Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn - Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn review I Jude Rogers's folk album of the month

The Guardian 80

(Smithsonian Folkways)
The two musicians seamlessly merge folk traditions from China and the US, on an album deserving mainstream recognition

At extraordinary times like these, we realise that the world is smaller than we think. We’re also reminded how music connects us intimately, wherever we come from, which makes this album an especially moving experience in March 2020.

Wu Fei is a Chinese-born, Nashville-based folk musician and master of the guzheng, a 2,500-year-old zither-like instrument. Grammy winner and old-time music veteran Abigail Washburn plays clawhammer banjo, an instrument brought to the US by west African slaves, her liner notes tell us, despite often being claimed by Appalachians. This duo’s first album mixes folk sounds and styles from their home countries deliberately, but it never sounds disjointed. More often, it’s curiously transcendent.