Chinese village ensemble rocks stages in US with pipa virtuoso

NEW YORK - With their wild energetic style music that was centuries old, a farmers ensemble from Northwest China has delivered one surprising moment after another to audiences along the way of their ongoing US tour.

Led by pipa virtuoso Wu Man, the Huayin Shadow Puppet Band, which comprises eight farmers from Huayin county, Shaanxi province, showcased a little known Chinese folk music called Lao Qiang, which is roughly translatable as "old tune", at the New York Society for Ethical Culture last Saturday evening.

New York City was the 10th stop of the group's 12-city, cross-country tour of the US, running through March 25.