"Chance is God acting incognito," said Einstein. Without going that far, we can't ignore the fact that sometimes things come together so nicely they clearly point out a path. Such was the case for Scarlett Khoury, a professional harpist for the last 35 years. Studies at the Nice conservatoire, Monaco's academy of music, the Paris conservatoire... the usual progression and her life in music might well have continued thus. Then chance took
a hand. "I performed with rapper Kanye West and to celebrate Tina Turner's 40 years in music. Those experiences took me out of my usual register and confirmed my feelings about wanting to dust off my instrument's image." As a result she now plays an amazing pop and rock repertoire – just imagine Hit the Road Jack!, Stairway to Heaven, Riders on the Storm or Smells Like Teen Spirit on the harp! And don't think hers are simply arrangements, they're genuine encounters between music and instrument, bringing the quintessence of each into harmony so as to create an original, sensitive work. Going even further, she has now devised a novel performance concept – Street Harpe – with street artist Otom: as she plays Hit the Road Jack!, he manipulates his aerosols to gradually reveal Ray Charles's face. Fantastic!
By Alexandre Benoist
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