The Music On The Way To The Spirits

This dissertation investigates the seasonal ritual music of the Amis tribe residing in Lidau village in the northern part of Hualien County in Taiwan. Taking an emic point of view, this dissertation aims to use music as a way to understand Amis culture.Specifically, it tries to show how a nostalgic feeling known as "mararum" is constantly evoked by the melodic characteristics this ritual music, and how this music functions in the of construction of the so-called "lalan", or the way to the spirits. By taking an in-depth, emic interpretation of the Amis ritual music as its basic premise, this dissertation aspires to go beyond the previous anthropological and musicological studies of Amis culture and music.This dissertation proposes that "lalan" is made up of three components, namely, "calay" (literally "the route"), "kawas" (the spirits), and the seasons, and that the seasonal rituals are made up of seven basic elements, with each seasonal ritual having its specific songs. These songs form the subject of studies in this dissertation, and are referred to as "music on the way to the spirits". These songs share the following features: the recurrence of a three-pitch melodic pattern comprising a fourth followed by a second; each song usually consists of three sections, with the first section often corresponding with the third section, and with close interrelationship among the three sections; moreover, the endingpitch of a song is often taken up as the beginning pitch of the next song, thus forming a musical manifestation of the linear way to the spirits. These songs are performed in a style known as "kulu", which is a special singing style of the shamans. This "kulu" singing style is half singing and half speaking, and it uses various vowels, such as "a, u e, CK ai", to represent the various relationships among heaven, human beings, and earth, thus imbuing the songs and lyrics with directionality of cultural routes.In this dissertation, the discussion of such relationships does not deal with the non-ritualistic music of the Amis tribe, such as the songs of the Harvest Festival, those of the Initiation Rites, or those of the Boat Festivals. These will be the subjects for further studies in the future.