Music Unlimited II: “From the Mountains of Taiwan” (來自台灣的高山) – “I-Naaw A-Maaw”

Included in “Chinese Choral Music Anthology: Music Unlimited II.”

About the Work

This a cappella suite on Indigenous themes is not a direct arrangement of Indigenous music. Rather, it is a set of sound sketches created by deconstructing Indigenous musical material and then recombining and collaging it, balancing high artistic value with real challenges for the singers. The work is in four parts: “Lullaby,” “Harvest Festival Song,” “Malan Maiden” and “I-Naaw A-Maaw.” Apart from the original lyrics, the texts often consist only of a few repeated phrases or vocables with no particular meaning. The compositional approach also differs in each of the four songs, the aim being to show the many possibilities of transforming Amis songs into choral works.

The fourth song, “I-Naaw A-Maaw,” is an Amis children’s song in which the singer asks father, mother, brothers and friends to wait by the rock face while the singer picks wild figs for them to eat. The playful, innocent melody repeatedly shifts its tonal center, with cheering vocables woven in between, while a long, soaring melodic line above cuts across the sky, gradually driving the music to a jubilant climax.

Text: Shu Xi Chen