trumpet and cimbalom. The group's music "combines Romanian folk music with migratory factors in the multicultural Dutch capital."
Continuing the theme of crossing borders, the musical dialogue between two men from regions with a history of conflict might draw special attention at the event. Palestinian Sameer Makhoul from Galilee, who sings and plays the oud, an Arabic lute, partners with Israeli percussionist Itamar Doari to offer traditional Arabic music with a modern slant.
Huong Thanh, a Paris-based singer who hails from Ho Chi Minh City, also combines classical training with modern sounds. Having studied cai luong--Vietnamese modern folk opera--since the age of 10, Huong Thanh was initiated into jazz music in France and mixes various musical styles. Ian Anderson, editor of the authoritative London-based Folk Roots magazine, describes her music as "modern as it gets."
Taiwan's Panai, from the island's eastern coast, is a Pinuyumayan-Amis singer-songwriter who also plays guitar. Her soothing, yet powerful voice has earned her a reputation as the "Tracy Chapman of Taiwan." Yet, to be herself, Panai crossed the city border by returning to her community in Taitung County, and now dedicates her time to local communities, collecting tribal sounds, planning music workshops and farming.
Japanese guitarist and composer Ken Ohtake has been a guest at the festival twice before and appears this year with two musicians from Taiwan, pipa player Chung Yu-feng and Hakka musician Lin Sheng-xiang. Ohtake says jazz, blues and pop are the building blocks of his music, although he has also absorbed the sounds of traditional music from the island of Okinawa through his work with renowned Okinawan folk musician Takashi Hirayasu. Ohtake also collaborated with Lin at the 2003 festival, and together with Hirayasu, have since partnered on many musical projects.
One change to this year's festival is that there will be a charge for admission. TMA director Chung Shefong announced that, due to financial pressures, the organization felt it had little choice but to sell tickets in order to maintain the quality of performances.
Indeed, with such a diverse program, it is difficult to imagine how it was possible to offer festival performances as free to the public in previous years. Chung says it was a difficult task, especially as the festival highlights the situation of the marginalized from societies around the world.
In fact, other alternative music festivals in Taiwan have faced a variety of pressures this year. In July, the organizers of the annual Formoz Festival announced they are suspending the event indefinitely, in part because of financial difficulties. Another, the Ho Hai Yan Festival in Taipei County, is being developed as a vehicle for promoting tourism by the local government and has become more commercial. Still, the organizers of the MMF are committed to continuing their event as a venue for alternative music.
In keeping with the festival's theme, some events will also be staged in Taipei and Chiayi counties--geographically and culturally on the periphery in relation to the capital Taipei where cultural activities are concentrated.
Judging from the lineup for the 2008 festival, this year's event carries on the same feeling of previous years, despite the smaller scale. Moreover, the ideals of the organizers as stated in 2006 are just as apt today: "Taiwan is realizing the significance of immigrants in its society, as both its culture and music begin to show the influences of different ethnic groups."
"By inviting musicians from other countries to share the stage with local musicians, the festival hopes to foster respect and tolerance islandwide, which will carry over to all peoples and cultures of the world."
This article is published in Taiwan Journal Oct. 3, 2008.
The Betel Nut Brothers, one of the Pangcah groups that performed at 2007's MMF, work on the album "Hunters Who Lost Their Lands" in 2003. Chung insisted the album not be recorded in a studio. (Courtesy of Trees Music and Art)
By June Tsai
Outdoor music events in Taiwan have mushroomed in size and popularity over the last decade. Although there are a few independent rock festivals, the rise of the outdoor music event can be significantly attributed to the involvement of government agencies and their eagerness to promote tourism or support charities against a cultural backdrop. Private sponsors also play their part, gaining significant exposure from any events they help get off the ground.
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.
The article is published in Taiwan Journal Nov. 9, 2007.
Sameer Makhoul (left) and Itamar Doari (Courtesy of Trees Music and Art)
--Interview with Sameer Makhoul By June Tsai
For many in the Middle East, this would be an impossible meeting, yet for Palestinian oud player Sameer Makhoul and Israeli percussionist Itamar Doari, their music makes them a natural match. The two will appear at the Migration Music Festival in Taipei this weekend and deliver their musical message that crosses borders--in terms of nationality, music genre and even age.
Sameer Makhoul, 38, is from a Palestinian family. He was born in Peki'in in Galilee, a region famous for its poets and musicians. Makhoul started to teach himself oud--a traditional Arabic stringed instrument similar to a lute--at the age of 10. He was one of the first students to study at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, also known as the Rubin Academy. As a composer, singer and oud player, Makhoul has appeared in many ensembles, participated in workshops and taught in Jerusalem. Makhoul took time from rehearsals to share thoughts on his music career and the experience of playing with Itamar.
Q: Could you describe your learning experience in your home village and in Jerusalem?
A: As people say, I was born in a family of musicians and poets. Actually the name of our village means "the village of poets." Two of my brothers are poets, and all my brothers sing and play instruments. When I started playing music as a child, they appreciated my sensibility. It is important when you grow up in a family that appreciates your ability, and it did help a lot with my later career.
I started to play oud when I was 10, but I had no teacher for 16 years until I decided to seek a musical career in Jerusalem at the age of 24. It was not easy to attend any university at that time, because until 1997 the Department of Oriental Music at the Rubin Academy, which was part of Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was opened, and I became one of the first students of the department.
There were stresses living in Jerusalem, with constant security checks on the roads. I was not comfortable, but generally I did not have any problems.
Q: How did you partner up with Itamar Doari as a percussionist?
A: I meet Itamar four years ago when I released my first CD "Athar" ["Footprints"]. I had done a number of concerts around Israel. One time I spoke to Itamar and invited him to play with me. I felt there was a very good understanding between us. We met again two years thereafter, and started to think about what we could do together. We tried a band with a guitar, a contrabass and ney flute. Somehow it did not work, so we decided to keep the band just for two. The musical feel was very strong between both of us, much better than when we worked with five or six persons. Then we started to appear together and we received positive responses from audiences. They liked it very much.
Our working together was not to tell the world that the Arab and the Jew can link together, that they can be brothers, working and living with each other. It is not the message of our combination.
The message is: I can play, sing, work and talk with all people with music. Through music, I express myself, and Itamar expresses himself. It is not something about politics or religions, or to tell the world that we are friends. The message for the world is that Sameer came from Palestinian family and Itamar from Jewish family, and that musicians can do something together.
Our working together is not always easy. If I want to go to Egypt, Jordan or Tunisia with Itamar and perform, I think there would be some problems. They don't like to do collaborations with Israeli culture. But I tell myself the project is for Itamar. This is our project and I don't want to replace him.
Q: What influences your music?
A: Arabic traditional music and Byzantine music of the church, which stems from traditional Turkish and Greek music, all have an influence on me. I like Byzantine music very much, very sensitive, large and wide. What is special to our combination is that Itamar and I grew up at different times and we received different influences. Itamar's style has factors of Western modern music, such as jazz, and there is classical music and Arabic music in mine, and our sounds fuse together. I hope the audience in Taiwan will enjoy, and appreciate the common musical message over our different ethnic identities.
This article is published in Taiwan Journal Oct. 3, 2008.
