—by Helena Madeira

I am a singer and harp player from Portugal. Many years ago I was performing at a medieval market, at the entrance of  a castle. The acoustics were amazing, and I was very happy with my first experience in this type of event. The public was coming up the stairs to visit the castle and enjoying the sound of the harp.

Everything was going well until the moment a couple stopped near me. While I was playing, I could hear the man saying to his wife, “How dare she? She is using recorded music and doing playback? She wants to make a fool of us!?”

Though I heard everything, I pretended not to. I didn’t  want to ruin my performance and embarrass the man. But the man did it himself, not letting it go. He came furious towards me, pulled my hand while I was playing and shouted, “Do you see now that this is fake!?”

Obviously there was a deadly silence as I stopped playing. Eventually security invited the man to leave the venue, due to this clear attack. But the main lesson for me was that I had proved to be a very real harpist. •