Elders Drinking Song

Difang and Igay Duana are Amis (an aboriginal tribe in Taiwan) farmers who became folk singers. They are also the original voices and artists behind the Elders Drinking Song--an Amis traditional chant. During a performance in France (during which they were paid $15), their beautiful voices were recorded without permission and released by the French government as part of an anonymous aboriginal CD. The music was then plagiarized by the German group, Enigma for the mega-hit Return to Innocence. As many of you may remember, Return to Innocence was so popular, it was named the  theme song for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. While this incident happened many years ago, it is indicative of the numerous ways aboriginal voices have been made invisible around the world. Difang and Igay's music is powerful and definitely worth listening to in the original and true form.