- The richness of American music comes from the mixing of cultures and traditions of people from all over the world.

In the 19th century, as America was growing, the single thing that brought people into contact with each other like never before, was the Transcontinental Railroad.

I've been working with the amazing musicians of Silk Road Ensemble to shine a light on the laborers, especially Irish, African-American, and Chinese, who did the backbreaking work of building America's railroad.

Their traditional music accompanied them as they made their way across the continent.

We also wanted to recognize the indigenous people whose ways of life were forever changed by the laying of tracks through their lands.

The result is our American Railroad project, the focus in this season of My Music Wu Man is a universally acknowledged master of the pipa, the ancient Chinese lute.

Part of Silk Road since its inception, Wu Man brings a deep knowledge of Chinese tradition combined with an insatiable curiosity, which gives her the ability to play seamlessly with everyone she meets.

♪ - I got drunk and fell off the wagon.

Old corn liquor was still on draggin' - I got drunk and fell off the wagon.

Old corn liquor was still on draggin' Old corn liquor was the cause of it all.

Old corn liquor was the cause of it all.

Old corn liquor was the cause of it all.

Old corn liquor was the cause of it all.

♪ - [Both l augh] So cool.

What, - What was that song?

-Is that the folk—?

-Yeah, that's the old folk - from North Carolina?

- from North Carolina.

- from Joe Thompson -Sounded like Chinese.

-Oh my God, that's amazing.

- It sound like Chinese pentatonic.

- Wow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, it's super old.

- That's very much.

- Wow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's been such an amazing experience getting to know you a little bit and getting to know your music and you kind of stupefy everybody who hears you and who meets you.

And you are the winner, one of the winners of the latest NEA Heritage Fellowship.

So that's very exciting.

But obviously, you weren't born in America.

So I'd love for you to just take us a tiny little bit in your past and where you're from, and if you don't mind a little bit about how you got into this instrument.

- I, of course, I was born in China and I grew up in China.

When I was nine years old, I started playing instrument and I got into music school and, and had a kind of like formal training for many years.

Very intense training.

My instrument is called pipa.

- So when you were nine, was it the pipa that you started with, or was it another instrument?

No, - Actually a smaller version.

It's very much like a mandolin.

And yeah, in Chinese we call Yueqin.

We use a pick.

It's very high pitch.

And then when I was twelve and my, my teacher said, okay, you know, let's switch to the bigger one.

So basically 12 years old I started play - pipa.

Okay.

And how did you get into that first instrument?

Did you just like, see somebody playing it or did somebody put it in your hand?

Like how did that happen?

- Well, well I didn't know pipa when I was little, but I went to a film, a kind of like a documentary film, but all about musician in China, like all the master.

They have concert, basically like a concert film.

Okay.

That was popular time, you know, in the seventies.

In China we don't have many kind of movies, you know, stories, but mostly arts put on the film.

So there's a older guy played pipa and very dramatic, you know, the piece.

I was like blown away.

And my dad said, well, that's the instrument called pipa.

And years later, when I was in college, this older guy became my teacher.

- Wow.

So the one that you, the guy you saw when you were a kid.

That's amazing.

- It's like a dream came true.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So basically my parents picked, picked up for me.

They said, well, that's the instrument.

If you want to learn.

- That's, that's incredible.

And are they musical?

Was your, is your family a musical family or they - Both very musical, very music, love music, but my dad is artist.

- Oh, - Okay.

He's painter and my mom is teacher.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So very, I grew up with this sort of very, you know, all my family's friends are either musician or artist or poetry, whatever, you know, or that environment.

I grew up with that.

Yeah.

In the arts, culture side.

- So obviously they're very supportive.

Yeah.

- Oh yeah.

They loved it.

They very encouraged me.

You, you know, like “tiger parents” - “Practice!” - They very much like a Chinese tiger parents.

I hated first few years.

I just hated to practice.

- Wow.

But they were like, and you like, - Yeah.

You have to, you have to practice.

So basically we don't have our childhood time, childhood life.

I never played with my friends.

