Over the past decade, combining traditional music from Africa, Latin America, and Asia with Western pop (2) and jazz has become commonplace.(3) But for a singer of traditional music, having your voice on a hit record (4) does not necessarily make you any money. Take the case of (5) Lee Fong Gwo, a Taiwanese rice farmer. His performance of a traditional song was recorded and later sold without his knowledge to a group of German pop musicians. The German musicians used the farmer’s voice in a song that became a big hit. All this has stirred an interesting debate: Who owns traditional music and should Lee Fong Gwo be paid for his performance?
FRANK KOLLER, REPORTER: For thousands of years, Lee Fong Gwo̓s family has made a living growing rice in the mountains of southern Taiwan. Gwo is an Ami; his ancestors came to Taiwan from the islands of Southeast Asia long before Chinese immigrants arrived from the mainland. Now 76, Lee Fong Gwo remembers learning to sing in these fields as a young boy.
LEE FONG GWO, AMI SINGER: [through a translator] Our water buffaloes needed someone to take care of them, and that was my Job until I was 12. In those days, I’d hear my whole family singing together as they worked in the rice paddies (6), and that’s how I first learned the songs.
FRANK KOLLER: A few miles away in the town of Taitung, you still see traces of (7) traditional Ami culture in Lee Fong Gwo̓s garage. We spent the afternoon sitting on small plastic chairs around a wok(8) filled with burning charcoal until Lee Fong Gwo asked me if I’d Like to hear him and his wife sing one of the old songs.
Lee Fong Gwo and his wife sing a traditional song which fades into (9)the pop song “Return to Innocence
This song, “Return to Innocence,” was recorded by the German band Enigma in 1994. “Return to Innocence” sold more than five million copies around the world that year, staying on the pop charts for more than six months. The man whose unique chanting starts and ends “Return to Innocence,” Lee Fong Gwo was never asked to be on the record and never received a cent (10) and that was never supposed to happen, says Professor Hsu Chang-Wei, an ethnomusicologist (11)at Taiwan University.
In 1987, with support from the Taiwanese government and the French Ministry of Culture, Hsu arranged for a group of Ami singers led by Lee Fong Gwo to visit Europe for a series of concerts.
PROFESSOR HSU CHANG – WEI, ETHNOMUSICOLOGIST, TAIWAN UNIVERSITY: [through a translator] In France, academics really liked the music and suggested that the performance be recorded. At that time, it was very rare to have Taiwanese ethnic music performed outside of Taiwan. It was agreed that the Ami singer could be recorded and published in France, but just one CD for academic research purposes only.
FRANK KOLLER: The problem was, no one ever asked the Ami singers. In 1992, the musicians of Enigma heard the CD and purchased from the France Ministry of culture what they assumed were the complete rights (12) to use Lee Fong Gwo̓s voice. Enigma paid $ 6,000. The problem was, once again, no one asked Lee Fong Gwo.
LEE FONG GWO: Two years ago, my granddaughter brought a tape home and played me the song on the Enigma record. That’s the first time I heard that Enigma had used my voice. I was very surprised and happy. It felt good to have people using my voice, but I was also surprised because I never sang such a song with all those other sounds, and I wondered how it was made.
FRANK KOLLER: When Ami leaders learned the story of Lee Fong Gwo̓s chanting on “Return to Innocence,” they wrote to Enigma in Germany. The band replied that since a legal contract had been signed with the French government, no further payments would be made. For its part, the French Ministry of Culture has not responded and Robin Lee, the director of Taiwan’s Association of Copyright Owners, says there’s little chance for appeal.(13) Lee says the copyright (14) for a piece of music belongs to its composer, but a rice farmer such as Lee Fong Gwo does not qualify.
ROBIN LEE, DIRECTOR, TAIWAN ASSOCIATION OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS: Because traditional music, by definition, is passed down from generation to generation over hundreds of years, we have lost who the original author is. It doesn’t just simply follow that anyone who performs traditional music owns the copyright for it. This is not music that belongs to Lee Fong Gwo. It is his culture’s music. It can’t belong to one man.
FRANK KOLLER: But the Ami do believe that the music belongs to Lee Fong Gwo. In fact, because Lee Fong Gwo is one of the oldest members of the tribe, they believe he is the music (15) and so does Professor Hsu Chang-Wei, the ethnomusicologist.
HSU CHANG – WEI: It’s really more a moral issue than a legal one. In cases like this, copyrights should apply to the tribal peoples themselves. If Enigma has indeed made a lot of money from using this tribal music, then it’s as if they were taking a treasure right from the tribe. They should pay something for that.
1. Stirs debate gets people talking about an issue
2. Western pop popular music from North America and Europe
3. Commonplace ordinary
4. a hit record a very successful record
5. take the case of consider the example of
6. rice paddies wet land where rice is grown
7. traces of signs of; example of
8. a wok a large pan that is shaped like a bowl
9. fades into slowly changes into
10. never received a cent didn’t get any money
11. ethnomusicologist someone who studies traditional music
12. complete rights full legal permission
13. for appeal for a legal review
14. copyright ownership
15. he is the music he has kept the music alive
The End
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Thereafter I read his speeches as a soft-hearted guy’s speech
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