An ear for China

Moonrise shines bright with surprises

On a high note

The youth sounds out

It took four years and five months for Dadawa to put together her latest album Moonrise, which debuted in Guangzhou on Dec 7. The Chinese musician, whose real name is Zhu Zheqin, spent four months traveling through remote regions and collecting more than 1,000 samples from indigenous music masters from 15 ethnic groups. In the contracting recording industry, the artist took a big risk and worked like an "insane idiot" on the most important album for her in a decade. She worked with young musicians and breathed new life into the diverse samples by combining them with contemporary compositions.

"This album has found a new way for creating Chinese original music," she says.

"It may take 20 or 30 years for people to digest the musical concept of the album, but I'm confident that it will be eventually recognized as a landmark in the history of Chinese music."

Dadawa made her voice heard by the world with her 1995 album Sister Drum, which drew influences from Tibetan folk music and sold more than 3 million copies in 56 countries.

He Xuntian, a New Age composer and the producer of Sister Drum, opened a new door for Dadawa, who initially had a pop career with her hit A Story of the Crow. As a student in Guangdong province's capital Guangzhou, she won a TV talent show with this song in 1990.

She worked with He on four albums, three of which took Tibetan folk music as the core inspiration. But the singer took up a new role as a producer for her latest album Moonrise.

"I have been stereotyped as a singer with an ethereal voice since Sister Drum. I don't want to repeat. I need to find a new start for my musical career," Dadawa says.