One of Taiwan's biggest pop stars sings in an Indigenous language

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/28/ [login to see] /taiwan-music-abao-indigenous
Everything about pop star Abao is musical. Her earrings jangle as she talks, and her deep belly laughter punctuates her conversations. She spontaneously breaks into song while explaining the Paiwan language she grew up speaking.

"My mother tongue of Paiwan is a lot like Spanish. It rises and falls, and so it meshes very easily with groovy things," Abao says.

At 41, Abao — her full name is Aljenljeng Tjaluvie — is one of Taiwan's most beloved music stars. Her chart-topping tunes have swept the island's top music accolades. And she's done it all by singing in the Indigenous Paiwan language — not Chinese, which dominates Taiwan's competitive music industry.

"When people think of Indigenous music, they think of some elder pounding a drum. That's important too, but young Indigenous people have their own way of living and their own community and they want to be able to mix their culture with what they like," she says.