Kisutjasutjaw（採花生）

kararirari ni ina, marakarakac i surur

iyu ilja hei i nana iki ruma valis

tjamulamulang i surur, marekutj aken a raras

iyu ilja hei i nana iki ruma valis

i vavaw aken tu tjanaq, a mirariquriquan

iyu ilja hei i nana iki ruma valis

na minquvulj a vurasi, ikanan a dukiduki 

iyu ilja hei i nana iki ruma valis

'Kisutjasutjaw' (Peanut Picking) is a rather playful 'song of flirt' (調情歌). According to my teacher Djanav Zengror who collected the song in 1991 at Piyuma village, Paiwan men and women often gather and tease one another for fun at the end of a hard-working day. The elder the singer, the better the language. 'Kisutjasutjaw' is one such example. 

Rather than a solo or monologue, 'Kisutjasutjaw' like many other traditional Paiwan songs is a dialogue. It involves two lead vocals (one male vs. one female) in conversation with each other and a choir reiterating the chorus in order for the next two lead vocals to make up new lyrics on the spot and carry on the next round. A simple and repetitious melody helps to continue the conversation until the end of everybody's wit whereas a simple shout like 'ilja, ho' can finish it in no time, and people can resume their laugh, talk or perhaps start a new song. 

In 'Kisutjasutjaw', the conversation is quite flirtatious but obscure. Singers borrow familiar objects, plants or activities from daily lives with a real intention to bring people's attention to their subtext. A Paiwan will probably soon understand and laugh with the creative singer, though some have also complained it was difficult to follow the thread.

My version here involves two couples teasing each other.

Translation (First Stanza): 

(Male) Mom's clothes lying torn in pieces on the bed 
(男):媽媽的衣服在床上破破爛爛的
(Female) There is a huge worm on the bed; I won't dare to go wild 
(女): 床上有隻大蟲，我才不敢亂來!  

Translation (Third Stanza): 

(Male): Riding on the 'tjanaq' tree, I swing and sway
(男): 騎在刺蔥樹上，我搖來晃去
(Female): Sweet potatoes have grown, but have never been picked every
(女): 馬鈴薯都熟了，從來都還沒有人來撿呢

Obviously, the male are bragging about their 'particular' power, only to be disagreed by the female who retort, 'Yeah, right, OMG!'. This is the essence of the tease.

'iyu ilja hei, i nana, iki ruma valis', on the other hand, are vocables without specific meaning; they are always there in every song and in different forms. I see them as the Paiwan or indigenous way of scatting. They create space for breathing and inventing new lyrics.

Other boastful lyrics that have been made by Paiwan male singers include:

'kuljakuljai a ku kuang, nu caljebes patjavalulj' (though my gun is thin, it fire eights times a night)
'kisutjasutjaw ti ina, sutjaladjane nu djadjiljaq' (Mom is picking peanuts as a lizard swims underneath her skirt, from which the song got its name).

Equally powerful taunts from the female read like,

'lunalunay a ragaman, ngalasengas yi tucunuq' (oh, a soft-shelled crab, panting and sweating as climbing the soft ground).

There really exists no definite version of  'Kisutjasutjaw'  Instead, it is almost a new song each time when there are different singers, occasions, moods, levels of openness and most importantly, degrees of command of the Paiwan language. Similar dialogues are sometimes seen in the work of indigenous novelists like Badai (Puyuma). Here, the fun is not only to tease with words but also to play with the creativity of  the mind. You simply can't help but laugh heartily at every spontaneous joke.

Nevertheless, the excessive use of vocables such as 'na lu wan' or 'o hai yan' nowadays also indicates a deteriorating fluency among Paiwan speakers who find it harder and harder to make up funny and witty lyrics. What a pity! The loss is not language alone, but a beautiful way of interacting. What fun is there in life when you can't sing to the one you love?

丹耐夫老師的排灣古謠課上總是調侃男生的"排灣"婦女們（雖然只有我是排灣族）。

我們在課堂上不只學歌，更學排灣文化、排灣歌謠的演變以及歌謠對應語言或民族的內涵。每次上完三個小時的課都有豐豐富富的滿足感。

這次我們在春季班的成果展演（2013.07.06）中總唱了四首歌曲：丹耐夫老師的成名曲Laysu（部分古謠，部分自創）、Uhalja Iyoin（報身份）、調情歌（Kisutjasutjaw）及林班歌。

為了吸引聽眾，老師用一個有點好笑的愛情故事串連這四首歌，不過它們也都各有時代上的意義，排灣歌謠的演變如何對應歷史或原住民政策的發展就是很有趣的課題，老師尤其對排灣歌謠如何反應政策發展有興趣，這一部分就等他自己出書講吧。

我呢，先享受當一個排灣族婦女，偶而唱個調情歌笑笑男人好了～


排灣古謠春季成果展1

排灣古謠春季成果展2