Sa Ding Ding
Encyclopedia
Sa Dingding(born Zhou Peng (周鹏) ; December 27, 1983) is a Chinese
folk singer and songwriter. She is of mixed Han
and Mongolian
ancestry, and sings in languages including Mandarin, Sanskrit
, Tibetan
, as well an imaginary self-created language
to evoke the emotions in her songs. She also plays traditional instruments such as the guzheng
and matouqin (horse-head fiddle
).
inheriting Han Chinese ancestry from her father and Mongolian ancestry from her mother, Sa Dingding was influenced by the music of the ethnic minorities while living with her grandmother in Inner Mongolia until age 6. She also became interested in Buddhism
and taught herself Tibetan and Sanskrit. Later on, she moved to Beijing to study music at the PLA Academy of Arts.
At age 18, she released her first album entitled Dong Ba La under her birth name Zhou Peng, awarding her with the title of China’s Best Dance Music Singer.
In 2006, "Holy Incense" was used as the theme song for the movie Prince of the Himalayas, directed by Sherwood Hu
.
In mid-2007, she released Alive, now available physically and as a download in many countries. The Hong Kong release of the album features a DVD containing music videos, a remix of "Alive", making of footage and a Chinese version of "Mama Tian Na", not featured on the album.
In 2008 she won the BBC Radio 3
World Music Award for the Asia-Pacific region, earning herself the chance to perform at the Royal Albert Hall to a Western audience. In the same year, she also released a two track single called "Qin Shang".
Dingding composed a song with Eric Mouquet
of Deep Forest
called "Won't Be Long" to raise funds for disaster relief after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake
. The song was made available on Mouquet's Deep-Projects website. Mouquet and Dingding have collaborated on a forthcoming album Deep China.
Most recently, Dingding has appeared at Womad and the Harrogate Festival in the UK. On October 6, her official English website was updated with information about a European tour, going from November 7 to 17, making stops in Germany, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Las Palmas, Australia and New Zealand.
For Chinese composer He Xuntian
's 2008 album, Tathāgata, Dingding contributed the vocals for the second track, entitled "Da ta qie da" (达塔伽达).
Her latest album, released in January 2010 is Harmony
(天地合), with nine songs in Chinese. The album also contains three remixes of the title track, one by Paul Oakenfold
.
There has also been news of Dingding singing the theme song for the film Gasp (气喘吁吁), called "Ge Chang De Li Liang" , in working with Howie B.
Singles
Soundtracks
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
folk singer and songwriter. She is of mixed Han
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
and Mongolian
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
ancestry, and sings in languages including Mandarin, Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
, as well an imaginary self-created language
Non-lexical vocables in music
Non-lexical vocables, which may be mixed with meaningful text, are a form of nonsense syllable used in a wide variety of music. A common English example would be "la la la".-Traditional music:...
to evoke the emotions in her songs. She also plays traditional instruments such as the guzheng
Guzheng
The guzheng or "gu zheng", also called zheng is a Chinese plucked zither. It has 18-23 or more strings and movable bridges....
and matouqin (horse-head fiddle
Morin khuur
The morin khuur is a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. It is one of the most important musical instruments of the Mongol people, and is considered a symbol of the Mongolian nation. The morin khuur is one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity identified...
).
Biography
Born to a family of wage-earning class in Inner Mongolia, ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
inheriting Han Chinese ancestry from her father and Mongolian ancestry from her mother, Sa Dingding was influenced by the music of the ethnic minorities while living with her grandmother in Inner Mongolia until age 6. She also became interested in Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and taught herself Tibetan and Sanskrit. Later on, she moved to Beijing to study music at the PLA Academy of Arts.
At age 18, she released her first album entitled Dong Ba La under her birth name Zhou Peng, awarding her with the title of China’s Best Dance Music Singer.
In 2006, "Holy Incense" was used as the theme song for the movie Prince of the Himalayas, directed by Sherwood Hu
Sherwood Hu
Sherwood Xuehua Hu Sherwood Xuehua Hu Sherwood Xuehua Hu (born in Shanghai, is a Chinese American Theatre director and film director.Sherwood Hu, “one of the most exciting and dynamic directors to emerge from China”(Kirt Honycutt, “Hollywood Reporter”)...
.
In mid-2007, she released Alive, now available physically and as a download in many countries. The Hong Kong release of the album features a DVD containing music videos, a remix of "Alive", making of footage and a Chinese version of "Mama Tian Na", not featured on the album.
In 2008 she won the BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
World Music Award for the Asia-Pacific region, earning herself the chance to perform at the Royal Albert Hall to a Western audience. In the same year, she also released a two track single called "Qin Shang".
