Music of Gansu

Daoqing comes from the Tang dynasty and was originally a cappella Taoist music. Beginning with the Southern Song dynasty, however, percussion instruments like the jianban and yugu have been used, and the lyrical themes have moved from Taoist parables to folktales. Other instruments used include gongs, cymbals, suona, dina (small suona), shuibangzi, flute, sixian, bangu and erhu. One of Gansu's most notable musicians in the West is Jie Ma, who blends her family's traditional pipa and ruan technique with more contemporary forms such as jazz, improvisation, fusion, and world music and lives in the United States.

Wild Children, a folk-rock band from Lanzhou but based in Beijing, blended Gansu folk songs with more contemporary sounds until the death in 2004 of its co-founder, Xiao Suo.