Taking Off: Maria Christina Harper

The pedal harp spent much of the 20th century languishing in the terminally unhip zone of symphonic romanticism, sentimental chamber ensembles and gooey Hollywood soundtracks, but the turning of the epoch has seen it reclaiming some of its ancient and noble heritage in the hands of a new crew of switched on players across a handful of genres, from 'avant-classicalist' Zeena Parkin’s work with Björk to Joanna Newsome’s take on West Coast indie balladry. There’s been a resurgence across the jazz world as well, with Brandee Younger, Alina Bzhezhinska and Maddie Herbert building on the mid-1960s legacy of Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. Maria Christina Harper, or MC as she’s known to her friends, adds her own distinct voice to this emerging company.

On her latest release she combines the instrument’s signature sweeping arpeggios and glissandos with a tougher, funkier rhythmic sensibility and distorts its famously pure tone through a series of analogue and digital effects, creating a distinctive soundworld that draws influences from her own personal journey that’s led from a childhood in Greece to her current residence in the burgeoning artistic hangout of Hastings.

MC was born and raised in Athens in a cosmopolitan family with roots across the Eastern Mediterranean: “My parents could speak English, French, Arabic and Greek”.

As a child who loved both music and cats, she became fascinated with the harp-playing character of Duchess in Disney’s animated movie The Aristocats. She was admitted to the Athens Conservatoire as a pianist as there was no harp tutor, and then, showing early signs of the steely determination that characterises her career, she persuaded the director to employ a Romanian harpist to teach her the instrument.

Horizons expanded further when she moved to London to study at the Royal Academy: “My technical ability really expanded and also I met so many people from all around the world. It was also a strict classical environment, which was great but also made me hungry to break out and make a different kind of music.”

Returning to Athens she auditioned successfully for the harp chair in the city’s most prestigious symphony orchestra: “I was so excited, it was my dream job! But then I was so bored as a classical harpist – the music was wonderful but it wasn’t for me. When I was younger, I used to listen to so many rock guitar bands, and now all I really wanted to do was play bass in a rock band – like Timmy C from Rage Against The Machine! So exciting! If you don’t have the bass you have nothing! And it looks so cool!” She missed the spontaneous interaction and direct communication that comes from improvised, unscored music.

“The Academy made me realise even more that there must be something more than just trying to be the best player.”

She trained as a music therapist, working in prisons and health care settings, opening up a different world of sonic possibilities beyond the classical world, and started experimenting with playing her harp through guitar effects pedals, focussing on the lower registers, drawing out different sounds by playing with a violin bow and exploring the percussive aspects.

She recorded and released Gluten Free, an album’s worth of solo performances that pushed at the boundaries of these new sonic possibilities, then worked in the duo Hairetis Harper with a player of the Cretan lute – “a very loud instrument, but in a nice way” – where they prioritised investigating texture and timbre as much as melody and harmony. In the meantime a steady stream of high-paying pop sessions kept the bill collectors at bay, and opened her eyes to the business aspects of the industry: and she also found time to collaborate with outré installation sound-designers and appear in performance with the flamboyant cape-wearing Soho poet Jeremy Reed – everything to make the most of the diverse opportunities available for a lone harpist in the big city – “Very interesting, and very different from what I’d ever done before”.

A lockdown-inspired move to the increasingly popular artists’ refuge of Hastings in search of inner peace, connection with nature, and cheaper rent led to MC forming a new set of connections, each with an equally diverse and multifaceted approach to music.

Harper Trio was born when MC hooked up at a jam session with drummer Evan Jenkins – best known for his work as a member of the genre-bending Neil Cowley Trio - and renowned saxophonist Josephine Davies. It was a meeting of kindred spirits: a decision was taken to proceed as a trio, following MC’s vision – “I wanted to make an album we could listen to on a road trip – something inspired by the beauty of our coastal town – and something that would allow us to really express ourselves.”

She’s full of praise for her collaborators: “They are music people! Very relaxed, very philosophical, but with so much humour - we’re so relaxed when we are together, they are lovely people to be around. And so talented!”

MC writes the melodic compositions but the final outcomes are shaped by the trio’s whole spectrum of influences: “There’s a combination of everything in my head: rock music, classical, jazz, pure sound, the folk music and Greek influences I heard as a child: and the final outcome is a mix of all the sounds that we build up together – I told them, don’t be polite, get involved!”

The results are a series of atmospheric post-jazz pieces that ebb and flow on rippling tides of MC’s harp, spiced with a certain psychedelic sensibility that makes for a beguiling listening experience that is striking a chord with audiences, both figuratively and literally. MC’s irrepressible enthusiasm carries her forward on her mission to liberate the harp from tired celestial cliché and get the world listening to its inexhaustible possibilities.

This article originally appeared in the March 2024 issue of Jazzwise. Never miss an issue – subscribe today