Photo: Kyle Bray/WBZ NewsRadio
ARLINGTON, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) —Traditional Chinese and Appalachian music are worlds apart, yet the two somehow found to fit perfectly together.
Chao Tian told WBZ NewsRadio this all started when Grammy-winning banjo players Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer invited her to a jam session.
“I had no idea why she asked me to bring my instrument,” Chao, the Boston University PhD student said. “I thought it was a food party.”
Aside from the initial confusion, Tian showed up with her hammer dulcimer, a classical Chinese instrument, where the trio discovered the sounds blended perfectly with one another, creating an effortless flow of harmony.
An album titled From China to Appalachia became the product of that discovery. Their first album topped both the fold radio charts and Billboard bluegrass charts, but it also became a huge hit on TikTok.
“One afternoon, we’re sitting around the kitchen table [creating] that arrangement, Chao got it on her phone, I go downstairs and posted on TikTok, and the next day it’s got a half a million views,” Fink said.
That viral video, which currently has more than 6 million views and 1 million likes, transfixed a whole new demographic of fans.
The comments from that video loved how the band uses music to show a new blend of cultural exchange.
“Music is the universal language,” one wrote.
“These two genres blend so well together!!!” another wrote.
The trio has been touring since 2023 and is currently making rounds in New England, with shows in Cambridge and on Cape Cod.
“Worlds combine in American traditional music,” Marxer said. “So, this just continues that combination.”
WBZ NewsRadio’s Kyle Bray (@KyleBrayWBZ) reports.