Wu Fei

Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn Saturday, October 17, 2026 DROM – 85 Avenue A, Manhattan Doors: 6:30 PM | Show: 7:30 PM Presented as part of the WMI Collaborations Series, this ten-year artistic partnership between Wu Fei, a master of the guzheng—an ancient Chinese string instrument with a history spanning 2,500 years—and Grammy Award-winning American singer, songwriter, and banjo virtuoso Abigail Washburn embodies the spirit of the series. Their eponymous debut album, produced by banjo legend Béla Fleck and released on Smithsonian Folkways, weaves together the traditions of two distinct musical heritages, stretching from the Appalachian hills to the Xinjiang prairies. The result is a surprisingly harmonious soundtrack, featuring Wu’s guzheng melodies gracefully complementing Washburn’s expressive banjo playing, with their voices blending English and Chinese dialects. WMI COLLABORATIONS series presents cross-cultural musical explorations and collaborations. The series often explores how the music of artists from one culture has influenced the music of another culture, or how the music of seemingly widely varying cultures can be surprisingly similar or complementary.