Womad

Sa Dingding

Diva with unique voice and mind-boggling frocks

She's been called China's answer to Bjork or Kate Bush and her music described as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon scored by The Cocteau Twins". Meanwhile, her extraordinary frocks excite almost as much comment as her remarkable voice. That Sa Dingding has that indefinable diva quality is evident in almost everything about her. Combining traditional Chinese folk music with Western electronica and other influences, she creates a richly layered ethereal tapestry of sound which won her a BBC Radio 3 World Music Award earlier this year. Born in Mongolia, she believes that we know how to sing before we learn how to talk. It certainly appears to be an innate talent she possesses, marked by the ability to sing in Mandarin, Tibetan, Sanskrit, the almost-extinct tongue of Lagu and a language of her own invention. In addition to her distinctive voice, she's also a talented multi-instrumentalist, playing the zheng (a Chinese zither with 25 strings) and traditional horse-head fiddle as well as various Chinese gongs and drums. As for those eye-catching frocks, they're all her own design, too.

http://www.sadingding.co.uk/

Biog by Nigel Williamson