An ear for China

Dadawa traveled to the remote regions where Chinese ethnic groups live when making her new album.

Moonrise shines bright with surprises

On a high note

The youth sounds out

"Strictly speaking, this is not my album as an individual," she says. The leading voices are the ethnic music masters she has collected and documented in performances.

Dadawa is confident that this approach will make Moonrise stand out from Western attempts to rejuvenate folk and tribal music with contemporary elements, such as the French musical group Deep Forest, which mixes African tribal music with electronic sounds and dance beats, and Enya, who adapts Irish folk rhymes into New Age music.

Dadawa's technique is on display in the song Mountain Top. The sounds of the Tibetan musical instruments are transformed by industrial music's tempo, in an interesting contrast with the rhymes in praise of snow mountains.

"The contrast between folk tunes and industrial tempo is surprising, but it reflects a deep pondering over the clash between the old and the new in modern society," she says.

Dadawa cooperated with young musicians when producing the new album. Jiang Ming, a folk singer and music critic, applauds the introduction of new blood.

"Young musicians' arrangement of the tempo revitalizes the old, traditional music, which is presented in a trendy yet not gaudy way," Jiang says.

Dadawa says she wants to prove that ethnic music can also be popular among young people.

"To protect China's diverse ethnic music, we not only need to preserve the music in its authentic context, but also bring it into contemporary life," says Dadawa, who will donate 10 percent of the sales of Moonrise to her "1+5" plan to fund 400 ethnic art masters who will each cultivate five inheritors of their music.

Moonrise's digital version will soon be on global music sales platforms, including iTunes and Spotify.

"I hope my album can wake up the drooping music industry and prompt Chinese musicians to stand up straight to create original music full of soul, instead of being an appendix to talent shows," the artist says.