Thanksgiving songs from the Amei tribe of southern Taiwan.

 

Fabian Müller‘s commentary: For a composer, it is important and enriching to come in contact with the music of other cultures. I have been travelling a lot, and thanks to my wife my relationship to Taiwan has become important and close to me. I am extremely grateful for this encounter, and the richness of Taiwan’s culture will never cease to fascinate me. In particular, the folk song heritage of Taiwan’s indigenous population is vast. My fascination has only grown as I continued to discover more and more traditional songs over the years. The beauty of these melodies lies in their perfection, as well as their simplicity.In this music I have combined three traditional Thanksgiving songs of the Amei tribe. All three melodies are on the minor pentatonic scale and possess similar characteristics, and in some places I intertwined them in a contrapuntal fashion. I tried to respect their simplicity and to underline the dance-like character of the original songs by keeping the same key and a steady pulse throughout the whole piece.