"A few years ago I did an interview with Christopher Roberts who sent me a CD called Betel Nuts. It was field recordings he had made of string bands in Papua New Guinea and Taiwan; the connection was the migration of people and betel nut. The Taiwanese half of the CD was music played by two identical twins Huegu and Api, their father 'Mui, and Valah Udai, who are all indigenous Amis people. These two new CDs, one of which to my shame I've had on my table for ages, continue to follow the musical adventures of Huegu. Previously, I couldn't have told you who Docdoc was, because the sleevenotes to Bura Bura Yan are all in Taiwanese. Suddenly, to my rescue, appeared a new CD by the Betel Nuts Brothers with English sleevenotes. Now I can tell you that the Betel Brothers are four brothers and a cousin Huegu, Docdoc, Budu, Abi and Wushin; a truck driver, a surgeon, a dance company assistant, a leader of a traditional Amis dance company and a grocer. All five we are told are hunters who have lost their land and traditional livelihood and adapted to the new ways in order to survive in the cities. Their music is their final stand to protect the last traces of Amis culture and dignity. These are protest songs, love songs, harvest songs, songs sung at the dismissal of a husband from when Taiwan was a matriarchal society, dance songs, songs of place, folk songs; all played on acoustic guitar, mostly strummed, no fancy finger picking, small percussion; and vocal melodies often bearing traces of what we Europeans would know as pentatonic South East Asian folk and pop tunes, of course. - Mike Cooper, fRoots