Music is an excellent way to learn the nuances of a language. Lyrics feature all kinds of important phrases – stuff like “your eyes are limpid pools of pooled beauty – allow me to love you and your eyes forever.” You know, things you can use on a daily basis. 

Thus far my quest for obscure local music has mostly been a failure. Modern Chinese pop doesn’t really appeal, and most people who are interested in anything else produce primarily in English – aside from this: Sa Ding Ding’s (萨顶顶), and her recent Alive (2007), an electronica-folk amalgam that’s getting a fair workout on my playlists. The warbly vocals consist of Mandarin, Tibetan, Sanskrit and a Conlang (yes!) Favorite tracks include the Mandarin version of ‘Alive.’ and ‘Oldster by Xilin.’ Exoticism doesn’t end with the lyrics: she makes use of the 筝 (zheng -Chinese zither), 马头琴 (matouqin - horse head fiddle), and bamboo flute. Baidu searches return quite a few results; though I haven’t yet found a single local (even the more musically inclined ones) who recognize her. 

Maybe pronouncing her name all wrong? Seems unlikely – it’s a most unique name. Her blog is here.