Min Xiao-Fen is a classically trained virtuoso of the Chinese stringed instrument called the pipa. But she didn’t find her musical soul until moving first to San Francisco and then New York, where she fell under the tutelage of the famed experimental composer and musician John Zorn. Min never looked back.
Since moving to Asheville nearly a decade ago, she has put together a number of inspired collaborative projects and her own exploratory, improvisational albums. Her newest is called “Boundless,” a project with the master Ukranian musician Julian Kytasty. Min and Kytasty are performing the album Nov. 5 at the AyurPrana Listening Room in West Asheville.
On today’s episode of the See Hear podcast, Min tells host Matt Peiken stories about her formative years in New York’s experimental music scene, her artistic motivations over the past few decades and how her new album with Kytasty took shape.