An acclaimed Indigenous singer from southern Taiwan will perform at this summer’s Mission Folk Music Festival. Sauljaljui (戴曉君) is a cultural icon of the Paiwan people—the country’s second-largest Indigenous tribe.
She performs in her native Paiwan language, which is spoken by about 100,000 people. And her 2025 album, VAIVAIK, was honoured with a Golden Melody Award as the Best Indigenous Language Album.
In addition, one of the songs on the disc, “Dipin Kari Tang”, snared the Golden Melody for Best Arrangement.
According to an Australian Broadcasting Corporation profile, Sauljaljui learned guitar as a teenager and ventured into nu metal as a university student. As a teacher in an elementary school in her traditional territory, she came across kids playing a Chinese instrument, the yueqin (moon lute), not normally associated with Paiwan musical traditions.
Sauljaljui integrates the yueqin with the Paiwanese double-barrel nose flute in demonstrating her people’s deep connection to the land.
“You don’t need to remember my name—it’s okay!” Sauljaljui told ABC. “Just remember my culture.”
Watch Sauljaljui’s Official Music Video for “Finding Each Other” (feat. Putad Pihay & Sra·Rata).
Festival presents artists who embody their traditions
The 39th annual Mission Folk Music Festival will take place from July 24 to 26 in Fraser River Heritage Park east of Mission, B.C. More than 25 acts will perform on four different stages.
“This year, I was particularly drawn to artists who don’t just perform their tradition—they embody it,” artistic director Michelle Demers Shaevitz said in announcing the 2026 lineup. “These are musicians who wear their cultural inheritances with pride, question them with curiosity, and carry them forward. Their work is rooted in lineage and story, yet unmistakably contemporary—where folk meets punk, protest songs meet traditional tunes. I invite you to join us to hear what they have to sing, to play and to say.”
The full ineup is available on the Mission Folk Music Festival website. Weekend passes as well as weekend passes + camping are on sale now at early bird discount prices. Early Bird single day tickets go on sale May 13 with a discount-rate deadline set for June 21.
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