Interview: Yijia

Yiijia: “It’s a balance between reverence and reinvention, where the old and new are in dialogue, rather than in opposition.” Photo: Taishan Henry

The award-winning songwriter discusses her new album – a reflection on heritage, memory, identity, and the evolving dialogue between traditions

Yijia is an award-winning singer, songwriter who has spent her career navigating the intersections of traditional Chinese music and contemporary composition. Her new album, TU, exemplifies this cross-generational approach, merging ancient instruments like the guzheng with modern electronic textures and experimental structures. The lead single, Yi The Sun, blends ambient-psychedelic trance with field recordings of the Yi people, reflecting Yijia’s personal rediscovery of her own Yi heritage. Across TU, she reinterprets traditional folk songs alongside her original compositions, crafting a work that is at once deeply personal, culturally resonant, and boldly forward-looking…

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What first sparked the idea for TU, and how did the album’s central themes of time, memory, and identity come into focus?

“TU started as a reflection of my personal journey; a search for identity that intertwines with the passing of time and the preservation of memory. TU is my last name, but in Chinese pinyin, it can also stand for the character for Earth, ground. Initially, I was inspired by my own experiences of disconnection from my roots, as traditional music is seen as something backwards and unfashionable growing up. As I began to explore traditional Chinese music and reconnect with my heritage, I realised that there was a universal thread to the broader themes of time, memory, and identity beyond my own experience. And music acts as a gateway for everyone to create this shared experience together.”

As someone bridging musical traditions and modern composition, how do you decide what stays ancient and what becomes new?

“The process is intuitive. I approach traditional music as something that is alive – it isn’t static, it’s evolving. For me, deciding what stays ancient and what becomes new is about respecting the core emotional essence of the tradition while allowing space for experimentation. Like my favourite quote from the composer Gustave Mahler, ‘Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.’

“I think about how the sounds and rhythms speak to me and to the world we live in now. I take the sonic foundation of traditional music and add layers of modern composition, whether through electronic beats, new instrumental textures, or unconventional song structures. It’s a balance between reverence and reinvention, where the old and new are in dialogue, rather than in opposition.”

⁠How has your relationship with Chinese folk music changed over the years, especially since your early days in pop?

“In the beginning, Chinese folk music felt distant from the mainstream pop music world I grew up listening to, but over time, I realised that both worlds speak to the same core aspects of identity, emotion and culture, and I am a three-dimensional being and have more than one aspect to my identity.

“My early days in pop were about finding my voice and myself as a teenage girl amidst a world of older and more secular grown-ups in the Chinese music industry that I was a part of as an artist. It was actually after coming to the UK and feeling nostalgic and alienated from the mainstream culture that I started to recognise a deeper connection to my heritage. The more I explored folk traditions, the more I saw them not as something separate but as an integral part of who I am as an artist. There is something so raw and touching about ancient music that’s been passed down through time; it’s like a time capsule that time-travels you back to a different world.”

Yijia: “It’s a fluid process where the emotion and story interweave and evolve as the song progresses.” Photo: Alex Rumford

The guzheng sits at the heart of this album – how does that instrument guide your songwriting?

“As an ancient instrument that has over 2,000 years of history, the physical act of playing it is meditative. I feel transposed to an ancient landscape painting when the strings are being plucked. And because it’s pentatonic, you can play almost any string, and anyway, it will still sound harmonious. It’s like the strings are speaking a language that words can’t fully capture.”

When you’re writing original songs, do you tend to begin with sound, story, or feeling?

“It often starts with feeling. For me, music is my therapeutic outlet. Especially when there’s an emotion that you can’t express through words. From there, I might experiment with different sounds and melodies, and usually, I just stop thinking and let the music take shape on its own; some spiritual hippies call it the ‘downloading’ process.

“Usually, the melody flows through quicker than words, and I like to go back and take my time to ‘hone’ the linguistic expression and rhymes. So, it’s like two parts of my brain coming together, the right brain being more emotional and creative, and then the left brain with the logic and linguistics. But overall, it’s a fluid process where the emotion and story interweave and evolve as the song progresses.

Yi The Sun feels both cosmic and deeply ancestral. How did that song come together?

