"Just call me Song," Feng-yün Song says, politely ignoring my fumbling attempts to properly pronounce her full name.

With Ingwe in 2004, she worked with former Iva Bittová collaborator Vladimír Václavek. In 2003, she made a less likely match with the Czech underground guitar god Pavel Richter. More in keeping with her training, she has also performed with a Beijing Opera ensemble in Prague and Český Krumlov, as well as in several theatrical productions, including Madame Butterfly.

Over the past six years, Song has had three recording projects on Prague's Black Point and Faust labels, delivering a musical mélange as accessible as it is avant-garde. This weekend at Archa Theatre she will unveil her newest release (on the Indies label), titled Wild Flowers, backed by a Teplice-based jazz unit known as the PUO trio.

Given the painterly quality of her Czech collaborations, it isn't surprising to hear Song say "I love Chinese poems, especially those from the Dynasty of Song. That era is famous in Chinese history for a form of poetry known as 'ci' that both emphasizes the musicality of the Chinese language and mixes structure with a more free-form prose. The effect can be very impressionistic — and remember, European impressionism was based on Asian influences.

"Of course, with poetry in Chinese characters, the result is naturally pictorial. Even in translation, you can see pictures among the words. I like very much the pictures in the music, especially when poetry, images and music are unified."

Musical synthesis

Song first came to the Czech Republic in 1985 to study Czech literature at Charles University. "I've translated poetry from Czech writers like Seifert, Holub, Hrabal, Halas and even Havel's Letters to Olga," she says, adding, "and perhaps later I'll translate some of Havel's theater."

These days, Song's translations are of her own Chinese poetry into a European jazz format. She characterizes her work blending Asian and European forms as "only a half-truth because of my voice. Since I've studied with the Beijing Opera, my voice has a fundamental Chinese technique. I studied for 12 years, from the time I was 8 years old, in a traditional family opera school."

Still, she's adapted. "When I sing here with orchestras, bands or musicians, I don't just use Chinese vocal technique," Song says. "For instance, on my early CD Horská Karavana, my voice is mostly Chinese. But, on Songs from the Dragon Boat, I began to use non-Chinese techniques. They were limited by the material being mainly Chinese folk songs. I could try to sing Chinese songs in a Western style, but I'm not sure that would be effective.

"On the other hand, my musicians are trained in the Western tradition, and they want to create a musical environment that complements the strengths of my voice when I sing Chinese songs. So what is interesting is what happens in the contrast of Western instruments, Chinese songs and Chinese voice."

Song's newest recording offers more of a synthesis than her previous discs. "Wild Flowers is different because these are my own compositions reflecting my life in Europe," she says. "Here our musical ways are beginning to move closer together, unlike on the former CDs where the way of the singer and the way of the musician traveled in the same direction, but more side by side."

Cultural crossings

Song's multicultural efforts in the coming months will not be entirely musical. She's established a tradition celebrating Chinese New Year at Archa that she plans to diversify in 2007.

"We want to continue the tradition but change the title," she says. "Before it was 'A Musical Celebration of Chinese New Year,' but next year it will simply be "A Chinese Festival of New Year.' And, instead of one day, we are expanding to two."

Asked if the new celebration will include a parade and fireworks, Song demurs, indicating that such details are still top-secret. But she does hint that the first day will include a concert of traditional Chinese music that will showcase new projects by her friends and collaborators.

As with Song's music, such efforts are in line with her larger goal, which she describes as "finding a way to cross from one culture to a second culture, in this case from Chinese culture into European or Czech culture."

Whatever cultural crossings Song is able to navigate, they will remain rooted in her expansive knowledge of Asian classic, contemporary and folk cultures. That's clear on her new CD in a song like "Orange," when she sings, "It is approaching now / The song from the past / Thousands of leaves / Thousand of butterflies / An orange illusion / Shimmering / Everywhere."

And there's plenty of diversity to draw on in Chinese culture. Song says she was fascinated from an early age by places like Tibet and Mongolia, and has incorporated musical influences from those areas into her work.

"On my first CDs, there are several songs from Mongolia and Tibet," she says. "For some songs, I wrote my own text but used the music of Mongolia and Tibet. On the new CD, there is one song from Tibet, but the text is my own and it is sung in English."