INTERVIEW WITH NINIMUSIC

Nini Music!

The Interview!

By Darkzen

19/11/2023

Official Bio

Nini grew up in Taiwan and has played and studied Chinese Traditional Folk instruments for over 20 years. She has toured Europe, the USA, Canada, China, Japan, and all of her home island playing in orchestral as well as rock settings. Nini is now on a journey to create her own unique sounds with the use of her traditional instruments and share them with the world. Nini's music blends the sound of her instruments the San Xian, Ruan, and Liuqin with the contemporary sounds of rock, metal, and EDM.

How are you Nini? Tell us a little about your career in Folkloric music in your country?

Nini:

I have been studying and playing traditional folk instruments since I was very young. I began playing the Ruan (Chinese Lute) at age 7 and began doing paid gigs at age 11. I went to a music conservatory for my highschool and university education that specialized in Traditional asian instruments, there I studied the Ruan, Liuqin, and Sanxian (my three main instruments) among other Chinese and Japanese folk instruments such as Pipa and Shamisen.

Tell us a little about yourself, do you have other hobbies besides music?

Nini:

In my free time I really enjoy cooking, shopping, eating interesting things, watching horror movies, and doing nail art (for myself + friends).

Have you competed in any musical events?

Nini:

Yes! I have competed in several musical competitions. I did several as a child and teen. More recently I won an event in 2020 called "Gamer Got talent" and in 2021 I was runner up on another talent show on Tiktok. This year I will be competing on the 19th season of America's Got Talent.

Have you collaborated with other artists within the Folk genre? Or another musical style?

Nini:

Within the Folk genre I have collaborated with several of my friends and classmates.

My best friend Joy and I collaborated on this video with her playing Erhu:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOm1-PFsLv0&ab_channel=NiniMusic

My good friend and shamisen playing Zuiko collaborated for this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoOQL7fiMCQ&ab_channel=NiniMusic

I have also collaborated with a few Germany based folk instrument musicians that play bagpipes, hurdy gurdy, and other european folk instruments.

See a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3O9toYhm4U&ab_channel=Meticus

In the world of folk metal I recently collaborated on my original song "HOMELAND" with Jayant Bhadula (a member of the indian folk metal band Bloodywood).

See the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vopMx1_7Ojg&ab_channel=NiniMusic

I also recently collaborated with a close friend and speed metal guitar James Norton on an original track called "Balance":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io1HkNDU8v4&ab_channel=NiniMusic

I am always open and looking for new collaborations. I have some new collaborations in the works now for my upcoming music with my full band project.

You also like Metal! I love that, what styles within Heavy Metal do you like?

Nini:

I love metal. I listen to all styles of metal but I think some of my favorites at the moment are probably; Folk Metal, Metalcore, Powermetal, Thrash metal, doom metal, black metal, numetal, and melodic death metal.

My favorites change from day to day but right now I have been listening to a lot of metalcore and melodic death metal.

Your covers are great! By combining your style and regional musical instruments from your country, tell us a little about your instruments, what history do these musical instruments have?

Nini:

I play over 7 instruments (Ruan, Pipa, Liuqin, Sanxian, Shamisen, Banjo, Ukulele, and Erhu). My main instruments are Ruan, Liuqin, and Sanxian. All three of these are Chinese folk instruments that have over 2000+ years of history.

The ruan is a 4 string moon shaped lute that comes in 3 sizes and has a tone similar to a classical guitar but more rich and with more natural reverb. The liuqin is a small pear shaped instrument with 4 strings and a high pitched sound similar to a mandolin, this instrument has ivory inlays and the tuning pegs are made from the horns of an oxen. The sanxian has 3 strings, a very long neck and a body made of (python) snake skin stretched over a rounded rectangular resonator, and a very unique sound.

Your album Legends is amazing I like your style! What theme is this musical album based on? Historical? Mystical?

Nini:

LEGENDS is an album based on 4 different Chinese legends from the Daoist religion (I am Daoist). Each song tells the story of a different god or myth in daoism (Wukong the monkey king, Mazu the sea goddess, Guan Yu the god of war, Longma the dragon horse). Some of the songs have lyrics and singing that tell specific stories from those gods and others I wrote the scores to do the storytelling without words. This album is very important and special to me because I visited local temples when writing it and later returned to play the music for the gods.

You also recently released two super beautiful musical themes, especially the photography and with your background music and in one, like in MaZu, your voice, and the other from Homeland, how was the production and collaboration of these videos?

Nini:

The recording and writing process for both of these were done completely in my home studio. I recorded and programmed every instrument part on my own and outsourced the screaming parts on both tracks. After thinking about it for a while I realized that Jayant from Bloodywood would be the perfect fit for the sound I was going for on HOMELAND and I was lucky enough to have him on the track. Once I finished the recording process on these songs I mixed them and sent them to a good friend in the USA for mastering (Dan Parker of A Change of Pace). For both videos I came up with the entire storyboard and locations myself. I looked for a long time to fund the right videography team and by chance scrolling through youtube I found a talented team based in Taiwan. HOMELAND specifically was a lot of work to shoot because everything was shot on location. It required hiking to the top of a mountian in full costume and over 17 hours of shooting. I did a lot of the editing on HOMELAND on my own and on MAZU (and the majority of my other videos) I did everything myself.

Do you already plan to write a new album?

Nini:

Right now I am in the process of writing (and recording) my first ever Full band album! As of today we have 1 track completely finished and 3 new tracks in pre-production. I am really excited for everyone to hear this new music. There is a lot more vocals (from me and another member that sings and screams), heavy guitars, and more punch to the music. This doesn't mean I will no longer be doing solo music but for the time being I am focused on finishing this new album. The first single is expected to release alongside a music video in late 2023 or early 2024.

Will you release any other music videos? Some preview!

Nini:

I am always releasing new videos and content all over my social media. I do plan to release 1 more full length cover video before we start putting out our original full band music. On 11/1/2024 there will be the first ever preview of my our first single up on my patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninimusic

Do you have any tour dates in your country? Or in another part of the world?

Nini:

As of right now I have no touring planned for Taiwan. However the plan for 2024 is to do dates in the EU and the USA with my band. We have started the booking process.

What news do you have for your fans, in addition to other important news?

Nini:

There is a lot of original new music, content, and tour plans coming up. I couldn't be doing any of it without the support of my amazing fans. Thanks to the NiNi Army for making this all possible.

Also I am going to be doing America's Got Talent in 2024 so I will be needing everyone's help/vote!

Anything else you would like to share with us?

Nini:

Be on the lookout for new music, touring, and more in 2024 coming from me and my band!

Thank you very much for your time for this interview for Darkzen Dragon Metal Angels!

Info

https://ninimusic.me/

https://www.facebook.com/NINIMUSIC1001

https://www.instagram.com/ninimusic1001/

https://www.youtube.com/ninimusic