We caught up with the brilliant and insightful ANNALISA UNDERHAY a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
ANNALISA, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
I love the freedom of being an independent performing artist. As a harpist, I was classically trained, of course. But as time went on I became more and more excited about how I could reflect my own creativity as a musician and entertainer. Orchestra is glorious and such a huge part of the musical framework throughout history…… but oh to be able to break free and become creative with no boundaries!! I’ve been blessed to perform all over the world. I’m at my happiest when my talents bring joy to others. However, bringing the element of surprise is even more exciting. I like to “electrify” my audience with an instrument of my own creation, which I call a “harp-guitar”. Essentially, I’ve taken a lovely little 26 string harp, added electric instrument components and effects, made changes to the structure and voila! A 26 string instrument that I perform as an 26 string electric guitar! I’ve been known to electrify my audiences with Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” on cruise ships and the Beatles’ “All My Lovin'”, which brought the audience to their feet in opera houses of Europe. I now have a new original project in the works; it’s not quite ready to be revealed, but it will certainly make a “vibration” within the musical community!
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
My largest obstacle to date, where all of my performance experience was completely irrelevant was as soon as the pandemic hit. For obvious reasons, there were no more international or cruise ship opportunities. There were not even any local opportunities such as weddings and all events were at a stand still. It was at that point that I realized just how vulnerable my type of career really is. There were some artists who were making a little bit of money doing virtual work, but I was not plugged into that area since my work had all been stage to audience/face to face. It was certainly very humbling to say the least. I did work in a completely unrelated field to just get by. If anything, musicians know how to hustle when necessary. My take-away from that time is that I really need to find a way to make my career bullet proof with an alternate way of procuring a living if my live presentation opportunities were to be limited again. I have a couple of ideas in the works, but it was certainly a very eye-opening time.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
The story of how I met my business partner is really very simple. It all started on a winter’s day in Newfoundland when Esther Underhay delivered a baby girl. That girl was me. It’s actually really incredible how our business relationship evolved. She did not teach me harp. She did not really encourage harp for me either since opportunities were extremely limited in Newfoundland and she wanted to encourage areas where I could flourish. It wasn’t until I was in my 20’s that the idea of playing as a mother/daughter duo evolved. It was fascinating because we both had different instructors, techniques and very different playing styles, but when we sat down together at our harps, it was like a musical dialogue was instantly taking place. Somehow we can anticipate when one will take the lead/melody and thus the other will do improvisation to compliment the melody. It just came so naturally. It’s been that way ever since. When we collaborate on a song, it’s just like an effortless conversation between the instruments regardless of how much or little time has been put into rehearsing.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TheHarpistAnnaLisa.com
- Instagram: @annalisaunderhay
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/annalisa.underhay
- Youtube: @internationalharpistannali7755
- Other: www.elegantharp.net