'cause I have to after homework, I have to practice.

But that's how it is.

- Do you ever think about those times?

Do you like, I mean, it's kind of hard.

I'm sure it's hard to imagine because you have this facility now that you can do kind of anything on this instrument, but that, that was a kind of a trade off.

Do you ever kind of go, “Well, what would've... you know, if I had played with my friends?” I mean, do you regret that - Or?

Yeah, well I don't, I don't regret.

Yeah, I know right now I feel like a payback.

Mmm.

Very feel honored when, you know, when you stay, sit on stage, people kind of respect you and they listen to you, your music, your expression and you share with them.

That's kind of, to me, that's the high moment.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

It's worth it.

Worth it all.

Yeah.

- Totally.

Totally worth it.

Yeah.

- Well I think also for, for you, I don't know if it hits everybody the same because some people would have that and then they would run from the instrument, you know, when they became an adult and they would just, but you have this connection to the music that's so soulful and is so, you know, kind of, it just envelopes your whole body.

So it's like you were a lucky... You know what I mean?

Because it connects with you, so that all of that practice, you can now use that, you know, to really express what you feel.

One of my favorite piece, it's the traditional piece.

It's called Yan Chen Bai Shu in Chinese Yan Chen means “sunny spring”.

Bai chen, “white snow” So, white snow in sunny spring.

That's...

I love the title.

So Chinese music always have a beautiful title.

It's not like “Symphony Number Two”, “Symphony Number One”.

We never, like... wow.

Could drive me crazy the first time I heard like “Symphony Number Two”.

Anyway, so Chinese always beautiful title and gives you kind of... imagination.

You know, give audience, listen to where, where you direct, you know, direction.

So this piece is 19th century first notated down.

Oh.

So very much like banjo music, the tradition.

'cause were all oral tradition in the old days.

And then later in 19th century a pipa master wrote it down in handwriting.

And so this piece, including that “white snow in spring” and it's upbeat, it is always— audience, every time I play, audience will say "sounds like a banjo."

-Oh wow.

-So its gonna be a Chinese banjo piece.

Yeah.

Pipa banjo piece.

♪ Pipa came to China around 2000 years ago from Central Asia.

From Persia.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

It's not the Chinese invented this instrument.

No.

-Interesting.

- It's all came from same roots as your banjo, maybe.

Yeah?

So did it look like - This 2000 years ago?

-Unh-unh.

-Okay.

-If you see older paintings or you know, there is a statue in the cave a thousand years ago.

And you see people holding like this.

-Wow.

Very much, you know, like a guitar or ude, lute, banjo.

And we use pluck, plectrum play.

Very simple, smaller, only four frets on the top.

Oh, okay.

And nothing else right here.

Yeah.

- Wow.

Yeah.

So that's, that's been - The years in between.

That's the, the years between and, and, and you know, Chinese kind of developed through thousand years.

I always joking, you know, from there and develop through thousand years and become, we hold straight.

And you know, if you use plectrum, that's, that looks very natural.

But if you like that holding use that doesn't make work any sense.

Doesn't work.

So that's why we switch to fingers.

- Oh.

And, is...

I don't know if folks can see... Looks ugly.

No, no, no.

But these are picks.

So you have a pick on each, on each finger.

- Yes.

So, and you know, that's the way, this is modern way to play the instrument.

Right.

My teacher, they all use their natural nails.

Nails, yes.

Yeah.

Yes, yes.

Because, you know, string was a silk, much softer.

Okay.

So in the old days, pipa is in the very small circle.

- Like was it like an aristocratic instrument?

Like the higher sort of status people?

- The higher status or play in the, in the front of emperor.

Right.

In the chorus or something that of course.

And then, or self entertainment and much softer.

And then, you know, those strings changed in early 20th century (of course) and started now in sixties, seventies, you know, and all frets added to much more, you know, even— Those parts probably in sixties they add, right?

Yeah.

Very late.

- I think people don't understand often how, first of all how far instruments travel and like how people bring them in.

You know, the history of every instrument is usually thousands of miles of travel from one place to the other.

