Erica Dee Mah
Erica Dee Mah is a singer-songwriter and contemporary guzheng player based in Whitehorse, Yukon. In 2022, she released "The Sargasso Season", an original collection of songs written on the traditional 21-stringed Chinese zither. The album is an exploration of sounds and possibilities on the versatile instrument, and seeks out a place for the guzheng in Canadian folk-roots music. Erica writes about transoceanic journeys, Chinese-Canadian identity across generations, and finding connection in new landscapes. Exclaim! Magazine named her one of the "must-hear" emerging artists in Canada. In 2024, she released an EP, “Paper Wealth”, pushing further into the traditional elements of guzheng music. She has performed at festivals across Canada with her husband, Darcy McCord, a classically-trained cellist. Together they create a beautiful and intimate blend of orchestral folk music.
Paper Wealth
When I released my first album The Sargasso Season, I wrote that “by the time this music reaches your ears, I will likely be hearing and playing the guzheng differently, as there is so much left to learn”. That holds true, both then and now.
Paper Wealth is my second offering of original guzheng songs. It incorporates many traditional guzheng sounds and techniques that I have been working these past few years. These songs reflect on the privilege of being born in Canada, and celebrate the ways that Chinese-Canadians continue to connect to their heritage across many generations.
Cover Photo by Erik Pinkerton
The Sargasso Season
The Sargasso Season started out as improvised songs on the guzheng, long before I knew anything about the instrument. The earliest songs I wrote came out sounding more like they are played on a guitar or a banjo. As I set out to learn how to play this traditional instrument, more elements of the guzheng’s unique and beautiful character were incorporated into the songs. By the time this music reaches your ears, I will likely be hearing and playing the guzheng differently, as there is so much left to learn.
I never expected that learning an instrument would help me feel connected to my Chinese heritage, but much like learning a language, it has. Many songs on this album were inspired by family stories and the history of my Chinese ancestors who came to Canada at the turn of the 20th century to a place they knew as Gold Mountain 金山. They worked for railroad companies, ran general stores and laundries, and helped establish early Chinese-Canadian communities. Their children (my grandparents) belonged to a small group of Canadian-born Chinese who were raised against a backdrop of discriminatory laws, and systems of segregation and oppression.
I hope that when people hear this music they feel transported to a borderless world, where sounds travel across oceans and return, changed in surprisingly beautiful ways.
Reviews
The Sargasso Season is a transfixing orchestral-folk album full of perseverance and hope.- Exclaim!
Erica Dee Mah’s music is a beautiful expression of how the past connects to our present. - Dominionated
Masterful use of the guzheng, engrossing vocals & dreamy imagery - Earshot! Distro
Add Erica Dee Mah to the list of world class musical talents and innovators to come out of Smithers, B.C. - Roots Music Canada
The Sargasso Season resounds with mellifluous beauty. - Songlines Magazine
Album Artwork by Basia Hinton
Photo credit: Erik Pinkerton
Contact
For bookings and all other inquiries, please submit here, or contact ericadmah (at) gmail.com
I acknowledge the support of the following institutions:
