{"id":167551,"date":"2014-01-10T14:37:37","date_gmt":"2014-01-10T22:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=167551"},"modified":"2014-01-10T15:16:33","modified_gmt":"2014-01-10T23:16:33","slug":"wu-force-fusing-sounds-china-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2014\/01\/wu-force-fusing-sounds-china-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wu-Force on Fusing the Sounds of China & the U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Times’ Jonathan Ansfield speaks with musicians Abigail Washburn, Kai Welch and Wu Fei<\/strong><\/a>, who together are touring under the name Wu Force and creating a unique style that combines traditional American and Chinese traditions:<\/p>\n

Q. You\u2019ve described yourselves (and in turn been billed) as kung fu-Appalachian indie folk-rock and variations thereof. How does all of that come through in your music?<\/p>\n

Ms. Washburn: The Wu-Force has an energy that seamlessly folds in these varied and surprising sounds from their collective influences, i.e., traditional mountain and folk music to avant-garde to Pixies-inspired rock to theatrical sing-songs to AM pop. Hard to come up with a descriptor that covers all these bases. What would you call it?<\/p>\n

Q. Do audiences in China and the U.S. react differently in any ways to your music? What about music industry folk?<\/p>\n

Ms. Washburn: We\u2019re new to performing live together, so we don\u2019t have any good war stories for you yet, but we\u2019ve all toured both countries extensively in different projects. We did play a small run of dates in the Southeast of the U.S.A. in Tennessee and North Carolina. We were surprised at the outpouring of enthusiasm for this very new and different-sounding music. Imagine people with Southern accents saying, \u201cWhat\u2019s that instrument again . . . gooojung??\u201d [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Watch the Wu Force perform in Beijing in 2011:
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