無時雨 Timeless Rain

It’s heavily raining. Raining in timelessness.

August 2009.

For recording the most important ritual “homeyaya” of Tsou (One of indigenous peoples in Taiwan), my collaborator Yannick and I were stranded in the mountain (Alishan) because of Typhoon Morakot, which is the most serious typhoon in Taiwan during fifty years.

It kept raining overwhelmingly for three whole days. The sound of flood and heavy rain falling on the iron roofs stopped all the other sounds. What we could hear was only the sound of landslides, stones rolling in the river. The river didn’t sound like a river. Until the third day or fourth day, birds and insects started to sing again, animal sounds made us feel alive.

Rain destroyed all the roads connecting Tsou tribes with outside, rain broke down some houses, rain brought away bridges, farms, tea gardens, stones, fishes… This rain changed the mountain a lot. A birdwatcher friend told us: “The god of land will have his way to deal with.”

Time was running with rain and flood. Time was stuck in the rain and flood as well.