Duo Bridges Cultural Diversity and Strengthens Diplomacy Through Music

Since World War II, singers and musicians have used their talents as diplomatic tools to promote peace and break down cultural divides. No matter where you go, though, folk music or notions of it are the same – stories of time-honored traditions put to music with sounds that reverberate our past, present and future – but what happens when two diplomatic musicians, from different nations, combine their talents and music?
The result? A sound that’s mesmerizing and strangely familiar and unlike anything anybody’s ever heard before.
Wu Fei is a classically trained composer and master of the guzheng, which is an ancient zither that can be described as a flat harp. Fei began her musical career and studies at the age of 2, and by middle school, she was the principal guzhengist of the Beijing Golden Sail Chinese Youth Orchestra.

Unlike Fei, Abigail Washburn, a Grammy award winner known for pairing her claw hammer banjo playing with far-flung sounds, didn’t aspire to be a musician initially. She intended on being a lawyer. However, a life-changing moment altered her career aspirations, and she has since pursued music full time. Those college years didn’t go to waste though. As part of her law degree studies, she took classes on the Chinese culture and language. The combination of music and interest in Chinese culture led Washburn to serve as a U.S.-Chinese diplomat and tour independently.

It wasn’t until Fei came to the U.S. to study free improvisation with Fred Frith and John Zorn though did their paths cross. Since then, this eclectic duo has worked together to blend not only their music but cultures, and now they are bringing their artistry and message of unity and friendship with the tour of their self-titled album “Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn.” Fei and Washburn will be performing at the Yale Schwarzman Center, New Haven’s
Center for the Performing Arts, on Saturday, March 2. To see the full line up of free performances scheduled for this season, please visit: www.schwarzman.yale.edu.

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