Meet the musician promoting banjo and bluegrass in China
By Bryan Ke
Eric Shi, a Chinese banjoist and content creator, promotes his instrument and bluegrass — a genre of American roots music — in China. Shi runs channels on Bilibili and YouTube, posting videos of himself, his family, students and band playing bluegrass music covers, such as Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya (On the Bayou).”
- How he got into his interests: Describing the banjo as a “cool” and “wonderful” instrument, Shi, originally a guitar player, told Deering Banjos in 2017 that he first heard of the banjo in an American movie and in “Tom and Jerry,” though he could not remember exactly when. He pursued learning the string instrument in 2010 at the age of 31 — while teaching guitar full-time — under the tutelage of the late Japanese banjo player Sab Watanabe Inoue. Later, he toured the U.S. with Inoue and the latter’s bluegrass band called Bluegrass 45. After learning the banjo, Shi went on to publish several books for his Chinese audience, including China’s first beginner’s guide book in banjo titled “Five-String Bluegrass Banjo Beginner’s Tutorial.” As most of his students are still young, he chose Disney songs for his material, hoping they would help them “fall in love with banjo and bluegrass music.”
- China’s banjo scene: While there are a few banjo players in China such as in the southeastern provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou, Shi noted that most of them treat the instrument like a guitar. Additionally, there are only a few who pluck the strings using three-finger picks, which is a more common method of playing it. To reach more audiences, Shi created a platform called “Banjo Home,” where people can buy and learn the instrument. Recognizing his effort to promote banjo and bluegrass in China, the International Bluegrass Music Association Foundation named him one of the grantees of the Arnold Schultz Fund in 2022.
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