I WANT TO MAKE THE HARP SEXY

That should be easy for you, Katie

By Jack Mathieson

A HARP is not what you normally see among the guitars and drums on Top of the Pops, but a stunning Scots musician plans to change that.

Katie Targett Adams has been playing the ancient instrument for 14 years.

Her talent has been wowing friends and family for all that time, but the Edinburgh girl's dream has always been to copy the success of violinist Vanessa Mae and stunning quartet Bond by making the harp sexy and taking it to the top of the charts.

And now it looks like she will have the chance as the gorgeous 24-year-old has struck a record deal which will help her deliver classical music to a new audience.

She said: ''The world knows all about the bagpipes, but they don't know much about the Celtic harp or clarsach.

''This will be a lovely platform for me to be an ambassador for the instrument and to create something more modern and mainstream.

''It's unusual to have a harpist who sings as well as plays, and it will be promoting Scottish music in a new and contemporary way.''

Katie has now signed a contract with River Records which will see industry giants Universal market her work to an international audience.

For the last couple of years she has won rave word-of-mouth reviews with her distinctive Celtic musical sound, but she is finally getting the recognition she deserves for her own brand of harp playing which includes jazzed up pop favourites and modern arrangements of traditional songs such as Scotland the Brave.

She said: ''I am really excited, I have always made my music style more contemporary, but I also really like pop music so I started playing ballads and now I have even recorded a dance track.''

Katie began playing the harp at the age of 10 when she was a pupil at Edinburgh's St George's School for Girls.

As a bright teenager she went on to study Modern and Medieval Languages at Oxford.

She kept up her music while studying and developed her own style, giving the instrument, which has been played since the eighth century, a new lease of life by adapting it to new musical trends.

But her talent was not really discovered until her final year at university when she was sailed to play at a Burns' supper while she was on a trip to Germany.

The performance was seen by TV producers who asked her to play live on a popular Friday night show and she hasn't looked back since.

She graduated in 2001 and since then has been travelling all over the world to perform.

Even the Chinese cultural minister Xu Tong found her unusual sound too tempting to resist.

He heard Katie play at Stirling Castle and immediately invited her to come and perform behind the bamboo curtain. She's also taken centre stage in New York in front of Sir Sean Connery and First Minister Jack McConnell during the 2002 Tartan Day celebrations.

NOW, at River Records, she will be adding new material to her repertoire for a CD which will be in the shops early this year.

Katie, whose uncle Phil Manzanera plays guitar with Roxy Music, said: ''I will be trying some Beatles tracks, some Scottish songs and maybe a bit of Mariah Carey.

''But the material we will actually use is undecided at this stage. Things sound different when the creative juices are flowing, and you are never quite certain what will work best until you get in the studio environment.''

Jimmy Devlin, managing director of River Records, owned by Scottish Radio Holdings, said it was pure coincidence which brought Katie to them.

He said: ''Scott Wilson at Radio Forth gave me some of her material to listen to. Then my son, Jimmy, heard her playing at a wedding in France and called to tell me about her.

''It will be great to get her into the studio and see what sparkles.

''It is a highly unusual sound. There are a lot of girl singers and a lot that play the guitar.

''But you do not get many that sing and play the harp. It's traditionally a folk instrument but with Katie we have a combination of the voice, the harp and a contemporary treatment.

''You would not expect someone with a harp to be doing something like this.''

As well as releasing music on their own label, River Records are also linking up with record companies to revive live recordings from the Radio Forth and Clyde archives.

Source: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/

Page Last Updated: 4 March, 2010

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