Wu Fei's Music Daily

Dear all, I just recorded this solo guzheng improvisation after packing my gears for a midwest tour. Thank you all again for your tremendous support to my music daily! If you are in one of the cities below, I’d love to see you at the concerts: Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn will bring their banjo-guzheng cross-cultural musical mind meld to: Nov 09: Luther College, Decorah, IA Nov 10: The Cedar Cultural...

Dear all, This piece was composed and recorded on the valiha and my vocal today. The beautiful valiha belong to two dear friends of mine in Nashville. They have generously let me play their valiha for me to explore more sonic vocabulary. This is the 4th night song I’ve composed on this instrument. The valiha is a tube zither from Madagascar made from a species of local bamboo; it is considered the...

Dear all, This guzheng piece was composed and recorded yesterday, inspired by a painting from the Five Dynasties (907 - 979) period of China (photo below). I have been doing some research on ancient plucked instruments from different cultures including the history of my instrument - guzheng. It has been utterly fascinating to discover so much connections of all the zithers, harps, lutes etc. aroun...

This solo guzheng night song was recorded yesterday, performed by me. It has been cloudy in Nashville the past a few days. The sunlight gets squeezed through the cracks of the thick clouds when there is a chance. The layered colors of the trees change constantly (photo below). It reminds me of a section of the Song Cí (宋词) poem — Shui Diao Ge Tou (水调歌头) by poet Sū Shì (苏轼 1037-1011). Shui...

A year ago, I was on tour in Europe with a group of amazing European musicians. When we transferred trains in Cologne Central Station to Brussels, I was stunned by the Cologne Cathedral and the architecture of the station (photo below). This piece was a vivid memory of what I felt standing by the train tracks watching trains passing by. Hope this piece brings you a moment of energy into your weeke...

This piece was inspired by the crabapple flower in the forest near my home. Crabapples usually only blossom in early April and for only ten days or no more than two weeks. This year has been strange. This crabapple tree started flowering in late summer unexpectedly. Since then, the dozen flowers have been standing proudly (photo below) even after most the leaves fell off. I’m stunned by its toughn...

This three-track guzheng fugue was composed and recorded yesterday, performed by me. Although the autumn has arrived in Nashville, the flowers in the forest are blooming as gloriously as in the spring. Bright colors are everywhere - purple, blue, yellow, orange, red, white etc.. The blue mist flowers (photo below) were shining like flashing beam in the wind and under the sun. Walking through them...

Dear all, and especially friends in Seattle area, I am excited to share with you about a new exhibition that I am humbly featured among many amazing artists. The exhibit is a collaboration between The Music of Asian American Research Center (MAARC) and the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle. A big thank to musicologist Dr. Eric Hung for inviting me to be part of this incredible project! ABOUT THE EXHIBIT...

Dear all, This multi-track composition was created and recorded yesterday on the valiha and guzheng. Half of the tracks were valiha while the other half were guzheng, both performed by me. The valiha is a tube zither from Madagascar. The guzheng 古筝 is a 21-string either from China, which is my main instrument that I’ve been playing since I was five. The valiha in the recording belongs to my frie...

Dear all, The last thirty hours have been very heavy in my family and many families around the world since the war broke out in Israel. The situation is only getting more scary by the minute. I have close friends who have family members over there in the war zone. Some of them have not been able to get hold of their loved ones for two days; some are on their way back to join the army. My heart has...

This three-track guzheng étude was composed and recorded yesterday, performed by me. I didn’t wear finger picks this time. The timber is much softer than when I wear my picks. I usually wear seven finger picks - four on the right hand and three on my left hand. I also half muted my guzheng with a banana that was weaved through the strings in the middle and lower resisters. I have always enjoyed pl...

This guzheng étude was created and recorded yesterday. I played it at a tempo of 205 BPM. BPM stands for beat per minute. It is also known as Prestissimo in music term. For example: Moderato (moderately): 108-120 BPM. Allegro (fast): 120- 168 BMP. Presto (very fast): 168-200 BMP. Prestissimo (extremely fast): over 200 BMP. It was rather a crazy day for me. So I let out all the energy in this highl...

