The word "Tsou" means "human being" in Tsou language. The total population of this tribe is about 5,000 people nowadays, which is less among indigenous people in Taiwan. The anthropologists think that Tsou and Bunun both are "netted pattern pottery culture stratum". In the myth related to the origin of human being, the tribal people believe that they are originated from leaves, trees or soil.

In general, Tsou can be divided into South-Tsou and North-Tsou. The South-Tsou includes "Kanakanavu" in Sanmin township, "Sa'arua" in Tauyuan township, Kaohsiung County. The North-Tsou lives in Alishan township, includes four sub-groups─Tapangu, Tfuya, Yimicu and Luhtu. The altitude of Tapangu, Tfuya, Leye, Lijia, Shanmei, Shinmei, Laiji, Chashan villages in the four sub-groups and Jioumei village in Nantou County is from 500 to 1,500 meters.

The traditional social organization of Tsou is very restrained. The leader is chieftain who is responsible for the affairs in daily life. There is a chief commander who conducts the military in the war and the elders who decide the important affairs such as campaigning, worship, and mediating disputes. The men house "Kuba" is the educational locus for male and the center of politics, religion and culture. In the beginning of every year, the annual grand ceremony "Mayasvi" is hold in the Kuba. "Mayasvi" is the ritual which celebrates the triumphant return of the warriors, the inauguration of a building, children ceremony and Adult ettiquette, moreover, appreciates the blessing of Divinity, promotes the cohesion between sub-groups. Therefore, "Mayasvi" is also translated into Cohesion ritual, War ritual or Victorious ritual. Only Tapangu, Tfuya are still hold this ceremony every year.

Traditionally, the main production of Tsou is farming and hunting which extend the calendrical rites (Millet ritual), campaign rites (Mayasvi) and other rituals of life cycle. These rituals constitute the complete religious system which makes people and people, human and nature, human and Divinity well-regulated.



The content and characteristics of music in North-Tsou

In terms of the function and characteristics of vocal music, the vocal music of Alishan Tsou can be divided into five parts:

(1) Ritual songs:
The ritual songs are used in annual (or every two years) war ritual "Mayasvi" nowadays. Tsou calls these ritual songs "pasu mayasvi".

(2) Traditional folk songs:
This kind of songs were handed down by their ancestors from generation to generation, are sung impromptu by individual or groups in their daily life.

(3) Arranged songs:
From Japanese-ruled period to Taiwan's recovery, the western religion and religious music education were spread into Tsou. Tsou absorbed these imported songs such as Japanese tunes, Western well-known songs, the folk songs of Hang ethnic group, collocated the Tsou spoken language to become the arranged songs.

(4) Contemporary compositional songs:
Ten years ago, some young tribal people were influenced by "The movement of folk songs revival" in campus. The Tsou youngsters used guitar or keyboard to create their new folk songs. The melodies and lyrics of these songs may be new composed. Some of them developed or varied parts of motives from Traditional folk songs to be a new song.

(5) Didactic anthems:
The didactic anthems refer to all anthems which are used in Alishan Tsou's church. These anthems include Western psalm, Mandarin psalm etc, but the most important parts are arranged psalms and masses which blend the traditional folk songs and collocate Tsou spoken language.

These five kinds of music are used in different occasions and for different objects. The solemn ritual songs are sung only in war ritual "mayasvi" by the whole tribe. Besides the limitation of occasion, the ritual songs are polyphony, so the tribal people are unable and forbidden to sing them ordinarily. The set of ritual songs is the important culture heritage and the "power" to distinguish the Tsou culture from exotic culture. It also presents the solemnity of the ritual, moreover, through the two voices polyphony, it expresses the natural beauty of the harmony.

The traditional folk songs display the different emotions and past life experiences of Tsou's ancestors. Most of the lyrics are abstruse. They are archaism rarely used in daily life, so they only preserved in few elder's minds. Regarding the application of scales and modes, most of traditional folk songs are pentatonic scales in La, Sol or Do modes. The melodies are within fifth intervals, only few tunes are over eightieth intervals. Besides the basic "duple" meters, the "rubato" and the triple meters are very special. The old man songs (pasu mameoi) and comical song (yongo tayoc) are used these special rhythms.

The word game songs are pervasive in Tsou music. For example, three "Yongo tayoe" use the last two syllables of one sentence to be the initial two syllables of next sentence, repeat this method again and again to form special "Stitch" style. This style is also the feature of Taiwan indigenous people and the ethnic minorities in Southwest of China.



