Sa Dingding blends musical influences from east and west
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Sa Dingding is not your average pop star. The 25-year-old singer, producer, and producer is of mixed Han and Mongolian ancestry, loves Jay Z and Nine Inch Nails, has worked with Massive Attack, Deep Forest and Paul Oakenfold, plays myriad traditional Chinese instruments, and sings in languages including Mandarin, Sanskrit, Tibetan, a near-extinct tongue Laghu, as well an imaginary self created language to evoke the emotions in her songs.
In her late teens she rose to fame as Zhou Peng, singing fluffy Asian pop a million miles away from her current multilayered, cross-cultural meanderings. ‘I was just a singer then, not a producer. In a short time I became a star and earned quite a bit of money. After three years, however, I wanted to create and produce my own music; to design something special that allowed me to express myself fully.’
Debut album Alive is the result, bringing together disparate elements from Dingding’s upbringing. This beautiful, ethereal collection of songs combines the singer’s haunting vocals with cutting-edge production, Eastern imagery, drum bass beats and traditional Chinese and Mongolian sounds. Dingding describes her music as fusion of gender and geography.
Sa DingDing “Alive”
‘I see Western music as masculine. It’s straightforward and immediate. The Eastern side is a lot more feminine and introspective. It takes longer to understand – it’s a little more complex,’ she explains. ‘I think that balance of the male and female makes my music special. It has an immediacy, but it’s different with each listen. People are drawn in by the sounds they know from Western music. It’s easier for them to understand. But when they listen for longer, it is the Eastern side that connects.’
Watch CNN’s interview with her.
part 2, part 3
(source: Metro)
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2 Responses to “Sa Dingding blends musical influences from east and west”
By jeniferlopaz on Oct 15, 2008 | Reply
Africa has long been renowned for its musical heritage, but it’s only comparatively recently that the continent has been exporting it abroad. Youssou N’Dour and the Senegal born hip-hop artist Akon may have broken into the pop mainstream, but both had to conform to Western tastes and styles of music in order to do so. Nuru Kane, the continent’s latest musical wunderkind, hopes to change that.
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Jazz
By tangelarodriguez on May 14, 2009 | Reply
http://www.dailypress.com/news/la-me-spears31jan31,0,3105282.story