Though Asian girl bands such as Japan’s AKB48 and South Korea’s Wonder Girls are gaining fame around the world, Taiwanese performer Shara Lin (林逸欣) has gone one better — she is her own band, playing the violin, zither and piano.
Now her musical multitasking is on global display in a training video of her performing Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai’s (蔡依林) Dancing Diva, which has racked up more than 4 million views on YouTube in three weeks.
Lin, a 25-year-old music graduate, put the performance together within five days for a blend of classical and Taiwanese pop music that has her tucking the violin under her chin and stretching out as needed to both piano and zither.
“I think the toughest part is to play the piano and the zither simultaneously. We tried many times to figure out the best position for my left hand to play the piano and my right to play the zither,” Lin said.
“When I have to look at both the piano and the zither, I really wish my eyes could grow wider apart. If I have to play [them] together, I must play by feel,” she said.
Lin started to play the piano at age three. Her interest in music soon expanded to other instruments, including the violin, zither, guitar, jazz drums and harmonica.
Lin said she was willing to try other creative performances in the wake of her YouTube success.
“After people saw this video, they suggested that I could play the drum with my foot and also add a harmonica,” she said.
“I said ‘OK, I will consider that,’” Lin said.
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