The content and characteristics of the music of Sa'arua in South-Tsou

Sa' arua is like other indigenous people in Taiwan. Almost every month in one year, there are one or two traditional rituals held. Among these rituals, "Two Years Ritual" and "Miatungusu" of "Shell Divinity Ritual" are most important. According to the Liu, Bing-chuan's book "The music of aborigines in Taiwan", it recorded the exposition in the record─"The songs of indigenous people in Taiwan" written by Mikinosuke Ishida. Mikinosuke reported that "The way of rituals are diverse in different tribes. In Gaujung village, the ritual was held for seven days continuously. In the third day, people pierced the bottle top made of taros' leaves by sword, drank the wine prepared for the ritual and sang the ritual songs ‘Ruwarirshi' which have ten chapters. Then they danced at home. Until the fourth, fifth days, people danced outdoors. The dance songs are called ‘Miatungusu'. The lyrics are various. Miatungusu has the power of evocation, so it is only sung in the ritual. Evocation ritual is held in the sixth day."(1982:84) This shows the importance of Shell Divinity ritual music in Sa'arua.

Basically, the music of Sa'aura can be divided into ritual and daily life folk songs. There are ten ritual songs including Shell divinity ritual (8 songs), Harvest ritual (1 song), Hunting ritual (1song) and ten daily life folk songs including love songs, song for greeting, nursery songs etc.

The South-Tsou of Gaujung village have the categorized system for folk songs. They call "song" as "sahli" and "singing" as "basua sahili". The folksongs can be divided into three types:

(1)sahli kilaliali (ritual songs)─including 8 songs are part of miatugusu suite(Shell Divinity ritual), one apigaonga (Millet ritual song) and one mumuuasa (Hunting song).

(2)saubaluwaini (Nursery song)─one miiasasunga (Lullaby).

(3)alubaluwa sahlin (Antiphonal song)─In the past, the amount was large, but nowadays only 9 antiphonal songs are left.

According to Liu, Bing-chuan's description for the ritual music of Sa'arua, these songs are polyphony which combines drone and other melodies. From the traditional songs survived, we found that Sa'arua seemed to give up the polyphonic chorus, only sing these songs in unison, monophony. The transition of phenomena may explain that what tribal people can do is to try their best to preserve the repertories and tunes of the traditional folksong, and can't consult the polyphonic singing skill. The pentatonic scales are used frequently. As to the structure of melodies, there is a special figure in every song. La is the central tone, then the melodies descend fourth, and ascend fourth to the original tone. We can recognize the music of Sa'arua by this characteristic.

Additionally, among their antiphonal song "alubaluwa sahli", the melodic structure of "aiiana" (Happy song) is identical with Alishan North-Tsou folksong "iyahaena" (Antiphonal song), the South-Tsou kanakanavu folksong "aiiana" (Song for departure of Divinity). But after the opening lyric "aiiana", the lyrics of these three songs are different. In the whole tribe, no matter South or North-Tsou, the melodies of "aiiana" or "iyahaena" are similar. They are "Song Format", but the lyrics can be different according to the topic or the singer's style. From this song, we found that the language and ritual of South and North-Tsou display the similar cultural appearance. Owing to the separation of residence, they are also different slightly. In music, this kind of situation is apparent.



Reference sources :
Rung-shun, Wu
2000 The Music of Indigenous People in Taiwan, The study and appreciation of Traditional Taiwanese Music, National Traditional Arts Research Center, pp.216-222.

Listen to Tsou's Music (mp3)

Title	Genre	Resource	Listen on line
The Comical Song	Tsou of Ali Mountain	The Digitalization of the Music of the Indigenous People-The First Period
Catching the Crabs	Tsou of Ali Mountain	The Digitalization of the Music of the Indigenous People-The First Period
The Ghost Birds	Tsou of Ali Mountain	The Digitalization of the Music of the Indigenous People-The First Period
The Lullaby	Tsou of Ali Mountain	The Digitalization of the Music of the Indigenous People-The First Period
The Antiphonal Song	Tsou of Ali Mountain	The Digitalization of the Music of the Indigenous People-The First Period
Song for Advise and Encourage	Tsou of Ali Mountain	The Digitalization of the Music of the Indigenous People-The First Period
Drinking Song	Tsou of Ali Mountain	The Digitalization of the Music of the Indigenous People-The First Period
The love of Rattan Bridge	Tsou of Ali Mountain	The Digitalization of the Music of the Indigenous People-The First Period
The Happy Gathering Song	Tsou of Ali Mountain	The Digitalization of the Music of the Indigenous People-The First Period
The Happy Reunion Song	Tsou of Ali Mountain	The Digitalization of the Music of the Indigenous People-The First Period