WOMAD

The Silk String Quartet

From United Kingdom

Recently heard collaborating with Damon Albarn on his Chinese opera-circus spectacular Monkey – Journey To The West, the Silk String Quartet is made up of four internationally recognised Chinese musical virtuosi all now resident in Britain. Their repertoire includes styles both traditional and modern music, as well as newly commissioned pieces, and together they make striking music of a quiet and often breathtaking beauty that commands your total attention. But it’s far more accessible than you might imagine. The quartet consists of Cheng Yu, who plays the pipa, an instrument not dissimilar to a western lute; Sun Zhuo on the guzheng, an ancient zither-like instrument with 21 strings; Hu Binwho who plays the delicately bowed two-string instrument known as the erhu and which is often referred to as “the Chinese violin”; and Chang Chunjung on the dulcimer-like yangqin. The quartet's debut album is released this summer on the ARC label.