Rohini Kapil and I came across this amazing Erhu (Chinese 2-string violin) player in Los Angeles Chinatown. His style is absolutely wild, manic almost, and the music he plays a far cry from the more sedate classical Chinese erhu heard in most concert halls. During a break in the music (unrecorded,) we chatted briefly and he told me that he was from Suzhou, a few hours out of Shanghai, and he described his style as “folk music”. At one point he seemed to be in a trance, and at others he stopped playing long enough to thank loudly and cheerfully anyone putting money into his case. If you stick around to see the end of the video you’ll see him thanking Rohini and I and saying goodbye several times. A passionate, talented, and extraordinarily gracious performer.