And then also instruments change.

Yes.

As technological advances come, musicians really want the best thing.

Yeah.

Always, you know.

- Yeah.

Because, you know, used to be—now we want to play in a, in public for more audience.

Right.

So more louder sound.

So strings changed to steel strings.

And we use - And then you have to change— - Fingernails.

Right.

- Exactly.

- And then add more frets and louder sound.

- Can you tell me how you ran into Yo-Yo and the Silk Road beginnings?

- Yeah.

Like, twenty-something years ago.

- (Mumble mumble) - I think, you know, the music circle kind of small in some way.

When Yoyo had this, this crazy idea called Silk Road Project, he wanted to gathering, you know, musician from different country and, and especially along the Silk Road country.

And so he told me, he said, “Let's have a band so we can travel.” Yeah.

Im think like “a band!”.

Okay!

So that time I already started working with the composers like Philip Glass Lou Harrison.

And with the Kronos Quartet, it's kind of like already kind of step out of the traditional, more wanted to looking for something different.

So when Yo-Yo told me this idea, I've said, of course.

Yes.

- That's what I was looking for.

Yeah.

- Yes.

Let's do it!

- Yeah.

I think the genius of of Yo-Yo's idea is really showing virtuosity on different— in different scales and in different ways, you know, and it was just, this was like, this was early, you know, it was before everybody was “Oh, global!

Let's put everything together.” It was like, you know -Yeah.

Really ahead of its time.

- Well, it's also another idea was kind of a reminder, people, Hey, doesn't matter west, east, whatever, south, you know, north, we all came from same music roots.

Yes.

Even we say, okay, pipas Chinese, but pipa came from Persia.

Right, right.

So, so that's how the, the music travels and then the culture travels.

-Yes.

-So there's nothing like a hundred percent pure - Any of the time anybody says “pure” I'm like, I'm not listening to you anymore because it's just like you said, I mean that's the, that's the genius of it.

Right.

The—all the beautiful stuff is from the edge of things coming together.

- We all share.

- When we started this project, was there something that drew you in particular, a story that, that really kind of spoke to you about this Transcontinental Railroad project that we've been kind of... - I found it very interesting besides the worker in a hard life, but they separated with their family, with their wife, with their mothers, kids.

So that part actually really kind of... sits, sits in me.

Like, you know, wow, that was that kind of a time.

And also, you know, the railroad we are using right now everywhere.

I feel like it's important to me, it's important to especially remind and to tell my son, he was born here, to to know, to understand the history—you know, what, what your ancestor—your, you know, great great grandparents, you know, what did they do here?

And they, they basically established the country.

They all together with the different, you know, people from different country.

So to me that's very... touch... to me.

So musically, I also think in the other side, it's, it's more mom, mom and wife.

That's why we have this raining song.

Come up with that idea.

- The collateral damage.

- Yeah.

- Of, you know, of how this happened is the women left behind and the children growing up without a father and... yeah.

- Something deeper inside.

That, that feeling.

'Cause I, I'm always imagining those worker how they, you know, hard work, but what's inside there deeply, you know, kind of a human side, you know— that kind of story.

- Can you talk about “Rainy Day” a little bit and the words?

- Oh yeah.

This is a, this is a Cantonese folk tune.

I realized, I also learned in mostly the early immigrants from China were from Canton.

Right.

Which is southern part of China.

Very close to Hong Kong, that area.

Yeah.

So when they moved here, immigrated here, and they bring a lot of music, especially Cantonese opera, folk songs.

So this is one of the most popular one.

It's kind of a sad, but in there's... kind of feel lonely.

It says “Raining day.

Raining day.

I don't have umbrella.

“I don't have a rain coat.

And, in the rain or on...my clothes are wet.” That's all.

That's all the words.

Yeah.

And I just love the melody.

Yeah.

- It's beautiful.

And like those folk songs, I mean, they say everything.

They say everything in like ten words.

Yeah.

You know, it's incredible.

♪ - [Vocalizing In Cantonese] ♪ [Sings in Cantonese] ♪