I’m thinking about Natalie Merchant and Abigail Washburn and how they negotiate orientalism. Both are American folk music specialists (or fans, really), and are also influenced by Chinese folk music themes.
I haven’t thought much about this beyond a beginning point, but it’s interesting to compare Merchant’s song and video for ‘The King of China’s Daughter’ with Washburn’s music. Merchant’s song is positioned as part of a collection of songs for her small daughter in the album Leave Your Sleep, so the almost dodgy orientalist stuff is kind of mediated or made reflexive. Or is it? Merchant can be a bit naive… or obtuse about this stuff sometimes. Though the concepts and design for her album Ophelia suggest otherwise (the video for ‘Ophelia’ is a good example).
Washburn, however, is a slightly different animal. She speaks Cantonese (I think) and has traveled extensively. Her work often features Chinese instruments… and Mongolian!
I was kind of stunned by the dancer in this video:
There’s something about the harmonies in that clip that remind me of the tuning in Appalachian stuff.