The Cultural Center promotes international cooperation with Taiwan Music Museum and academic institutions to preserve Taoism folk songs.

The Taiwan Music Museum of the Taiwan Traditional Arts Center announced that it will collaborate with the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Art Research Center (ARC) of the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts in Austria to jointly promote the preservation of Tao traditional folk songs.

Taipei--- The Taiwan Music Museum under the National Center for Traditional Arts held a press conference on international cooperation today ( 30th ), officially announcing that it will join hands with the French National Center for Scientific Research ( CNRS ) and the Center for Art Research ( ARC ) of the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts in Austria to jointly promote the "Lost Songs of the Tao (Yami) People: Interpretation and Classification of Ancient Songs Research Project". This project will fully translate, correct and publish the precious Tao ancient songs collected by French anthropologist Dr. Véronique Arnaud during his long-term field research in Lanyu. This is the first time that Taiwan, France and Austria have integrated important academic resources to jointly promote the preservation of Taiwan's indigenous culture, which is of far-reaching significance.

Dr. Aino, a leading scholar in Southeast Asian studies in France, has spent half a century in the island village of Lanyulang, deeply engaged in the study of Tao culture, language, and folk songs. She was a recipient of the 22nd Taiwan-France Cultural Award. In 2013 , she donated 50 years of research, including over 500 hours of rare audio recordings, to the CNRS collection, leaving behind a valuable legacy for the preservation of Tao culture.

However, Dr. Aino passed away in 2022 , leaving some of the data untranslated. To address this, the Taiwan Music Museum negotiated with CNRS to authorize the posting of the audio files from this collaboration on the Taiwan Music Museum's online website. A research team, led by ARC Dr. Lin Weiya, will review, translate, and interpret the relevant ballad data. This research will incorporate ancient ballads and manuscripts collected by ethnomusicologist Qian Shanhua and Tao cultural historian Guo Jianping. Starting from the context of the Tao language, they will reconstruct a classification system and knowledge context for Tao traditional ballads. They plan to compile nearly 100 ancient Tao ballads, recreating the true face of the culture, and will publish a book in 2016 .

Director Chen Yue-yi of the National Center for Traditional Arts stated that Taiwan's indigenous music and folk songs are precious cultural assets. The traditional folk songs of the Tao people are not merely musical forms; they carry the wisdom of the Tao people's daily lives, environmental knowledge, and collective memories, possessing profound cultural value. This international collaboration has enabled Dr. Eno's half-century-long dedication, spanning 500 hours of precious recordings, to be returned to Taiwan and to the Tao people's homeland through the research and publication resources of the Taiwan Music Center. It is hoped that through the combined efforts of indigenous perspectives and international academic resources, the Tao folk song tradition will be preserved and revitalized, reintegrating Tao culture into the lives of the Tao people and allowing the Tao people's voice to be heard around the world.

Christian Helbig , Director of the Austrian Taipei Office, delivered a speech on behalf of the ARC , noting that Austria, as a music capital, places great importance on preserving its musical culture. This collaboration not only demonstrates the power of cross-border resource integration but also opens up new opportunities for future international research and artistic innovation. Cléa Le Cardeur , Deputy Director of the French Association in Taiwan, also delivered a speech on behalf of the CNRS , emphasizing that Dr. Aino's decades of dedication to Lanyu culture was crucial to the launch of this collaboration. She expressed deep gratitude to all stakeholders in Austria, Taiwan, and the Tao people for their collaborative participation.

Dr. Lin Weiya, the project leader, explained that the project will be carried out in three phases: first, the material of nearly 100 songs will be compiled, a keyword database will be established and music analysis will be conducted, and finally a song classification system will be constructed based on the views of the tribe, and the research results will be published and an online platform will be established. Through international cooperation, the collections and knowledge resources of Taiwan, France and Austria will be integrated to preserve the precious oral traditions of the Tao people and realize knowledge sharing and cultural sustainability. Tao cultural and historical worker Guo Jianping expressed his gratitude to all walks of life for their support and recognition of Tao culture. He mentioned emotionally that Dr. Aino is not only a researcher, but also a member of the tribe. Although the Tao people are small in population, their culture is deeply meaningful and should not be ignored, and it will never disappear.

At the press conference, elder Xie Jiahui personally sang ancient folk songs, and the tribe also performed the classic "hair dance" symbolizing the spirit of their culture, showcasing the profound heritage of traditional singing and dancing. During the launching ceremony, a French representative passed a bouquet of flowers, symbolizing the seeds of culture, to Austria, and then to the Cultural Center and the Tao people. This symbolized the project's initiation in France, cooperation with Austria, and ultimate return to Taiwan and the tribe, representing the cycle, regeneration, and inheritance of culture. The bouquet symbolizes gathering and commitment, reflecting the three parties' shared belief in cultural preservation, continuation, and expression. The Taiwan Music Museum of the National Center for Traditional Arts hopes that through this international collaboration, it will inject new momentum into the preservation and sustainable development of Taiwanese music culture.