Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn (both born 1977) present their debut, self-titled duo album featuring Chinese and American folksongs arranged for guzheng and banjo. The unusual instrumentation is the result of a long-term friendship between the artists who started jamming on their respective instruments together in 2009. After Wu moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2014 the duo collaboration kicked into high gear spawning numerous public performances and culminating in this CD released by Smithsonian Folkways. Both virtuoso, Wu and Washburn are individually prolific performing and recording artists. Wu is a conservatory trained guzheng player, avant garde composer, and improviser known internationally among experimental music scenes. Grammy award winner Washburn is a household name for old-time music as a claw-hammer banjo player, and frequently tours internationally, notably in China. Whereas audiences may be surprised, or even a little skeptical about a guzheng-banjo duo album, Wu and Washburn’s attention to detail in every respect of the production leaves nothing to be desired, except perhaps more music. The playtime of just over half an hour is certainly substantial, but by the end I found myself wanting a few more pieces to round out the album.

This kind of project can run the risk of appearing superficial. Too many recordings create simple pastiches that juxtapose unlikely “world music” instruments together in clumsy ways, sometimes with little or no regard for the instruments’ traditions or even the playing techniques that make them sing. Jettison any reservations you may have in this case, because Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn present a knowledgeable, thought provoking, and musically enjoyable hybrid of Chinese and American old-time folk songs that will appeal to anyone interested in those traditions or this kind of cosmopolitan experiment generally.

Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn takes the concept of “folk music” critically by recognising the wide array of musics that term encompasses. The songs selected for inclusion represent a swath of Chinese and American folk traditions that is diverse in both the geography represented and the ethnic groups associated with each song. Ethnomusicologist Xiaoshi Wei’s excellent liner notes do a lot of work explicating the different genres included. On this album one can hear renditions of folksongs from the Chinese regions of Canton, Gansu, Heilongjiang, Qinhai, Qingyang, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Xinjiang, as well as a famous piece from a Henan opera. By the same token, there are American folksongs associated with different regions of the United States, such as Appalachia, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia, as well as songs associated with immigrant groups, such as Irish and Scottish songs. In every instance proper accreditation is provided and is specific to individual creators where feasible.

Often, two songs are arranged together, producing a literal hybrid of two seemingly disparate songs. These arrangements are done with a deftness that belies any sense that a juxtaposition is occurring, however. The opening track on the album “Water is Wide/Wusuli Boat Song,” for example, utilises the two songs’ similar themes and harmonic character to great effect. “Wusuli Boat Song” is a 1960s adaption of folk songs of the Nanai people of the Northeastern Heilongjiang province where the Wusuli river flows. “The Water is Wide” is attributed to Irish and Scottish immigrants that uses water as poetic device for unrequited love. The short verses of both tunes are of similar length and are presented by Wu and Washburn both simultaneously and individually in Chinese and English. When sung together, the resulting polyphony makes one think the cohesion produced cannot be mere coincidence. The contours of both melodies tend to be contrary to one another, yet mostly make use of the same cadential notes. The first repetition of the verse features the English text alone, followed by another repetition with just the Chinese text, and a final repetition with both texts together.

As an album, Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn has excellent cohesion and is indelibly listenable. Moreover, it can be held up as a model for cross-cultural music making for its attention to detail, respect for its sources, and creative execution. Beyond its artistic merits the album has some pedagogical applications in the classroom. This album and its scholarly liner notes would be suitable for an assignment in a “Musics of the World” undergraduate course examining the meanings of “folk music.” It can also provide a useful example of hybridity done well and in a respectful manner. While this may be Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn’s first album as a duo, I hope it is not the last.