Over the last 5 or 6 years, ChaCha has quickly become one of the most exciting and celebrated independent artists to come out of China. A vocalist and musician since a very young age, ChaCha has managed to break out of the usually quite sheltered music scene in her hometown of ZunYi, GuiZhou and has made musical waves around the world.

Since moving to Shanghai in 2005 and joining China’a largest bass music crew, Uprooted Sunshine/Sub-Culture, she has been exposed to a huge variety of music at her regular spot, The Shelter, and has naturally adopted these styles and genres like no other local artist. From recording with international artists such as Clive Chin, Kode9, Adrian Sherwood, Disrupt, The Bug, Rumi, Hamacide, Vibronics and Desto, to releasing music on labels such as VP/Randy’s, Hyperdub, Jahtari, 502 and Tokyo’s Black Smoker Records, she also keeps her feet firmly rooted in the local scene and works closely with Chinese artists such as Wordy Soulspeak, Webber, In3, A-Long and Chee Productions (of which she is also a member).

In 2010 ChaCha teamed up with Dutch producer Jay.Soul and formed AM444, a genre bending group that, although many seem to label it as ‘trip-hop’ or ‘downbeat’, has just as much in common with dub sounds and ‘bass music’ as it does with some of her favorite groups and earliest influences such as Portishead and Massive Attack. The duo released their first EP, Eye Wonder, in 2011, and their first full length album ROOMS in 2012, both on Shanghai’s PAUSE:MUSIC, and have received radio play and support from all over Asia, Europe and beyond.

She was also honored by being the first ever mainland Chinese artist to be accepted into the Red Bull Music Academy in Madrid in 2011. This opened her mind and opportunities even further are saw her work together with fellow alumni such as Doc Daneeka, XXXY, Phoebe Kiddo, Nick Hook, Jessie Boykins III, Paze and more, as well as seeing her perform at several of the RBMA events. Having access to a great variety or equipment and talented advisors also lead to her starting her new solo project and alias, ‘Faded Ghost’, a dark, droned out vocal experiment the likes of which are very different to anything coming out of the PRC.

Her talent and various projects have seen her perform all over China and Asia, including Japan, Thailand, Korea and Manila, as well as the Worldtronics festival in Berlin, Sakifo Festival on Reunion Island and club gigs in UK, Germany and Spain. Having just returned from Tokyo after making serious waves and connections in the scene there, and with a Europe tour in the works, in 2013 expect to hear a lot more from ChaCha!