Returning to and from “Innocence”: Taiwan Aboriginal Recordings

For many, the Taiwan aboriginal music world begins and ends with pop group Enigma’s controversial single, “Return to Innocence” (1993).¹ Interweaving the voice of Amis singer Difang with layers of electronic sounds, “Innocence” was exotic and ambient, and it also proved catchy enough to serve as an advertisement theme song for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Through this song, much of the world came to hear Taiwan aboriginal music for the first time, without realizing what they were hearing. Difang (1922–2002) discovered his stardom through a friend who had caught the song on radio, and he asked EMI to be credited on the album (Interview, August 10, 2000). When his request was turned down, he filed a lawsuit against Enigma in 1997. The parties reached an out-of-court settlement in 1999.

Various reports on the case by Guy (2002), Taylor (2000), and Yvonne Lin (1999) provide views on the role of ethics in negotiating social justice and copyright law. Enigma sampled Difang’s voice without authorization from him; the group drew its sample from a 1978 recording of a weeding song collected by Taiwanese ethnomusicologist Hsu Tsang-houei.² Hsu deposited this and other Taiwan aboriginal recordings in Paris’s Maison des Cultures du Monde in 1988. Some of the 1978 recordings were in turn issued, together with new material, on the Inedit album, Polyphonies vocales des aborigènes de Taiwan (1989). After hearing this album, Enigma sought and obtained permission from Maison to use a sample and paid a transference fee (Wong 1999). No one, however, bothered to determine the identity of the original singer or consider his intellectual property rights until Difang made the claim himself.

The politics of assigning blame and claiming compensation was tricky. Was Difang’s name acknowledged on the Inedit release or even on Hsu’s original field recordings, some of which featured ensembles with variable soloists? The answer to the former was “no.” Reports varied as to whether royalties paid by Enigma were eventually channelled to the original singer. Taylor and Guy also point to Difang’s fame, gained after his Olympic exposure. The Amis farmer was soon signed by the Taiwanese label Magic Stone Music to release two albums, Circle of Life (1998) and Across The Yellow Earth (1999). These albums, put together by Deep Forest producer Dan Lacksmann, featured electronica remixes reminiscent of the problematic “Innocence.”

This story is relatively well known, though most versions depict Enigma and EMI as using strong-arm tactics. That “Innocence” was a turning point in the Taiwan aboriginal record industry is without doubt. Difang’s subsequent albums won accolades at Taiwan’s equivalent of the Grammy Awards, the annual Golden Melody Awards. His success inspired a revival that saw aboriginal singers release their own albums. At the same time, it sparked debates about cultural ownership: some aborigines wondered whether the court settlement should have been made not to an individual but to the Amis people. The case also generated heightened awareness of copyright protection among village singers, now wary of singing to researchers and eager to claim authorship of aboriginal songs previously released on old vinyl records. Indeed, a thriving Taiwan aboriginal record industry had existed from the 1960s. Prior to “Innocence,” the aboriginal music scene boasted a cassette dynasty, whose largely aboriginal clientele spanned southern and eastern rural Taiwan.

Aboriginal listeners are not the only audiences of aboriginal recordings today. Chang Huei-mei, a superstar in the Mando-pop world whose fan base extends beyond Taiwan, is of aboriginal Puyuma descent.³ Beyond Difang’s “Weeding Song,” pieces from other aboriginal genres have also been making their way onto tape and CD. Some of these—evangelical hymns converted from aboriginal tunes—are products of church choirs, and others cater to urban audiences and the world music market. This review seeks to provide a survey of such trends and their interwoven histories.

Definitions: “Aboriginal,” “Song,” “Music,” and “Ladhiw”

A discussion of the scene must begin with a definition of Taiwan aboriginal song and of Taiwan aborigines, Yuanzhumin ( ).⁴ Numbering some four hundred thousand, aborigines are descendants of the...