#4972, A World of Chinese Music
Hear cross-cultural collaborations by pipa masters Chung Yufeng, Gao Hong, and Wu Man. Also, there’s a duet for guzheng and banjo from Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn. Plus collaborative music by the erhu player Guo Gan in a trio setting, and more.
Hear music by Chung Yufeng, a pipa soloist and classically-trained musician from Taiwan. It’s from her stunning collaborative record, Pendulum, which features works with the Indonesian group Sambasunda, Scandinavian folk fiddles, and traditional Indian classical percussion. Listen to “Siwa”, based in an Arabic scale, for pipa and gamelan, possibly evoking Siwa, an oasis in the Western deserts of Egypt. Then hear a selection from the new album by Chinese pipa master Gao Hong together with London-based Argentinian guitarist and music producer Ignacio Lusardi Monteverde.
There’s also music from a collaboration between Chinese-born pipa player Wu Man and the San Diego-based son jarocho group Son de San Diego. Their record explores plucked stringed instrument traditions from China and Mexico. Beijing-born, Nashville-based Composer and guzheng performer Wu Fei together with Illinois-born, Nashville-based clawhammer banjo player/singer/songwriter (and East-Asian Studies major) Abigail Washburn combine their picking, plucking, bending, strumming with English and various Chinese dialects on a medley of Chinese traditional song, American bluegrass and traditional Appalachian folk music. Then, hear music from Chinese singer Gong Linna, in collaboration with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, in a work by Lao Luo, a German-born composer, living in China, who happens to be married to Gong Linna. Plus, from the Guo Gan Trio, listen to Guo Gan’s erhu (Chinese fiddle), in collaboration with Emre Gultekin, playing a Turkish lute called the baglama, and Levent Yildirim, playing an Egyptian drum doholla from a record called, Gobi Desert. That, and more. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4972, A World of Chinese Music (First aired 1/29/2025)
ARTIST: Chung Yufeng & Sambasunda
WORK: Siwa [1:15]
RECORDING: Pendulum
SOURCE: Chung Yufeng / Tree Music & Art
INFO:Available at Spotify, AppleMusic, YouTube Music
ARTIST: Fade to Blue (Chung Yufeng, David Chen)
WORK: Close Encounter [6:58]
RECORDING: Island Catch
SOURCE: Chung Yufeng / Music & Art
INFO: https://www.chungyufeng.com/new-page
ARTIST: Gao Hong and Ignacio Lusardi Monteverde
WORK: Gobi Trail [5:21]
RECORDING: Alondra
SOURCE: ARC Music
INFO: https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=EUCD2969
ARTIST: Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn
WORK: Water is Wide/Wusuli Boat Song [4:16]
RECORDING: Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn
SOURCE: Smithsonian Folkways
INFO: folkways.si.edu/wu-fei-and-abigail-washburn
ARTIST: Wu Man & Son de San Diego
WORK: La Manta (the blanket) [5:20]
RECORDING: Fingertip Carnival
SOURCE: WIND MUSIC International Corp
INFO: Available at Amazon.com, AppleMusic
ARTIST: Gong Linna & Bang on a Can All Stars
WORK: Lao Luo: Shan Gui [4:55]
RECORDING: Cloud River Mountain
SOURCE: Cantaloupe Music CA 21133
INFO: cantaloupemusic.com
ARTIST: Chung Yufeng & Sambasunda
WORK: Siwa [4:45]
RECORDING: Pendulum
SOURCE: Chung Yufeng / Tree Music & Art
INFO:Available at Spotify, AppleMusic, YouTube Music
ARTIST: Guo Gan Trio
WORK: Gobi Desert [4:10]
RECORDING: Gobi Desert
SOURCE: Felmay Records 8260
INFO: felmay.it
ARTIST: Chung Yufeng
WORK: The Sleepless Cuckoo [6:24]
RECORDING: Pendulum
SOURCE: Chung Yufeng / Tree Music & Art
INFO: Available at Spotify, AppleMusic, YouTube Music
ARTIST: Issam Rafea and Gao Hong
WORK: Summer Rain [3:22]
RECORDING: Life As Is
SOURCE: Innova 997
INFO: innova.mu
