M Shanghai String Band

The NEW ALBUM, The Mapmaker's Daughter is now available on iTunes!



In 2002, the M SHANGHAI STRING BAND got together in the basement of a Chinese bistro in Brooklyn to share good food and play some music. This acoustic-culinary combination was too special not to repeat, and the band (named after the restaurant) was born. Their debut album "Up From the Ground Below" was recorded in the restaurant's dining room. Its twenty songs were captured completely live in one day. At their CD release party, the MSSB played four live sets to a standing room only crowd. Brooklyn's best kept secret was out.



"The banjos spit fire, the acoustics soothe the soul, and the vocals tell honest tales. Every song from Up From the Ground Below is a perfect combo of old time American folk and the music as it stands today. a musical performance that is enduring." -Chris Lewis SHUT EYE



An adventurous take on Americana, the M SHANGHAI STRING BAND's songs are not easily classified. They are remeniscent of traditional roots music styles, yet innovative in their musical form and modern lyrical content. The dynamics range from barnstorming breakdowns to achingly beautiful ballads, expressing originality and simplicity in the same breath.



The MSSB have gained a reputation around the New York City area as a must-see live act. The band alternates from five to eleven players at any given show; a tight knit extended family that performs as a true ensemble. As machine-made, mistake-free music becomes the norm, the M SHANGHAI STRING BAND creates music the way it used to be: heartfelt performances on the human scale, recorded live with a sense of dangerous abandon. It's an old-fashioned idea rendered new, and the results are both vibrant and timeless.



FROM THE AIR

Get it at iTunes, Amazon and eMusic.



Live videos from our "From the Air" CD Release party at Union Pool.

Directed/edited by Tati Nguyen,

Videography by Jeff Mertz, Benoit Michon, and Will Kenton.