David Lyttle, Emmy the Great and Quinta are the three musicians in China in the 4th round of Musicians in Residence programme, partnered with PRS For Music Foundation. They each travelled to different parts of China and, while there, created new music, worked with local musicians and experienced a new international audience.
David, Emmy and Quinta followed in the footsteps of musicians including Imogen Heap, Jamie Woon, Gareth Bonello and Mira Calix who have all taken part in previous years. The three host cities in 2017 were GUIYANG (Southwest China), SUZHOU (eastern China) and XIAMEN (on China’s southeast coast); which have been chosen as major Chinese cities whose international links are not yet as strong as other urban centres in the country.
The musicians
David Lyttle
MOBO-nominated Irish musician DAVID LYTTLE has been described by Rolling Stone magazine as "one of the best, robust listening experiences you're likely to have all year". Lyttle’s musical personas shift between jazz drummer, recording artist, composer/songwriter and producer. His collaborations have ranged from jazz icon Joe Lovano to hip hop visionary Talib Kweli; to Irish music star Duke Special. With nominations in the MOBO and Urban Music Awards, Lyttle has recently toured in the UK, Canada and Europe.
He travelled to Suzhou from September to October in 2017 for his China residency, experimented on traditional Chinese musical instruments like Guzheng, Guqin, Pipa etc. He held a fushion performance with four Chinese musicians in Qun Opera Museum in Suzhou towards the end of his residency, and participated in a short film production which is based on his residency.
Emmy the Great
Hong Kong-born EMMY THE GREAT has released three, critically-acclaimed studio albums since 2009. In 2014, she released the soundtrack to the Sony Pictures film Austenland, and was longlisted for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. She also contributes original music to the podcast Mystery Show, the number 1 podcast on iTunes US in 2015, which has been featured on Conan, the Simpsons, Brooklyn Ninenine and more. Moss writes about culture for the Guardian and is a regular contributor to publications such as Noisey and i-D.
She spent her residency in Xiamen in during April to May in 2017, where she created a song, Kulangsu Song, which is dedicated to the historic island, Kulangsu in Xiamen she lived during her residency. The island later became a UNESCO world heritage in 2017. Moss has been creating an album based on her residency, and will include six songs that told the story of Xiamen.
Quinta
QUINTA is a multi-instrumentalist, performer, improviser and composer. She has collaborated with a range of artists, including Bat for Lashes and Patrick Wolf and Radiohead’s Philip Selway; and is one quarter of all-female experimental collective Collectress. Classically trained rather than classically moulded, Quinta meets free play and experimentation with musical substance in her work and brings a mischievous theatricality to her performances.
Quinta went to Guiyang for her residency, where she met different Chinese minorities who gave her inspiration. She also created a performance at the end of her residency where she used different local dancers, western and Chinese musical instruments to perform.