紀曉君Samingad is an aboriginal singer from the Puyuma tribe. Her albums include songs in her native tribal language and in Mandarin. For her first album, "Voice of Puyuma," released in late 1999, she received a Golden Melody Award for Best New Artist. Her second album "Wild Fire, Spring Wind" was released in September, 2001 and earned her a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best Dialect (Non-Mandarin Language) Female Vocalist. Samingad, whose name in her native Puyuma means “without equal,” was born in Tai-Dong County’s Puyuma Township to a family with a rich musical tradition. Her grandparents and many of her relatives are important figures in keeping traditional Puyuma music alive through emceeing at the tribe’s many social functions and teaching the tribe’s music to their children. At a time when the native languages of Taiwan’s Aboriginal peoples are fading into disuse, Samingad stands out for composing her music in Puyuma. Her music draws much of its inspiration from the Gospels, as well as from tales of the tribe’s former agricultural and hunting lifestyle, and from the complex emotions triggered by Puyuma’s struggles in Taiwan’s contemporary society. In 1999 Samingad was invited with Difang Duana (of Enigma’s “Return to Innocence” fame) to perform in Japan, where her performance was described by local critics as containing: “the wind of the plains and the rays of the sun.”