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Panai Kusui ( Chinese: 巴奈·庫穗; pinyin: Bānài Kùsuì; Chinese name: Chinese: 柯美黛; pinyin: Kē Měidài; born 1969) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, guitarist and social activist. [1] Her parents are of the Puyuma and Amis tribes of southeastern Taiwan.
Panai's first album "ni-wa-wa" was released in 2000 and received an award as one of the top 10 albums of the year by the China Times. [2]
Panai has performed at Tiehua Music Village in Taitung City, which was established by the Lovely Taiwan Foundation to promote indigenous music and culture. [3] She also performed at the fifteenth Migration Music Festival in 2017. [4]
In 2024, Panai won the Golden Melody Award for Best Taiwanese Album for Iā-Pô (夜婆). [5] During her acceptance speech, Panai mentioned the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, and her comments were censored from the internet in China. [6]
Panai supported Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tsai Ing-wen in the 2016 Taiwanese presidential election campaign, voicing her support for Tsai, whose grandmother was Paiwan. Panai sang aboriginal songs at Tsai's campaign rallies and post-election victory events, including Tsai's investiture. [7] [8] Panai, at these events, voiced the need of formal apologies to aboriginal peoples for past abuses. Elected president, Tsai fulfilled these requests and presented formal apologies to aboriginal populations. [7]
In February 2017, Tsai Ing-wen's government declared a series of public lands as aboriginal ancestral territories. [7] Panai denounced the moves as insufficient since it did not return lands previously taken and now owned by private entities, including notorious mines. [7] Panai's objection was based on two principles: the right of surviving aboriginal tribes to get back their whole territories, and the request for autonomy consistent enough so aboriginal community could negotiate as equals with the government. [7] Panai was one of the leaders of the Indigenous Ketagalan Boulevard protest concerning the delineation of traditional lands of Taiwanese aborigines. [9] On February 23, she occupied using tents the grass ground facing the Presidential Office Building, but was moved out 100 days later, installing herself near a metro entrance, and after 600 (January 2019) had to move again to a nearby park. [7] During the protest, Panai won an appeal against a fine levied by the Taipei City Government, [10] and continued camping until the presidential inauguration of William Lai. [11]
Panai Kusui has also participated in commemorations of the February 28 incident [12] and supported the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. [13]
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Panai Kusui ( Chinese: 巴奈·庫穗; pinyin: Bānài Kùsuì; Chinese name: Chinese: 柯美黛; pinyin: Kē Měidài; born 1969) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, guitarist and social activist. [1] Her parents are of the Puyuma and Amis tribes of southeastern Taiwan.
Panai's first album "ni-wa-wa" was released in 2000 and received an award as one of the top 10 albums of the year by the China Times. [2]
Panai has performed at Tiehua Music Village in Taitung City, which was established by the Lovely Taiwan Foundation to promote indigenous music and culture. [3] She also performed at the fifteenth Migration Music Festival in 2017. [4]
In 2024, Panai won the Golden Melody Award for Best Taiwanese Album for Iā-Pô (夜婆). [5] During her acceptance speech, Panai mentioned the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, and her comments were censored from the internet in China. [6]
Panai supported Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tsai Ing-wen in the 2016 Taiwanese presidential election campaign, voicing her support for Tsai, whose grandmother was Paiwan. Panai sang aboriginal songs at Tsai's campaign rallies and post-election victory events, including Tsai's investiture. [7] [8] Panai, at these events, voiced the need of formal apologies to aboriginal peoples for past abuses. Elected president, Tsai fulfilled these requests and presented formal apologies to aboriginal populations. [7]
In February 2017, Tsai Ing-wen's government declared a series of public lands as aboriginal ancestral territories. [7] Panai denounced the moves as insufficient since it did not return lands previously taken and now owned by private entities, including notorious mines. [7] Panai's objection was based on two principles: the right of surviving aboriginal tribes to get back their whole territories, and the request for autonomy consistent enough so aboriginal community could negotiate as equals with the government. [7] Panai was one of the leaders of the Indigenous Ketagalan Boulevard protest concerning the delineation of traditional lands of Taiwanese aborigines. [9] On February 23, she occupied using tents the grass ground facing the Presidential Office Building, but was moved out 100 days later, installing herself near a metro entrance, and after 600 (January 2019) had to move again to a nearby park. [7] During the protest, Panai won an appeal against a fine levied by the Taipei City Government, [10] and continued camping until the presidential inauguration of William Lai. [11]
Panai Kusui has also participated in commemorations of the February 28 incident [12] and supported the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. [13]