Sa Dingding

Biography

Zhou Peng (周鹏, born 27 December 1983), known professionally as Sa Dingding (simplified Chinese: 萨顶顶; traditional Chinese: 薩頂頂; pinyin: Sà Dǐngdǐng), is a Chinese folk singer and songwriter. Of mixed Han Chinese and Mongol ancestry, she sings in several languages, including Mandarin Chinese, English, Standard Tibetan, as well as an imaginary self-created language to evoke emotions in her songs. She also plays traditional instruments such as the guzheng and morin khuur.

Early life and education

Sa was born in Pingdingshan, Henan, on 27 December 1983. She became interested in Buddhism and taught herself Tibetan and Sanskrit. Later, at 17, she moved to Beijing, to study music at the People's Liberation Army Academy of Art.

Career

At age 18, she released her first album entitled Dong Ba La under her birth name Zhou Peng, gaining her the title of China's Best Dance Music Singer.
In 2006, "Holy Incense" was used as the theme song for the movie Prince of the Himalayas, directed by Sherwood Hu. In mid-2007, she released Alive, available physically and as a download in many countries. The Hong Kong release of the album featured a DVD containing music videos, a remix of "Alive", making of footage and a Chinese version of "Mama Tian Na", not featured on the album.
In 2008, at the age of 25, she won the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music for the Asia-Pacific region, earning herself the chance to perform at the Royal Albert Hall to a Western audience. In the same year, she also released a two track single called "Qin Shang".
Sa composed a song with Éric Mouquet of Deep Forest called "Won't Be Long" to raise funds for disaster relief after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The song was made available on Mouquet's Deep-Projects website. Mouquet and Sa have collaborated on an album Deep China.
Sa has appeared at the World of Music, Arts and Dance and the Harrogate International Festivals in the UK. On 6 October 2008, her official English website was updated with information about a European tour, going from 7 to 17 November, making stops in Germany, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Las Palmas, Australia and New Zealand. For Chinese composer He Xuntian's 2008 album, Tathāgata, Sa contributed the vocals for the second track, entitled "Dátǎjiādá" (达塔伽达).
Her January 2010 album was Harmony (天地合), with nine songs in Chinese. The album also contains three remixes of the title track, one by Paul Oakenfold. In 2018, Sa starred in the hit fantasy romance drama Ashes of Love, portraying the Immortal Yuanji.

Interviews

"Freedom is the first thing I learnt from Music" Laptoprockers, December 2008
Sa Dingding interview Archived 2 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine from Global Rhythm magazine, August 2008

News articles

"Sa Dingding: China's New Age chanteuse" CNN
"Made in China: the singer poised to sweep the globe" The Independent
Sa Ding Ding, the Asian Bjork. The Times
The Guardian, Friday March 28, 2008
Biography from Universal Music
Biography at Livedoor.com (Japanese)
"Why Sa Dingding has China in her hand" The Daily Telegraph, 18 July 2008