Do you ... Erhu?

The erhu is a two-stringed traditional Chinese instrument. One of the top erhu players in the world is Yang Ying, who rose to musical prominence in her native China, then emigrated to the U.S. where she plays traditional tunes and original compositions that range from Mongolian folk tunes to jazz to funk to Led Zeppelin to Eric Clapton – and sometimes all mixed together. Ying played at the 2008 Planet Arlington World Music festival last September to wide acclaim.

But enough about Ying. That’s my son playing drums behind her on her original composition, Uninhibited. He’s a jazz studies major at the University of Illinois, working on his doctorate in music administration and does a fair job with Mongolian-Chinese-jazz-fusion in 11/8 time.