Sa Dingding

Template:Chinese name Template:Infobox Chinese-language singer and actor Sa Dingding (simplified Chinese: 萨顶顶; traditional Chinese: 薩頂頂; pinyin: Sà Dǐngdǐng, born Zhou Peng (周鹏), (1983-12-27)27 December 1983) is a Chinese folk singer and songwriter. She is of mixed Han and Mongol ancestry, and sings in languages including Mandarin, Sanskrit, Tibetan, as well an imaginary self-created language to evoke the emotions in her songs. She also plays traditional instruments such as the guzheng and matouqin (horse-head fiddle).

Biography

Born in Inner Mongolia, China, Sa is of Han Chinese ancestry from her father's side and Mongolian ancestry from her mother side, and she was influenced by the music of the ethnic minorities while living with her grandmother in Inner Mongolia until age six. She also became interested in Buddhism and taught herself Tibetan and Sanskrit. Later on, she moved to Beijing to study music at the People's Liberation Army Arts College.

At age 18, she released her first album entitled Dong Ba La under her birth name Zhou Peng, awarding her with the title of China’s Best Dance Music Singer.

In 2006, "Holy Incense" was used as the theme song for the movie Prince of the Himalayas, directed by Sherwood Hu.

In mid-2007, she released Alive, now available physically and as a download in many countries. The Hong Kong release of the album features a DVD containing music videos, a remix of "Alive", making of footage and a Chinese version of "Mama Tian Na", not featured on the album.

In 2008 she won the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music for the Asia-Pacific region, earning herself the chance to perform at the Royal Albert Hall to a Western audience. In the same year, she also released a two track single called "Qin Shang".

Dingding composed a song with Eric Mouquet of Deep Forest called "Won't Be Long" to raise funds for disaster relief after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The song was made available on Mouquet's Deep-Projects website. Mouquet and Dingding have collaborated on a forthcoming album Deep China.

Most recently, Dingding has appeared at Womad and the Harrogate Festival in the UK. On October 6, her official English website was updated with information about a European tour, going from November 7 to 17, making stops in Germany, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Las Palmas, Australia and New Zealand.

For Chinese composer He Xuntian's 2008 album, Tathāgata, Dingding contributed the vocals for the second track, entitled "Dátǎjiādá" (达塔伽达).

Her latest album, released in January 2010 is Harmony (天地合), with nine songs in Chinese. The album also contains three remixes of the title track, one by Paul Oakenfold.

There has also been news of Dingding singing the theme song for the film Gasp (气喘吁吁), called "Gēchàng De Lìliàng" (歌唱的力量), in working with Howie B.

Discography

Albums

• (2001) Dong Ba La (咚巴啦)
• (2007.08.28) Alive (万物生) - Universal Music, Wrasse Records
• (2010.01.26) Harmony (天地合)
• (2012.07.03) The Coming Ones (恍如来者)
• (2014.05.14) Wonderland (Remix Album) (幻境)

Singles

• (2008.07.30) "Qin Shang" (琴伤) - Wrasse Records
• (2009.11.13) "Tiandi Ji"/"Ha Ha Li Li" (天地记) - Universal Music Group

Soundtracks

• The theme song of 14 Blades (锦衣卫)

External links

• Official UK website
• Official blog (Chinese)
• Official Japanese website (Japanese)
• Fans Page on Facebook (English)

Interviews

• "Freedom is the first thing I learnt from Music" Laptoprockers, December 2008
• Sa Dingding interview from Global Rhythm magazine, August 2008

News articles

• "Sa Dingding: China's New Age chanteuse" CNN
• "Made in China: the singer poised to sweep the globe" The Independent
• Sa Ding Ding, the Asian Bjork. The Times
• The Guardian, Friday March 28, 2008
• Biography from Universal Music
• Biography at Livedoor.com (Japanese)
• "Why Sa Dingding has China in her hand" The Daily Telegraph, 18 July 2008
• Beyond Convention Vantage Magazine article and interview with Sa Dingding