Workshop: “Pasibutbut” – I Invite You to Sing Along! Experiencing the Improvisational Concept and Ontology in Bunun Prayer Song for Millet Harvest
Speaker: Yuh-Fen Tseng, Professor at the Department of Music and the Graduate Institute of National Chiayi University
Performer: Bunun Cultural Association in Xinyi Township of Nantou County
The Bunun, the highest-dwelling ethnic group among the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, are distributed on both sides of the central mountain range from 500 to 1,500 meters altitude, with a population of approximately 60,530 (February, 2022). This distribution range is quite wide due to the various waves of historical migration initiated since the 18th century. This group of people inherits an ancient polyphonic singing with a homo-rhythmic texture from the etic, or outsider’s point of view.
Among all the traditional repertoire, a musical genre called Pasibutbut acclaimed to be the first Taiwanese indigenous music known by a global academic audience: In 1952, Japanese scholar Kurosawa Takatomo sent a recording of Pasibutbut, which he collected in the year of 1943 at Lilongshan village, of Fongshan canton in Taidong county (the Kanding village of Haiduan township in Taidong county nowadays), to the International Folk Music Council (IFMC, associated to UNESCO) and caught the attention of many distinguished scholars like Andre Scháeffner, Curt Sachs and Jaap Kunst.
Brief Introduction to Bunun Polyphonic Singing
There are two main types of improvisational mechanisms in Bunun polyphonic singing, one with the “skeletal melody” model elaborated through unique way of polyphonic singing similar to so-called “tuilage” [Fr.] (“overlapping” [En.]) polyphonic texture, while the other, the “skeletal melody” model elaborated by the “accords” [Fr.] (“chord” [En.]) polyphonic texture. The former, the tuilage type of improvisational mechanism only existed in Pasibutbut, a ritual prayer song for the harvest of millet crops, and is more “genre” rather than “fixed song.” The latter, the accords type of improvisational mechanism, is applied within all other forms of Bunun traditional repertoire, included in the genre of ritual song, nursery song and working song, drinking song and narrative song.
What is Pasibutbut?
For the Bunun people, the most beautiful music is the Pasibutbut, the prayer song for the harvest of millet. For a long time, this unique genre was called "eight-part polyphony" by outsiders to Bunun culture. This name, perhaps derived from a general impression of the careless or casual hearing, may have aroused many misunderstandings. The Pasibutbut, literally means “tug-of-war” in Bunun. Its sound structure, or more precisely, the improvisational mechanism, is a recurring polyphonic structure which pulls back and forth between different vocal parts (usually four voices), while continuing to rise under the lead of the microtonal up-warding top voice called “mahusngas.” Eventually, this reaches a final harmonious state: in Western theoretical term, a musical interval is known as a “perfect fifth,” whereas the Bunun ancestors believe it to be the sound that can please the Heavenly God Dihanin. Hence, they called this final sound "masling," meaning, beautiful sound. Consequently, in Bunun culture, Pasibutbut, this special “tuilage-like” polyphonic singing, represents the path to the harmony of the universe—a musical expression closest to the Bunun cosmology.
How to sing Pasibutbut?
The Pasibutbut singing varies from tribe to tribe. Here I take the version of
“Bunun Culture Association of Hsin-Yi Township, Nantou County” as an example, step-by-step, to let you experience the unique singing of Pasibutbut.
1. The improvisational principal of Pasibutbut
The top voice (mahusgnas) moves upward in microtonal intervals; this is the skeletal melody. The lower three voices respond to this skeletal melody, utilizing the interval of minor third (mancini), perfect fourth (lamedu) and perfect fifth (mabungbung), before completing the first round of polyphonic elaboration. Meanwhile, the mahusgnas voice keeps on moving upward, the sequence of polyphonic elaboration starting again. Then, chasing the upward motion of the top voice, this polyphonic elaboration process will be repeated again and again, each time in a higher register. Finally, before the mahusgnas singer is going to reach their limitation of vocal range, they will give a signal of a perfect fourth called “mashal,” and, at the end of next polyphonic round, the mahusgnas voice will stop moving upward and the mabungbung voice will catch up with it to form a perfect fifth. According to the Bunun taboo, this perfect fifth interval will please the Heavenly God Dihanin and the people will be blessed by a harvest of millet crops. Therefore, Bunun people give this final perfect-fifth interval a name “Masling,” meaning, beautiful sound.
2. The acoustic facts of the “mysterious” impression of Pasibutbut
The “mysterious” impression created in Pasibutbut singing actually comes from the “additional voices,” literally, the overtones, which are resonated by the proper tension put upon vocal cords, so that Pasibutbut singing might be categorized as “throat-singing”. As a matter of fact, the unique timbre and mysterious impression are the effects of the overtone phenomena and maybe this is the reason why people call it “Eight-Voice Chorus”.
