I know, I know – I can already hear your loud protestations that nobody possibly needs to hear "Hotel California" again—but trust me, you don't want to miss this version, played by Moyun, a professional musician from Hong Kong, who plays the guzheng, which is often described as a Chinese zither. Thanks to user "pacifica" on the Boing Boing boards for sharing this–after listening to it, I felt like everyone needed to hear it!
In the YouTube description for this video, Moyun explains how she approached and recorded Hotel California. She also discusses the costume she's wearing in the video:
This time I will bring you a fun loop form! Different from the previous multi-part ensemble, it is possible to complete a piece of music in one go, and the process is quite interesting~ The use of guitar in Hotel California can be regarded as one of the classic arrangements in history, especially the 1994 live version. So I made some deletions in the vocal part, focusing on the two guitar solos of the prelude and the ending. Hope you like it! The costume this time is Wei Jin style wide-sleeved cross-collared Hanfu. For the convenience of plucking the instrument, panbo are added. (襻膊, pàn bó, originated from the Song Dynasty, a tool used to roll up the sleeves for easy operation), the hat is a hand-woven straw hat, the overall mix and match looks relatively "plain", and it feels like the rice planting will start in the next second hahahahahahaha~
My Modern Met has a great article about Moyun. Here's an excerpt, describing the guzheng and Moyun's process:
The roots of the guzheng, the Chinese zither, can be traced to before the 6th century BCE. It has a distinctly sweet, melodious sound. What Moyun is well-known for, both on YouTube and the similar Chinese video-sharing platform Bilibili, is her skill in blending this tradition with pop culture; she adapts popular songs for the guzheng. . . .
Moyun's process for covering a song is similar from tune to tune. Once she chooses a song, she adapts it for the guzheng and creates a rough score. Then, as she practices, the organic process of music-making takes over and she adds changes and flourishes.
"Traditional Chinese instruments aren't suited for adapting a band's entire sound," she explains. "Guzheng is like the bass. It's hard to create variations with it." She points out that pop songs are very different from traditional Chinese music, so much of her work is in figuring out how to best adapt them for a traditional instrument. "There are many chromatic notes I can't play on the guzheng. So I need to adapt it for the guzheng scale and use the right plucking techniques, but yet stick to the original chords. After that, I'll try to add an even more guzheng-like feel to the song."
By sharing these covers, Moyun hopes to promote the instrument she loves and to help break stereotypes people have of traditional Chinese instruments. "Chinese culture tends to be abstract," she explains. "It's not really accessible. But pop culture is accessible. By putting the two together, I hope the audience can appreciate my music."