This three-voice guzheng fugue was composed and recorded yesterday, inspired by this cute baby eastern box turtle in the forest of west Nashville. In classical music, a fugue is a contrapuntal, polyphonic compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches), which recurs frequently thr...

This three-track night song was created and recorded yesterday. I played the guzheng and valiha (traditional zither from Madagascar) at the same time for the first track: right hand played the valiha while my left hand played guzheng (photo below). After the instrumental track, I sang on the other two tracks. I was inspired by the full moon over the weekend and a lovely family reunion with my cous...

Dear all, I am back home after a busy and amazing week at Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Yes, I got to perform my own composition with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and I got to conduct the orchestra in one of the seven movements using lightening batons and lightening gloves. Maestro Lio Kuokman conducted Hello Gold Mountain. Oud wizard Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz was magical as always. Dr. Patricia Rosen...

I composed this three-track guzheng piece yesterday, inspired by the five and the only flowers on the crabapple tree in my forest (photo below). Crabapple trees usually blossom in early April only for 10-14 days. I do not water it. It has been there for who knows how many years even decades. This fall, for the first time it blossoms in the later summer and early fall with just a few flowers. I tol...

Yesterday, I created my third composition on the valiha - a tube zither from Madagascar. I recorded this piece on two tracks interacting with each other. The valiha is considered the "national instrument" of Madagascar. Thanks to my friends Tasha and David for letting me explore and swim in the glorious sound waves of their valiha. Hope this piece brings you a moment of joy! Wu Fei 吴非 Wufeimusic...

This multitrack prepared guzheng + spoken vocal was composed and recorded, performed by me. A prepared instrument is a string instrument has had its sounds temporarily altered by placing bolts, screws, mutes, rubber erasers, and/or other objects on or between the strings. I used three metal key chain rings on D, A, G strings. The Chinese tongue twister in the piece is: “天上一只鹅，地上一只鹅。鹅...

This multitrack guzheng piece was created and recorded yesterday after spotting a rare fall blossom of the crabapple tree in my front yard (photo below). This is the first time for me to see this tree flowering in later summer / early fall since I moved to this house in Nashville several years ago. Crabapple usually blossom in bright pink in early April for about two weeks. I had to look it up to...

I composed and recorded this three-track guzheng piece yesterday in the middle of a very humid and hot day in Nashville. The inspiration came from seeing a big female tiger swallowtail butterfly in the forest (photo below). They have been coming back every summer, which makes me happy. One interesting fact about living in the forest is that incests and plants don’t always come back every year. Man...

I recorded this two-track guzheng piece yesterday. Both of the tracks were improvised in one long take without any time signature. It was a new approach for overdubbing that I’ve been experimenting. I often end up in a zone that it wasn’t set up intentionally when I laid down the first track. Having an absolute open beginning and zero plan from the moment I sat down in front of my instrument has l...

This solo guzheng piece was recorded yesterday, performed by me. Lately, I have been sorting old family photos over the internet with my relatives in Beijing. I come from a big family from my father’s side. Most of my relatives still live there. The Wu family tree goes back to at least six generations in Beijing. Everyone has been very close. As my uncles and aunts getting older, several of them p...

This three-track guzheng piece was composed and recorded yesterday, performed by me. A month ago, I visited my dear friends in the ancient town of Ondarroa in the Basque Country in northern Spain. The road and the buildings (photo below) have been there for more than 1100 years. My friend’s mother Afra is 89 years old, a costume jewelry designer from Milano who married a Basque sportsman who was a...

Dear all and friends in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historical trip of the Philadelphia Orchestra to China in 1973, I am honored to perform with the orchestra presenting my work “Hello Gold Mountain 同舟” on September 21, Thursday in Memorial Hall, Chapel Hill, NC presented by Carolina Performing Arts. Second half of the evening is Beethoven Symphony No....

This three-track guzheng composition was created and recorded yesterday, performed by me. I played around with tone colors again on rapid chord plucking patterns. Last month, I was in Rouen, France visiting family members. One of the historical landmarks there is the Rouen Cathedral. As I stepped in the big door, someone was playing Bach on a church pipe organ. The sound was so powerful that my ar...