Kuo Ying-nan was born in 1921 in the Taitung Falangaw Tribe, a member of the "Revival" groups (latihmok) in the Amis age hierarchy.
[2] In 1988, the Maison des cultures du monde [fr] in Paris hosted the "Asia-Pacific Indigenous Dance and Music Festival", in which the Paiwan tribe from Sandimen of Pingtung County, the Bunun tribe from Wulushan of Yanping Township of Taitung County, and Kuo Ying-nan with his wife participated, under the arrangements of Hsu Tsang-Houei, Tsai Li-hua and Hsu Ying-chou.
[4] In 1988, Difang and Igay traveled to France to sing on tour organized by ethnomusicologist Hsu Tsang-Houei, during which they and around 30 other aboriginal Taiwanese artists were paid $15 a day.
[8] However, Kuo Ying-nan had not authorized them to sample his song; and with the event underway, a controversy surrounding indigenous culture and copyright soon emerged.
[11] Kuo Ying-nan commented that as long as people knew that this song was from the Amis of Taiwan and was sung by his wife and himself, then the two of them would accept it in good part.
[12] In 1998, Kuo recorded his debut album Circle of Life in Taiwan with the assistance of Belgian music producer Dan Lacksman.
Dan Lacksman of Deep Forest, in collaboration with Magic Stone Records and the Duanas, produced the ethnic electronica album, Circle of Life.