Chinese star uses TV shows to reveal a new side

The 32-year-old－who's better known as a world music artist and won a BBC World Music Award in 2008 for her album Alive－also performed the song on the TV show Masked King broadcast by Jiangsu Satellite TV Station in October.

For singers like Sa, doing TV shows is typically not seen as a great career move as they usually do not have a large fan base like typical pop singers.

But justifying her decision, Sa says: "I agreed to do the TV show (Masked King) only because it was a platform for me to showcase my voice in a different way.

"I know that, from my music style, I cater to a minority. And my voice is often overshadowed because my songs often comprise heavy electronic sounds and mysterious language. But, when I sang pop and rock songs on TV, the audience gained a different perspective of me."

After her TV performance, she received lots of messages via her Sina Weibo account, which has nearly 2 million followers. While some said that they were surprised by her singing, others started to pay attention to her previous albums.

Early this year, she also took part in another TV show, the second season of Ding Ge Long Dong Qiang, a reality show broadcast by CCTV to promote traditional Chinese music by giving it a contemporary touch.

"The show is more of a continuation of what I have been doing. It introduces traditional Chinese musicians, most of whom are from ethnic groups," says Sa.

"I enjoy working with these musicians, whose music is primitive and charming."

Sa was born into a family with ethnic Han and Mongolian influences.

Her father is from Shandong province and her mother from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.