Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer are a musical duo who have, for decades, endeared listeners with their performances on guitars, mandolins, and, most importantly, banjos.
The banjo is traditionally associated with bluegrass music, although you can play almost any genre on it, including classical and hard rock. Fink and Marxer can blend it with traditional Chinese music with the aid of Chao Tian, a master of the Chinese dulcimer (sometimes called a yangqin). Two years ago, at a concert titled "From China to Appalachia", the three musicians performed together.
What is this new genre? On Twitter, Emma Tolkin suggests that we call it Appalachinese.