Music
Monday, 26 April 2010 10:04
Written by Leslie Jones

---

Gillian Grassie brings indie harp to Shanghai 

Wednesday, April 28 9 p.m. at OZNZ Entrance is free, or there's RMB 100 open bar from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Gillian Grassie spent the first decade of her life wanting harp lessons. At age 12, she got them. Two Years later she was invited to perform at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival. Now she's 23, traveling the world, and creating catchy jazz-inflected pop songs with an instrument that hasn't been considered catchy since Bach.

Listen to Gillian Grassie

Silken String

Grassie's Silken Strings came in second place in the 2008 New York Songwriters Circle Competition. Grassie has become a staple of the singer-songwriter circuit in her hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She's toured in the United States and collaborated with the likes of John Legend and Jim Boggia. 

The good thing about being a young musician who plays the harp, Grassie said, is there are always weddings and corporate events looking for background entertainment. After five years of writing and singing her own music, Grassie is moving away from that type of work and concentrating almost exclusively on her own music. 

"I don't care about fame. I just want a level of success that's a sustainable career," she said.

Currently, Grassie is hauling her harp across the globe on a year-long fellowship researching technology-driven changes to the music industry in emerging music scenes.

So far she's been to Paris, Berlin, Mumbai and Indonesia. This summer she will travel through Siberia on a Russian-American folk music exchange.

< Prev		Next >