With TU, London-based artist Yijia steps into a space where memory, tradition, and innovation converge. The album unfolds like a journey across centuries and geographies, guided by the voice and strings of a musician intent on making the old sound startlingly new.

At the core of the record is the guzheng, the ancient Chinese zither Yijia plays with striking fluidity. Around it she braids stories and soundscapes that span Asia’s vast musical terrain. “Sunrise on the Horizon,” a Mongolian folk anthem, rises with an almost cinematic grandeur, while “Konguroi,” a song of Tuvan origin, thrums with earthy resonance. Chinese classic “Red Mountain Flowers” blooms here in unexpected shades, showing Yijia’s instinct for breathing fresh life into well-traveled songs.

Her original works carry equal weight. “Willow Flowers,” a prize-winning composition, feels both fragile and luminous, like a poem suspended in air. “Yi The Sun” honors her Yi heritage with a bold expansiveness that stretches folk into something orchestral. The emotional centerpiece, however, is “Lullaby,” a song handed down from her great-grandmother. Even as her grandmother’s memory faded to Alzheimer’s, this melody remained a shared language. Yijia’s recording preserves not only the tune but the quiet resilience of that bond.

What makes TU compelling is its refusal to treat tradition as a relic. Instead, Yijia turns folk into a living current, setting ancient melodies against contemporary textures and her own introspective storytelling. The album feels less like a museum exhibit and more like a conversation across generations, cultures, and worlds.

For an artist who once rose to fame as a teenage pop star, TU marks both a reckoning and a renewal. It’s music that carries the past forward without nostalgia, inviting listeners into a landscape where roots and imagination grow side by side.

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