Feather Art of Drum and Dance was officially established in 2012 by founder and artistic director cemudas・djaljapayan. In 2017, he designed the group’s signature instrument, the Paiwan Clay Pot Drum, and pioneered a form of original Paiwan spiritual percussion centred on the instrument. The group promotes Paiwan-centred culture and music through original percussion compositions, traditional Paiwan songs, and traditional instruments such as the mouth flute and nose flute. These practices form the basis of its immersive cultural music education and performing arts training programme. Participants learn about Paiwan ceremonies, music and contemporary percussion while rediscovering the importance of their own culture within contemporary artistic practice. Through its work, the group is committed to documenting traditional songs, training emerging musicians, passing on cultural knowledge and creating new works for the performing arts.

A member of the Paiwan community from Majia Township, Pingtung County, cemudas・djaljapayan is the founder and artistic director of Feather Art of Drum and Dance and an adjunct lecturer at National Pingtung University. He returned to his community in 2007 and began working on cultural revitalisation and transmission initiatives, including the establishment of the community-based learning programme A Classroom in the Mountains.

Feather Art of Drum and Dance was formally registered in July 2012. Between 2012 and 2023, cemudas・djaljapayan created eleven productions for the group. In 2016, he founded semiljeva: Sharing, a cultural music classroom, followed in 2017 by the Paiwan Clay Pot Drum, the group’s signature instrument. His practice focuses on developing new forms of Paiwan interdisciplinary music and performing arts. Through the Paiwan Clay Pot Drum, he has pioneered a distinctive form of spiritual percussion that brings together contemporary creativity and Paiwan culture. Over the years, he has continued to teach Paiwan ceremonies, music and contemporary percussion while promoting the documentation of traditional community songs, the training of emerging musicians, cultural transmission and new performing arts productions. In 2020, he founded the semiljeva Sharing Music Festival as a platform for Paiwan music, culture and the arts. Since 2015, he has also organised touring performances in Indigenous communities, allowing original Paiwan percussion to grow from the places and people closest to its cultural roots.