Multimedia phenomenon and arguably China's best-known female rock star Wu Hongfei (吴虹飞) will be playing a special unplugged performance tonight at Halfway House.

Wu is lead singer for the Beijing-based band Happy Avenue (幸福大街) and is also a well-known magazine journalist and author of books including The fish who loved Xiao Long and The double life of A Fei.

A member of the Dong ethnic minority originally from Sanjiang, Guangxi, Wu is a graduate of the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing, where she majored in environmental engineering and the editing of scientific books.

Wu's lyrics range from the abstract and fantastic to dark and melancholy. Whether with Happy Avenue or playing solo, her music has been called many things: poppy, folk, goth and more. Tonight's performance at Halfway – co-organized by Wheatfields Bookstore – features Sam Debell on drums, Ma Li of Wheatfields on the mouth harp and Zhang Shuang playing violin, with Wu playing acoustic guitar.

Wu has been blogging from Kunming recently, her Sina blog can be found here. She is currently touring to promote her new solo album Rouge (胭脂).

Tonight's show starts at 9:30 pm with opening act Fang Blues Band (坊乐队), tickets cost 15 yuan.

Related article: Ma Li and the Kunming underground

Tags: entertainment, ethnic minorities, Halfway House, Happy Avenue, live music, Ma Li, Sam Debell, Tsinghua University, Wheatfields, Wu Hongfei, Zhang Shuang