“Yi The Sun was born from a blend of ancient Yi traditions and modern exploration. When I first encountered the field recording of the Yi ethnic group included in the track, it felt like a cosmic connection to something deep within me. Interestingly, I later found out through a DNA test that my ancestors are from this ethnic group. So, I felt inspired to write this song about a human born on another planet returning to Mother Earth at a post-apocalyptic time, and trying to see if anyone is home, and to pass on the message that there is still hope for the human race after the apocalypse on Earth.

“Musically, I wanted to honour the tradition while bringing it into the future, so I combined the sounds of the Yi music with a trance beat to create something that felt both ancient and contemporary. It’s also a spiritual experience, a search for both self and a place in the universe.”

You once said the song was like, “Taking your ancestors clubbing.” How did you find the right balance between trance, tradition, and emotion?

“Blending trance with traditional music was a way of capturing the energy of both worlds. The Yi tradition is rooted in shamanistic rituals and spirituality through connection to the earth, and trance, in its own way, is also about entering a deeper, almost hypnotic state through music. I wanted to take the ancestral soundscapes and inject them with the energy of the present, without losing their depth. I can’t say if there’s a calculated formula, but I’m just being guided through an intuition of what feels right based on my experience of the two worlds.”

How did you decide to include a song so connected to family memory as Lullaby?

“Lullaby is one of the most intimate pieces I’ve ever recorded. It’s a reflection of the bond I share with my late beloved grandmother when she puts me to bed as a little child. When I realised that this song had been passed down through my great-grandmother and 4 generations over 100 years, I knew it had to be part of TU.

“The song is a way to preserve those memories, especially with my grandmother’s struggles with Alzheimer’s during her last days. It’s a tribute to the intimate bond, safe space, and loving feeling I felt as a child when listening to this song, so I hope to also spread the same warm emotion my grandmother made me feel, and to honour her memory by preserving our shared bond through music.”

Yiijia: “For me, preserving tradition means breathing new life into it, not just looking back with longing.” Photo: Taishan Henry

⁠How do you navigate the responsibility of reimagining songs from different cultures, like the Mongolian and Tuvan folk tracks?

“It’s incredibly important to me that I approach these traditions with respect and sensitivity. When reinterpreting songs from Mongolian or Tuvan cultures, I spend a lot of time researching the historical and cultural contexts behind the music, especially from my ethnomusicology academic training background from SOAS, University of London. My goal is to create something that honours the spirit of the folk songs while also being authentic to who I am as an artist. I also always mention where the song is from, so I’m hopefully also doing my part, shedding light on the culture to people from different backgrounds.”

In a world of constant reinvention, what does it mean to you to preserve tradition without being nostalgic?

“For me, preserving tradition means breathing new life into it, not just looking back with longing. It’s about taking the wisdom, stories, and sounds from the past and carrying them forward into the future in a way that feels relevant to the present moment. I try not to cling to the past, but instead, honour it by pushing its boundaries and creating new conversations around it. It’s about passing down the ‘fire’ of tradition and continuing to fuel it by making it relevant and relatable to our modern-day lives and experiences.”

What surprised you most while making TU?

“I think I’m surprised at how I can bring my ‘identity crisis’ into one album, especially without a label or manager (I have a full-time job!). The whole album is very much DIY with the help of my friend Harry Dry and musician friends like Peadar Connolly Davey from my uni band project The Sages.

“There’s so much work that goes into actually making an album exist, which, as music consumers, we will never fully appreciate unless we’ve been through the process ourselves. But musically, the surprise for me is exploring the emotional depths of memory and identity, uncovering aspects of myself that never came together before.

“The music brought out emotions I didn’t expect – sometimes cathartic, sometimes painful, especially since my grandma’s passing last year, but always illuminating. I think I learned that the most profound artistic discoveries often come when you allow yourself to be vulnerable and open to the past.”

⁠Looking ahead, how do you imagine your songwriting evolving?

“I’m really excited to continue evolving my sound, blending even more diverse traditions and exploring new genres. I’ve always been drawn to the intersection of cultures outside my own, and I’m curious about pushing those boundaries even further. I also see myself exploring more deeply into the fusion of mainstream music with traditional sounds, integrating elements in ways that reflect the themes of memory, space, and time. I want to keep experimenting and expanding my creative universe, and who knows? There may even be more collaborations with artists from different parts of the world/genres.”

Yijia’s new album TU is out now and you can follow her musical journey on instagram.com/yijia_music

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