Thanks for posting, Josie.. that really is an interesting clip!
I'm not surprised to hear that the practice is of Asian origin... one of her examples sounded just like an Erhu (an Asian bowed instrument having only one string)

I was especially impressed by her mastery of the technique and her ability to use it in so many ways.

Regarding its weirdness: in the context of western music it seems out of place.. but then, so does the Gregorian chant. I can see this easily fitting into eastern or new age music.

Whoever figured this out in the first place must have had a lot of time to kill... or a really boring and solitary job! ;-)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ey71h8ep047758h/AAC12jNM0Hz9Q8zsh5iDeqNHa?dl=0