Mantawoman 漫她我梦 (b. 1994) - hailed by Yo-Yo Ma as "courageous, passionate, truth-seeking" - is a musician, singer-songwriter and performer from San Francisco. They specialise in yangqin 扬琴, a Chinese percussive string instrument.
Mantawoman treats the yangqin as an interface for exploring magical dimensions of queer and transcultural experience. They are interested in plurality and the nature of change. Their conceptual, genre-fluid performances blend Chinese music, new commissions, original songs and improvisation, with splashes of theatre and video art.
Mantawoman (b. Reylon Yount) is the first yangqin player to feature on a Grammy Award-winning album (Sing Me Home, 2016) and the first person from North America to compete professionally in an international yangqin competition (silver prize, Baotou 2014). An avid recording artist, they feature on the soundtracks of Marvel's Shang Chi, Netflix's 1899, and the Sundance Award-winning animated short, Reneepoptosis. Their playing has garnered millions of views online.
After moving to England in 2017, Mantawoman co-founded the transnational music collective, Tangram. For their singular songwriting and performance practice, Mantawoman has received support from numerous organisations, including Arts Council England, SOAS University of London, LSO St Luke's, Royal Philharmonic Society, City Music Foundation, Help Musicians UK, nonclassical, Britten Pears Arts, Jerwood Arts, and Southbank Centre.
Mantawoman has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Caroline Polachek, Alex Ho, Rhiannon Giddens, Vân-Ánh Võ, Christopher Myers, Johnny Gandelsman, and Yo-Yo Ma.