A natural harmony

The latest album by guzheng player Yuan Sha takes listeners on a unique outdoor journey, Chen Nan reports.

Guzheng (Chinese zither) player Yuan Sha decided to record the chirping of a forest bird, leaves rustling in the wind, and the croaking of frogs in her latest album, referring to them as nature's music.

"I've spent my life releasing albums featuring both classic and contemporary guzheng pieces, as well as recordings of crossover performances. When I prepared for this new album, I wanted to do something different," says Yuan, whose new album, Lotus Emerging Out of Water, was released in Beijing on June 19.

Instead of recording music in studios or concert halls, Yuan, along with her team, including sound engineer Li Dakang, went to the foot of Juyongguan Great Wall, a scenic area in Beijing, to capture her playing while being connected to the natural world.

"The recording process was much more difficult than we expected. In the beginning, we recorded the album in the daytime but there was too much unwanted noise, such as planes flying overhead and from families living nearby," says Yuan. "Therefore, we decided to record during the night."

The team rested during the day and started to work around midnight.

"I had never played my instrument outside in the middle of the night before. I could hear the voice of nature, such as the falling rain, the flowing river and the singing of the insects," says Yuan, adding that the quietness enabled the team to concentrate more effectively.

"When we recorded the album, it was around the time of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and we saw the beautiful moon illuminate the night sky," adds Yuan. "I played under the moon and there were fishes jumping out of a nearby pond. Their sounds were recorded along with my playing."

Working with Universal Music China, a division of the Universal Music Group, Yuan selected 12 pieces for the new album, which opens with Autumn Moon Over the Calm Lake, a popular piece of Cantonese folk music that Yuan adapted and plays alongside another guzheng player Xia Tong.

She displays the versatility of guzheng — a stringed instrument with more than 2,500 years of history — by playing with other musicians.

For example, on the track titled Everlasting Longing, which Yuan adapted from an ancient Chinese musical work, she performs alongside guitarist Na Mu, and Zhang Di, who plays both flute and xiao (a vertical bamboo flute). The music piece is based on a famous poem with the same title by Tang Dynasty (618-907) poet Li Bai, which conveys a mood of profound melancholy.