Cai Yayi is the founder of Nanyin Yayi Cultural Museum in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, and representative inheritor of Intangible Cultural Heritage nanyin. She was born to a family of nanyin musicians. From childhood, she has been immersed in nanyin and studied with a number of famous folk traditional nanyin artists. In 1993, she enrolled in the Fujian Quanzhou Art School. After graduation, she engaged in Singapore Siong Leng Musical Association as Music Instructor. In 2011, Cai Yayi was appointed Art Director of Singapore Sheng Hong Art Institute. In 2013, she was appointed the Director of Nanyin Research Center, and Visiting Professor of Art Institute of Xiamen University. In the same year, she launched Nanyin Communication Platform, Nanyin Yayi, and received her Master of Arts degree at Xiamen University in 2017.
In recent years, Cai has participated in many international academic music conferences and International Music Festival, bringing nanyin to the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and many other countries. In 2015, she founded Nanyin Yayi Cultural Museum. She was invited to give lectures on and performances of nanyin at Fudan University, East China Normal University, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Central Conservatory of Music, Fuzhou University, and Tianjin Conservatory of Music.
Since 2000, Cai has released six albums of traditional nanyin songs, including Exercise of Plum Blossoms, and has participated in more than ten compilation albums. In 2015, Cai took part in the Quanzhou Nanyin Recording Engineering. As a major member, she recorded the Complete Works of Nanyin Opera and 200 Quanzhou Nanyin Melodies. In 2017, Cai was the first nanyin artist invited to perform the Symphony Chang’an Men in Musikverein, together with the Philharmonic Orchestra of University of Vienna and the China National Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and was the nanyin soloist of the third movement “Chu Han Guan”, bringing nanyin into the world music hall and making it a milestone in the history of inheritance and dissemination of nanyin.
Since 2018, Cai has been collaborating with Li Chin Sung, an experimental electronic musician, on many projects to explore the improvisation of nanyin and electroacoustics. They have performed in Beijing, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung and other regions. And their works include The Sky, The Modern Day Flavours of Nanyin and Nannmyam, etc.
蔡雅藝，福建泉州市南音雅藝文化館創辦人，非物質文化遺產南音代表性傳承人。生於南音世家，自幼耳濡目染，蔡雅藝先後跟隨多位著名民間南音藝人學習傳統南音。 1993年就讀於泉州藝術學校南音班，畢業後受聘於新加坡湘靈音樂社，擔任音樂指導。 2011年，蔡雅藝受聘於新加坡城隍藝術學院任藝術總監，2013年受聘為廈門大學藝術研究所南音研究中心主任、廈門大學藝術學院客座教授；同年發起南音傳播平台——南音雅藝，2017年獲廈門大學藝術碩士學位。
近年來，蔡雅藝曾多次參加國際音樂學術會議及國際藝術節，把南音帶到了美國、英國、德國、瑞士、意大利、日本、馬來西亞、印尼、泰國等國家。 2015年，創建「南音雅藝文化館」，從事民間推廣的同時，還受邀到復旦大學、華東師大、上海音樂學院、中央音樂學院、福州大學、天津音樂學院等高校舉辦南音講座與示範。
2000年起，蔡雅藝陸續發行個人南音傳統曲專輯《梅花操》等共六張，參與合集逾十張。 2015年，蔡雅藝參與「泉州南音記錄工程」，作為主要人員，錄製了《南音指譜全集》及《泉州南音錦曲200首》。 2017年，蔡雅藝作為首位受邀進入奧地維也納金色大廳的南音藝術家，與維也納大學愛樂樂團、中國國家交響樂團合唱團共同演出大型交響曲《長安門》，並擔任第三樂章《出漢關》（南音）的獨唱，把南音唱進了世界音樂殿堂，成為南音傳承與傳播史上具代表性意義的重要事件。
2018年開始，蔡雅藝與實驗電子音樂家李勁松先生多次合作，探索南音與電聲的即興可能，探索南音與電聲的即興可能，並在北京，香港，高雄等地區演出，兩人合作的作品包括：《穹蒼下》，《南音味自慢》等。