By Babz Rawls Ivy, editor-in-chief The Inner-City News & Host, LoveBabzLoveTALK 103.5 WNHH radio
While more than 6,500 miles separates Wu Fei’s hometown of Beijing from Abigail Washburn’s of Nashville, Tennessee, that distance seemingly evaporates when they bring together their two diverse styles and genres to create a truly unique musical experience.
This eclectic pairing will showcase their cross-cultural collaboration that blends traditional Chinese and Appalachian folk tunes on Saturday, March 2 at the Schwarzman Center in New Haven. Their 2020 self-titled debut release on Smithsonian Folkways, “Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn,” which they had been working on since 2013, has garnered glowing reviews and has been described as “transcendent and blissful.”
Washburn, a Grammy award-winning claw hammer banjo player has been called “an artist who best embodies the notion of Americana as a worldwide musical language” by the Los Angeles Times. She joins Fei, a classically trained composer and master of the guzheng, an ancient zither she describes as a “flat harp.”
The duo, who are also longtime friends, blend folk music from their cultural backgrounds, China and Appalachia. Fei shares how she grew up surrounded by music, encouraged by her parents to excel beginning at age 2. She trained rigorously, ultimately becoming known as a musical prodigy across China.
Washburn studied Chinese language and culture in college and spent time living in China, setting a course for a legal career before a self-described “life-changing experience” led her to pick up the clawhammer banjo and pursue music full time.
And while a clawhammer banjo and an ancient Chinese zither are seemingly vastly different instruments, Fei said they couldn’t be more well-suited together.
“They’re both strings, so they resonate no matter what. I don’t see instruments as what matters … it’s really the person,” she added.
Both Washburn and Fei realize music has the power to unite people more than policy ever could. Their shared interest in music and culture kept their friendship strong, making for a deep connection when collaborating.
Folk music exemplifies the rich histories of its people and their collaboration aims to keep that genre alive while bridging the gap between two remarkably different countries and cultures.
In our recent conversation, Fei spoke of how folk music can transcend political and cultural boundaries, a key goal of her efforts with Washburn.
Fei said she focuses on “building communities [with] the people who matter in your own circle of life, and knowing that actually people from other parts of the world do exactly the same.”
Fei and Washburn performed at the Schwarzman Center, 168 Grove Street, on Saturday, March 2, at 7 p.m. Fei was also a guest speaker at the Yale Asian American Cultural Center on Thursday February 29.
We Fei was a guest on LoveBabz Love TALK, Monday, February 26, 2024 10:15 am https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fwnhhradio%2Fvideos%2F2685510971622468%2F&show_text=true&width=560&t=0