Modern US musician handpicks traditional Chinese instruments

Riding massive wave of culture fushion

Scholar said he felt very lucky that his exposure to Chinese culture has opened a new window for his life and career.

"Being in China has completely opened my mind to a world of potential for learning and modernizing some ancient Chinese instruments," he said.

Scholar's passion for Chinese instruments was highly applauded by many young Chinese musicians living in the United States.

"It's very rare to see somebody like him, I mean among young American kids, who devoted so much into Chinese traditional instruments," said Yang Feifei, a well-known erhu player in New York City.

"We jam a lot actually sometimes. I often introduce some Chinese traditional songs to him. And he gave me a lot of idea about how to modernize this Chinese traditional instrument," said Yang, who joined Scholar for an improvisation performance at the end of the interview.

"I very much intend to promote Chinese instruments in the United States, but right now I really need to grow myself as a musician," Scholar said.

Calling themselves "culture exchange kids", both the musicians have a strong sense of obligation to help promote people-to-people exchanges between the United States and China.

"I think that there's a lot of work to be done in cultural communications between our countries and our cultures," Scholar said. "We're kind of riding a massive wave of two big countries coming together. I'm very happy to be a part of it."

Xinhua