Bukut Tasvaluan believes that becoming part of a choir can help spark children’s creativity and interest in learning. (Courtesy of the National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan)
By June Tsai
For the Vox Nativa Choir Taiwan, its May 18 performance was special in a number of ways. It was the first time the choir, all aboriginal children, has worked with the National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan. And it was the first time the group has performed at the National Concert Hall in Taipei, arguably the best stage in Taiwan.
The show was a great success. Tickets were completely sold out four weeks in advance. The children’s voice was “heavenly,” according to concert conductor Huang Guang-you. The audience agreed wholeheartedly with his assessment, judging from their enthusiastic and prolonged applause.
Behind the group’s triumph, however, lies a tale of poverty and overcoming the odds, of hard work and perseverance, according to Bukut Tasvaluan, founder and chorus master of the VNCT.
“People think indigenous peoples are naturally gifted singers, but such an idea does not do justice to these children,” Bukut said in Taipei while promoting the show.
“It is of course a great achievement for these children, all of whom are still in grade school, to stand on the stage of the National Concert Hall,” he said. “But I hope the audience can try to imagine the difficulties they had to go through to get to where they are today.”
Bukut, principal of Luona Elementary School in mountainous Xinyi Township, Nantou County, founded the VNCT as part of a music school project to help talented aboriginal children shine both academically and musically.
“The purpose of the VNC School is to help aboriginal children, who enjoy fewer educational resources than their city peers, build self-confidence, and music is a means to that end,” said Bukut, an ethnic Bunun, one of the 14 officially recognized indigenous groups in Taiwan.
“The children like singing, and if they do well in this field, they become more self-assured, and that can inject something positive into their academic learning and lives in general.”
Students of this special school come from different elementary schools in 11 aboriginal villages in Xinyi Township. According to Bukut, over 80 percent of them are from lower-income households. “They have potential. All they need is a stage.”
After being an educator for more than 20 years, Bukut began to think that Taiwan’s younger generation of indigenous peoples would benefit if they joined a choir. Originally a sports teacher, he taught himself music so that he could teach children.
The VNC School recruits students from the 2nd grade up. The pupils spend their weekends, summer and winter vacations boarding in the school learning math, reading, English and choir singing. When this special school started in April 2008, there were 44 students. It now has 91.
Gaining admission to the VNC School requires not only a good voice, Bukut said. He demands that students finish their homework assignments before coming to the music school, and they must arrive for each and every choir practice session on time.
The students feel passionate about singing in a choir and their father-like school director. Some brave a 90-minute drive and freezing morning weather just to make it to the school.
For many, the school head should be credited for having given their children the courage to dream and the ability to realize their dreams. “Parents have told me their children become more helpful, responsible and organized at home, and perform better in school, as a result of our program,” Bukut said.
The musical outcome has also been encouraging. Over the last two years, the group has performed in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore. In 2009, the VNC released its first CD, which won jury recognition in Taiwan’s Golden Melody Awards. The choir has received invitations to sing and has been featured in TV commercials. The group is expected to release another album soon.
Bukut believes choir singing offers students the opportunity to open their eyes to the world. While working with the NCO, for example, the students marveled at how traditional Chinese instruments such as the erhu and reed pipe could imitate the howling of the winds, he noted, adding that some members of the audience were also amazed at how the voices of the children and the NCO’s instruments complemented one another.
The VNCT offered five Bunun folk songs at the Taipei concert, including the well-known “Kipahpah ima,” or “Let’s clap together,” and “Pislahi,” a song chanted during Bunun hunting festivals.
Bukut arranged the songs for the chorus himself. Learning the songs means becoming acquainted with the language, culture and history of the Bunun people, he said, adding that this is how he manages to pass on aboriginal culture and values to the next generation.
He is highly aware that people might value the choir only because it is made up of minorities, and not for its musical achievements.
“Such a danger surely exists, but bringing indigenous music out of the tribal environment and into music halls is a necessary process,” he said.
“When we make that breakthrough, and the singing of these children is appreciated, then their achievement becomes valid.”
Bukut insists that the priority for the choir members is learning, not singing, something he repeatedly tells his students. Thus the number of performances, large or small, has been capped under eight shows a year. Proceeds from their albums go to VNC students’ education.
“We hope these students can get into college and become leaders of the indigenous community,” he said. “They must be able to stay committed to their communities while pursuing their dreams in the world,” he said.
Non-aboriginal teachers have been impressed by Bukut’s ideas and efforts. A Taipei-based association has been founded to assist his project. The association, which provides teachers and raises funds for the children’s education, promises to support them until they attend university.
“I know aborigines in Taiwan have been made dependent on the government by past policies that wrongly treated them as subjects rather than citizens,” Bukut said. “But I want the children to be rid of this ingrained mentality, so that they can have control of their own lives, and contribute to Taiwan’s indigenous community.”
This article first appeared in online Taiwan Today May 27, 2011.
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