Ilid Kaolo

Ilid Kaolo, known to her friends as Xiao Mei, is a Amis (Pangcah) aborigine from the tribal village of Jinalu’an in Hualian County. She has a bright and beautiful face, and her pure, resonant voice conveys a dreamy langour.

Like many other Taiwanese aborigines, when she was young she came to live in Taipei. She performed all over with first the Formosa Aboriginal Song and Dance Troupe and then Wild Fire Music. Several years ago, she joined the Hohak Band, and along with their lead vocalist Chen Guanyu and others she got into organic rice farming, becoming a musician who planted rice with her left hand and wrote songs with her right. And when she returned to live in her home village in Hualian County for a time Ilid’s tender feelings for her home were renewed and her creative fires were set alight, inspiring her to write songs in her mother tongue. After moving to Nan’ao in Ilan County, she started to turn the many twists and turns of her life into song after song. Not only does she portray the moods of urban women, she uses original Amis songs to narrate the story of her family and people. At the same time she conveys how after becoming a farmer who uses natural agricultural methods, amidst the busy farming life of planting and weeding, every moment is unique and brimming with light.

Artist's others Profiles:

My Carefree Life