Dingding composed a song with Eric Mouquet
Eric Mouquet
Eric Mouquet , is the co-founder of the band Deep Forest. He won a Grammy Award in 1995, and a World Award for best world music album....
of Deep Forest
Deep Forest
Deep Forest is a musical group consisting of two French musicians, Michel Sanchez and Eric Mouquet. They compose a style of world music, sometimes called ethnic electronica, mixing ethnic with electronic sounds and dance beats or chillout beats...
called "Won't Be Long" to raise funds for disaster relief after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake
2008 Sichuan earthquake
The 2008 Sichuan earthquake or the Great Sichuan Earthquake was a deadly earthquake that measured at 8.0 Msand 7.9 Mw occurred at 14:28:01 CST...
. The song was made available on Mouquet's Deep-Projects website. Mouquet and Dingding have collaborated on a forthcoming album Deep China.
Most recently, Dingding has appeared at Womad and the Harrogate Festival in the UK. On October 6, her official English website was updated with information about a European tour, going from November 7 to 17, making stops in Germany, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Las Palmas, Australia and New Zealand.
For Chinese composer He Xuntian
He Xuntian
He Xuntian is a modern Chinese composer and also a music composition professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He studied music theory by himself from the age of eight and composition followed...
's 2008 album, Tathāgata, Dingding contributed the vocals for the second track, entitled "Da ta qie da" (达塔伽达).
Her latest album, released in January 2010 is Harmony
Harmony (Sa Dingding album)
Harmony is a 2010 album by Chinese experimental singer-songwriter Sa Dingding, produced by Marius de Vries and released on Wrasse Records.-Track listing:# Ha Ha Li Li# Girl In a Green Dress# Hua# Pomegranate Woman# Blue Horse# Yun Yun Nan Nan...
(天地合), with nine songs in Chinese. The album also contains three remixes of the title track, one by Paul Oakenfold
Paul Oakenfold
Paul Mark Oakenfold is a British record producer and a trance DJ.-Early Career: 1979–84:Paul Oakenfold's career was set to be a chef, after having hopes of becoming part of a band. He describes his early life as a "bedroom deejay" in a podcasted interview with Vancouver's 24 Hours, stating he grew...
.
There has also been news of Dingding singing the theme song for the film Gasp (气喘吁吁), called "Ge Chang De Li Liang" , in working with Howie B.
Discography
Albums- (2001) Dong Ba La (咚巴啦)
- (2007.08.28) Alive (万物生) - Universal Music, Wrasse RecordsWrasse RecordsWrasse Records is a British record label. It was started in 1998 by Ian and Jo Ashbridge. Both had been involved in the music industry prior to them starting up their own company. Its offices are based in the UK, but it distributes its CDs all around the world...
- (2010.01.26) HarmonyHarmony (Sa Dingding album)Harmony is a 2010 album by Chinese experimental singer-songwriter Sa Dingding, produced by Marius de Vries and released on Wrasse Records.-Track listing:# Ha Ha Li Li# Girl In a Green Dress# Hua# Pomegranate Woman# Blue Horse# Yun Yun Nan Nan...
(天地合)
Singles
- (2008.07.30) "Qin Shang" (琴伤) - Wrasse RecordsWrasse RecordsWrasse Records is a British record label. It was started in 1998 by Ian and Jo Ashbridge. Both had been involved in the music industry prior to them starting up their own company. Its offices are based in the UK, but it distributes its CDs all around the world...
- (2009.11.13) "Tiandi Ji"/"Ha Ha Li Li" (天地记) - Universal Music GroupUniversal Music GroupUniversal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
Soundtracks
- "锦衣卫", theme song of 14 Blades14 Blades14 Blades is a 2010 wuxia film directed by Daniel Lee and starring Donnie Yen, Zhao Wei, Wu Chun, Kate Tsui and Qi Yuwu. The film was released on February 4 in China and February 11 in Hong Kong...
External links
- Official UK website
- Official blog (Chinese)
- Official Japanese website (Japanese)
- Unofficial Fans Page on Facebook (English)
Interviews
- "Freedom is the first thing I learnt from Music" Laptoprockers, December 2008
- Sa Dingding interview from Global Rhythm magazine, August 2008
News articles
- "Sa Dingding: China's New Age chanteuse" CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
- "Made in China: the singer poised to sweep the globe" The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
- Sa Ding Ding, the Asian Bjork. The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- The Guardian, Friday March 28, 2008
- Biography from Universal Music
- Biography at Livedoor.com (Japanese)
- "Why Sa Dingding has China in her hand" The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, 18 July 2008