Alison's Biography

Alison started playing the harp in 1985 while living in Gore, a small town in the South Island of New Zealand, noted for its annual country music festival. Struggling with such odds she persisted at her craft, earning her first gig….. with the local hearing impaired group!

Alison was able to pursue a more Celtic flavour when she moved to Dunedin, New Zealand, and was soon active in the New Edinburgh Folk Club (Dunedin is Gaelic for Edinburgh and is the Celtic capital of NZ). She became a key member of a succession of performance groups including Blarney Rose who produced a tape and were dubbed the Irish Light Orchestra of the South because of their proliferation of members.

Alison built her 2nd instrument, a 36-string Paraguayan Harp, at a harp-making workshop in Australia. Immediately following was the First Australian Harp Festival where Alison performed between the constant re-tunings of the Paraguayan's new strings.

In 1996 Creative New Zealand funded Alison on a professional development trip to the International Folk Harp Conference in Olympia, Washington. A year later, she produced her first solo harp CD, Harping On .

Alison now lives in Sidney, British Columbia, and performs extensively on the Paraguayan and Celtic harps for concerts, weddings, schools, corporate, community and private events. Her most recent acquisition is a superb sounding 36-string NOVA lever harp made by Sandpiper Instruments (John Westling) in Oregon. See harps page.

She works primarily as a soloist but has been a part of duos and ensembles, and is currently collaborating with other musicians with the desire to present a concert series on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

Alison counts herself lucky to have received extensive training on the piano when she was young. She translates these skills for teaching herself and others on the harp, as well as for arranging and composing music.

Alison's repertoire is constantly expanding as she explores the many voices of the harp. Initially Celtic, then Celtic and Latin, and now music of the world translated and arranged for harp.

To Alison,

The Rainbow Harpist

You have left the rainbow,

The sun, the moon, the stars,

so much behind you.

Until you had gone

I did not know that you had left

the rivers, the forests,

the silences.

I did not know

I should always remember

your music in my heart.

Viva Alison,

Mucho gracias...

Peter Jacobson,

Poet,

Dunedin,

New Zealand

The interweaving of rhythm,

melody and harmony

fascinates me, particularly when played on such a

beautiful instrument as

the harp!

On my recordings you will hear music and

musical influences from...

Ireland

Scotland

Wales

England

Paraguay

Cuba

Columbia

Venezuela

Central America

Chile

Spain

France (Brittany)

Zimbabwe

The Caribbean

Balkan countries

Eastern Europe

Alison