This Sunday, Feb. 15, local classically trained composer, singer, and master of the guzheng Wu Fei will perform at Blair School of Music’s Ingram Hall in celebration of the Lunar New Year. I interviewed Wu Fei ahead of this free performance to learn more about how Nashville has shaped her music.
How has living in Nashville impacted your music?
“The people here have changed everything about my music and life. I came to the city because I was working with the banjo player Abigail Washburn on a record produced by Béla Fleck. They taught me most of what I know about bluegrass and American traditions, and they also welcomed me and my family so warmly that we moved here. My formal education covered all kinds of classical and global folk music, but almost no American music at all, so Nashville has been a crash course!
“Saxophonist Jeff Coffin has also deepened my understanding of jazz and opened doors to many global musical traditions for me, and Jen-Jen Lin of the Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville has shown me how to keep foreign traditions alive and relevant in the heart of the American South.
“Celine Thackston and the Chatterbird Ensemble she founded gave me roots in the classical music scene here. Chatterbird performed the premiere of “Hello Gold Mountain,” my composition for symphony and chamber orchestra, at Ingram Hall at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music.
“The legacy of Nashville’s music has inspired me: Everyone I’ve met and worked with in the music circle really puts in the work. People know how to grind: They tour relentlessly, they practice relentlessly. It’s a noble thing to contribute to this musical tradition.
“But it’s not just the music industry folks. I have never felt so welcomed anywhere, and I’ve lived everywhere from Beijing to New York and Boulder. One after another, ordinary people have gone out of their way to help me, and this has been humbling and inspiring as an artist. I was taught to make music in an imperial palace, but in Nashville I learned to make music for my fellow humans, to be giving and not to be selfish.”
What can people expect from your performance on Sunday?
“The concert starts at 3 p.m. But at 2 p.m., the Ingram Hall lobby will open for a Lunar New Year celebration with cultural exhibits and activity booths, including Chinese drumming by the Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville.
“The concert is my suite for guzheng and voice, “Moon Hunter.” The guzheng is the 21-string Chinese zither, which has been played for around 2,500 years. “Moon Hunter” draws on the singing form of ancient Chinese poetry, and weaves improvisations together with traditional guzheng repertoire, folk songs, and Chinese opera. I’ll briefly tell the history or talk about the significance of each piece of music.
“Nashville-based, Asian American artists will join me for the second half of the program on several songs. At the end, we all join together to sing “The Moon Represents My Heart 月亮代表我的心,” a beloved Chinese love song that is popular all over Asia.
“The concert includes a video installation by visual artist Erik Sharpnack. The guest musicians are:
- Reza Filsoofi (Persian daf drum, setar, and santoor)
- Larissa Maestro (cello)
- Performers from the Blair Jazz Department”
How do you plan to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Nashville?
“My parents live in Nashville with me, my husband, and our two kids. As Northern Chinese, we will make homemade dumplings on the first day of the New Year of the Horse (Tuesday, Feb. 17), and hang lots of red lanterns around the house and spring festival couplets (decorative red paper strips with auspicious poetry) on the doors. We’ll also let off some fireworks.
“The Lunar New Year (aka Spring Festival) lasts for 15 days. Each day we are supposed to do certain traditions, but my family will just eat a lot of Chinese food. We will be calling our family members and friends in China and around the world to wish them good health and a prosperous new year.”
