Yang Xuefei is playing classical guitar. Photo: Ji Yuqiao/GT

 Classical guitarist Yang Xuefei, who was named one of the six best female classical guitarists in the world by BBC Music Magazine, shared the story of how she made her latest album, Sketches of China, on Wednesday in Beijing.

The songs in the album are all Chinese music, Yang said at the press conference. Although the amount of Chinese music specially for guitar is limited, the musician has been trying to explore more areas of the Chinese guitar repertoire, recomposing some by herself to popularize them around the world.

Sketches of China was released on August 7 and has received many compliments from fans and reviewers. BBC Radio 3 broadcast the music in the album and British classic music magazine Gramophone invited Yang to introduce the album.

The guitarist considers the album her first step in exploring the Chinese guitar repertoire. The music in the album covers a huge time span, from the end of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) to the present, spanning more than 2,000 years.

As well as "A Lovely Rose," a folk song by a Chinese ethnic group in Kazakhstan, the album also includes "Hujia," which is based on a well-known story from the end of the Han Dynasty about the abduction of a beautiful woman named Cai Wenji.

One guitar composition by well-known Chinese composer Tan Dun, named "Seven Desires," is also included in the album. The composition is a musical mini-drama in which the guitar sounds a bit like the traditional Chinese pipa instrument.

Yang cooperated with other musicians who play traditional Chinese instruments such as the xiao and the guzheng to produce the album. 

Yang, who was born in Beijing in 1977, has settled in Britain. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, Yang came back to China after overcoming many difficulties to share the story of producing the album when the quarantine had ended.