[Fig. 1] “Prescriptive Transcription” of the Pasibutbut improvisational mechanism sung byBunun Cultural Association in Xinyi Township of Nantou County (Recorded and Transcribed by Yuh-Fen Tseng on Aug. 13, 2010)
[Fig. 2] The Sound spectrum of the Pasibutbut sung by Bunun Cultural Association in Xinyi Township of Nantou County (Recorded and Transcribed by Yuh-Fen Tseng on Aug. 13, 2010)
Bibliography
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音樂工作坊
Pasibutbut--我拉你來一起唱！
體驗布農族祈禱小米豐收歌的即興模式與本體論
表演者：南投縣信義鄉布農文化協會 --「Lileh之聲」
演講者：曾毓芬／國立嘉義大學音樂學系教授
對布農族人來說，最美的天籟，是祈禱上天賜下小米豐收的Pasibutbut。這類歌曲流傳於布農族郡社群、巒社群的古老部落之間，自日治時期以來，音樂學者依據其運用於小米祭典的功能性，將它命名為「初種小米之歌」或「祈禱小米豐收歌」，而布農族人則以Pasibutbut或Pasi haimu來稱呼這個自古傳習下來的歌唱形式。
Pasibutbut是臺灣原住民音樂中，第一個被國際知曉的歌曲類型。日本學者黑澤隆朝曾於1943年3月25日在台東縣鳳山郡里壠山社（今台東縣海端鄉崁頂村）採錄到此曲，深受震撼，並於1952年將此曲的錄音寄至聯合國教科文組織（UNESCO）所屬之國際民俗音樂協會（IFMC），引起當時知名民族音樂學者如Andre Scháeffner、Curt Sachs以及Jaap Kunst的極大的重視。
這個披著神祕面紗的古老樂種，也經常被族外人稱為「八部合音」。這個稱號，無論是來自布農歌名的諧音，或是與漢族慣以「八音」代表多種樂器合奏的概念有關，長久以來形成了對Pasibutbut的謬誤觀念，並以訛傳訛。無論從知識論或者本體論的角度來看這個文化現象，皆是如此。
有鑑於此，演講者將分別從口傳歷史、歌唱形式（認識論）及此歌唱行為所具現出的布農族宇宙觀和人倫關係（本體論）等三種角度，透過歌唱實踐，嘗試帶領大家能夠更接近布農族Pasibutbut的聲響與精神。
關於Pasibutbut歌謠起源說有多種不同的說法，但大體說來，布農族人都相信這首歌起源於先祖們在獵場上的一次奇遇，至於所聽聞的內容，或云乍見幽谷中飛瀑流瀉，聲響壯麗，或云驟見巨大枯木橫亙於前，蜂群鼓翅於中空之巨木，其共鳴聲響有如天籟，因而心生肅穆敬畏之情，通力合作之下，模仿傳唱著此一奇異聲響，因而形成此曲。在這次大自然的奇遇之後，當年的小米收成比任何一年都豐盛，布農族祖先們於是相信此次奇遇乃是天神(Dihanin)所給予他們的好兆頭，於是配合小米的播種與耕作，代代傳唱這首歌曲，以取悅天神而獲取小米的豐收。
“Pasibutbut”在布農語的意思接近 「拔河」，傳神地形容出這種歌唱形式的運作模式：整體聲響結構在各個聲部往返的拉鋸之中，持續微分上揚，趨向最終的和諧。就聲部結構來看，它是一首四聲部的複音歌唱，以最高聲部微分上行的旋律線作為骨幹旋律，而下方三聲部對應著骨幹旋律依次作級進下行的複音式開展；然而，隨著最高聲部音域不斷提昇，整個複音結構必須不斷調整，隨時維持和高音聲部的和諧對應關係…，於是，一次又一次循環出現複音結構的「解構與重建」過程，形成如瓦片般堆疊的複合音樂織體，直至歌者的音域極限【譜例一】。
Pasibutbut的神祕面紗不只在於獨特的複音結構，更起因於其特殊的歌唱音色。這類由八到十餘人唱出的四部合音，整體聲響卻磅礡厚重，往往讓聽者為之震懾！其中玄奧乃是「泛音現象」使然。在代代相傳的Pasibutbut歌唱技巧中，族人僅以o、e母音吟唱，並以繃緊的喉嚨發出特殊的喉音音色，這種喉音歌唱方式會共鳴出多重泛音，並且越高泛音越豐富——請見【譜例二】的聲譜圖中，【譜例一】的Pasibutbut四聲部複音結構又進一步呈現縱向堆疊，這就是泛音現象的科學明證。
布農族過去以農耕與狩獵為生，在那個與大自然節奏變換共存共亡的年代中，族人將Pasibutbut的完滿合音作為獻給天神的祈禱，以此求得和大自然間的和諧共存。因此在布農傳統文化中，Pasibutbut是最貼近族群宇宙觀的表現形式，而若深究其內部聲響，會發現其音樂形式所具現出的和諧的共振，與西方數千年來形成的和聲概念異曲同工，皆為通往宇宙和諧的密碼——Pasibutbut歌唱形式的最終點，那個和諧而美好的音響，其實就是西方音樂理論中的「完全五度」（所謂的完全協和音程）──布農族人稱之為 “masling”，意為「美好的聲音」，並且相信這是天神Dihanin最喜悅的聲響！
於是，從無可考證的某個古老的年代開始，Pasibutbut從一個對大自然的聆聽與歌唱實踐，逐漸被賦予特定的社會功能，成為祈求風調雨順、小米豐收的祭儀歌曲。此外，這樣一種音樂行為，在古老的部落社會中除了成為宗教祭儀的中心，更同時體現出布農族群所特有、強調人與人之間相互「調適」，進而「融合」的文化觀念，一種以「和諧」為前提的社會制約。
【譜例一】「Lileh之聲」的Pasibutbut即興歌唱模式 (採譜／曾毓芬)
【譜例二】「Lileh之聲」Pasibutbut歌唱的聲譜型態
(錄音&製譜／曾毓芬 2010.8.13)
