Music in the Mansion: Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn

Guzheng master Wu Fei & American banjo artist Abigail Washburn merge American old-time music and Chinese folk songs into gorgeous, impressionistic renditions of traditional material from the hills of Appalachia to the prairies of China’s Xinjiang region. Though hailing from disparate parts of the world, these two musicians combine Wu’s guzheng zither and Washburn’s expressive banjo playing into one cohesive sound, intertwining English and Chinese dialects.
A child prodigy, Wu Fei became a guzheng master and multilingual classically trained composer, combining avant-garde classical and folk music from around the world. Her time in the States studying free improvisation ultimately led her to Boulder, CO, where she would discover bluegrass music and meet Abigail.
Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and clawhammer banjo player Abigail Washburn has toured China for 20 years, and her oeuvre ranges from her woman-powered string band, Uncle Earl, to her duo with husband Béla Fleck, including a self-titled debut that earned the 2016 Grammy for Best Folk Album.
Together, the duo has recast "world music" as music of the shared world, highlighting the universal humanity and the transformative power of song.