The Bunun Songs

When we say "music", we properly think it has rhythm, melody, and harmony. But in the Bunun music, It is hard to hear its rhythm and melody. The chorus does not have a certain melody, even not any rhythm. It only has tight harmony, every sentence comes one by one without any lost. Another unique feature of Bunun music is the absence of instrument.

1.Empower the shotguns (Pis lai)


2.Sacrifice and head hunting (Ma nand)




3.From now on (Pais ka lupaku)


4.For the elderly (Si ma chis bun da av)


5.Hunting achivement (Mazi rumah)


6.Working song (Mu na ning ka ta)

The Bunun music form is from their philosophy. We can make a simple inference: dance is a behavior in a space in the continual time, and because the Bunun only emphasizes the harmony but ignore the melody and rhythm (rhythms are often to follow the dancing steps), the balance between singing and dancing is declined, just making the circling of people but without dancing. From this aspect, we can approximately describe the basic music form of Bunun.

7.Drinking and singing (Ka hu zas)


8.Feel the gladness (Tu da tu manas karin)


9.Care for brethren (Pisdaidaz)

The absence of important elements in music like instrument, dance, melody, and rhythm don’t make the Bunun music indigent. On the contrary, producing new possibilities. We even can hear the method “Call and Response”that is usually used by black people in their gospel or spiritual. So we can imagine that human beings in the world perhaps have a resembling cultural developing trace. And different clan in different living places that isolate with each other would have same song with different lyrics. These songs are from mouth to mouth, as the separation of each clan, the tales they sing also change. The kind of movement also makes Bunun music has more flexibility, however, they also use their language ably in their chorus, just like many anagrams.

【Related link】
．The Bunun Tribe