Not quite Rock'n'Roll

One of the bands at Room 101 the other night included a pipa player - that's a traditional Chinese instrument (above), rather like a lute.

An intriguing novelty! I'm afraid I don't think it really worked as a rock'n'roll instrument. There was one number with a brief but ravishing pipa solo for the introduction (redolent of the Central Asian Islamic music you get from Xinjiang and the western provinces of China; also somewhat reminiscent of a Spaghetti Western soundtrack - there is quite an affinity between Xinjiang music and flamenco, a crossover that is much exploited by Ekber Ebliz, the fabulous guitarist with Panjir), but the rest of the time it was just strumming away anonymously on rhythm, and pretty much inaudible over the other instruments.

Still, you have to admire the willingness to attempt something new. And the musician playing it was very cute.

I've seen a couple of Chinese rock bands using the zither-like guzheng (below), and that can work really well (it perhaps has a stronger 'personality', can assert itself more effectively than the pipa amid electric guitars). I like to see an infusion of local musical traditions into rock music sometimes. It doesn't happen enough - even the best of Chinese rock at the moment tends to be very, very derivative.