Mantawoman (they/she), born Reylon Arius Yount, is a Chinese American musician, singer-songwriter, and performer from San Francisco.

Recognized as one of the world’s most innovative yangqin (Chinese hammered dulcimer) players, Mantawoman has gained international acclaim for their ability to bridge traditional Chinese music with modern sonic landscapes.

Praised by Yo-Yo Ma as “courageous, passionate, truth-seeking,” Mantawoman weaves fun, hyperreal aesthetics into deep explorations of transcultural identity, queerness, and spirituality.

BIOGRAPHY

Manta began their career making history as the first North American yangqin player to compete in China at the 2014 Baotou International Yangqin Arts Festival, where they won a silver prize. They went on to record and tour with the Silkroad Ensemble, becoming the first yangqin player in history to feature on a GRAMMY-winning album (Sing Me Home, 2016).

Manta has toured prestigious venues such as Lincoln Center, TED, Tanglewood, Xinghai Concert Hall, and LSO St Luke’s. They co-founded the award-winning London music collective Tangram, commissioning numerous works for yangqin with novel instrumentations. Manta has also recorded on film soundtracks for Marvel, Netflix, and a Sundance-winning animated short. 

Manta’s collaborators include Rhiannon Giddens, Johnny Gandelsman, Kayhan Kalhor, Caroline Polachek, and Luke Pritchard of The Kooks, marking them as a versatile presence in both classical and contemporary music scenes.

Manta graduated from Harvard College with a BA Environmental Science and Public Policy (cum laude). They went on to win a 2017 Marshall Scholarship, which took them to London, where they earned a MA Music in Development (distinction) from SOAS, University of London, and a MMus Sonic Arts from Goldsmiths, University of London. Their research centers upon plurality and the nature of change, drawing inspiration from Daoist metaphysics and marine biology.

In 2023, Manta was selected for the Southbank Centre Studio residency and won the Jerwood New Work Fund to develop their work as a singer-songwriter and pop performer. Manta’s music has received spins on BBC Radio and gained over 9 million views on social media. Their first EP of original songs, The Way She Makes Us Waves, weaves the yangqin into a chamber-pop instrumentation with electric bass, drumkit, strings, and vocals. 

Style

Mantawoman’s playing is fluid and iridescent, shifting seamlessly across genres, distinguished by the sparkling, colourful timbre of the yangqin.

Combining Chinese musical technique with a metamodernist sensibility, Mantawoman makes heartfelt songs in a style they call “hypnopop.”

In 2025, Mantawoman toured their one-person psychedelic cabaret show in San Francisco, New York City, London and Margate. The one-hour extravaganze showcases Mantawoman’s expansive range as a performer, integrating virtuosic repertoire and original songs with comedy, crowd work, and martial arts.

Mission

Mantawoman came to Earth to spread love. Their mission is to heal broken hearts and foster compassionate communion through music and performance. The pillars of their practice are truth, courage, and radical joy.