I recently had the oppurtunity to interview musician Jack Hsu. Jack is most well-known for playing the Er-Hu, a Chinese violin. Originally from Taipei, Taiwan, Jack moved to New Jersey in 1996. His current project is called Hsu-nami, an “ethnical fusion instrumental rock band”.

Jack’s past projects include Gen-so (Fantasia) and he’s won various competitions as a result of his Er-hu playing ability. He is a great musician and it was an honor to interview him. Without further adieu, here it is:

Shay: When and why did you start playing the Er-Hu?
Jack: Well I just picked it up when I was living at Taiwan when I was elementry school but I learned different traditional songs after couple years and I guess it was interesting. I know how to play the violin well so that’s why I picked up the er-hu and learn it really fast.

S: Your current project is the band Hsu-nami. How did you form that group?
J: I submitted “China Street” to a record label run by Ramapo College and the label put out a compilation CD. At that time Aki (Jack’s former bandmate from Gen-So) was at Berklee. The label wanted me to perform “China Street” during the Po’ Records CD release party. So I guess I just asked around for musicians to play with me for that show. One of my friends was in a metal band name Bleed the Stone and so I asked them to cover “China Street”.. “Falling snow”.. and “Rising of the Sun” for the show. After the show all the members of that band dug the music very much so they wanted to play with me more. The metal band Bleed the Stone broke up last year and Gen-so Broke up too because Aki went to Japan. So we started to do this new project the Hsu-nami.

S: What’s your favorite song that you’ve performed?
J: “Rougewave”. The melody sticks in people’s mind. I have two solos in the song, one in the middle and one at the end.

S: You perfromed at the all-prestigious Carnegie Hall. What was that experience like for you?
J: Well, it was a opera program and it was interesting. I was…excited.

S: Can you tell us what competitions you’ve won?
J: Um the er-hu competiion in Nankin…1997 I think. 1998 actually.

S: Didn’t you win a battle of the bands competition recently?
J: Oh yeah. The Punk Club Battle of the Bands, we won a competitive battle and thanks to all our fans support.

S: When can we expect a full-length album release?
J: Definetly the summer. We are recording a couple brand new songs. Hopfully we will have an EP out by the summer. Oh, and we plan to donate every 50 cents from the album sale to a relief program.

S: How charitable. That’s respectful.
J: …like the tsunami or Katrina relief program or red cross etc…

You can check out Jack Hsu’s band, Hsu-nami over at MySpace and PureVolume. Look for Hsu-nami to have a real website pretty soon.

Keep up the great work Jack!