From Colombia, Edmar Castañeda

Since arriving in the United States in 1994, Colombian-born Edmar Castañeda has made a name for himself as the music world’s pre-eminent jazz harp virtuoso. Castañeda merges the jazz tradition with a diverse set of styles and genres while bringing unbridled attention to a somewhat unfamiliar instrument: the harp.

Singlehandedly, Castañeda has cemented the harp’s place in jazz with innovative technique and true creativity generated by formidable collaborations with music titans such as Sting, Wynton Marsalis, Bela Fleck, John Scofield, Ricki Lee Jones, Hiromi, Pedrito Martinez, Marcus Miller, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ivan Lins, the Yellowjackets, Paco de Lucia and Paquito D’Rivera.

Castañeda stuns audiences, musicians and critics alike with his formidable talents as a player and composer. NPR’s “Fresh Air” raved: “His technique is the real astonishment. Castañeda juggles lead, rhythm and bass lines, using a variety of hard and soft string attacks to keep those voices distinct — all without giving up the groove. His amazing technique raises the bar for every harpist.”

The New York Times observed, “Castaneda engages modern jazz in ways that honor cultural origins; [he has] the capacity to astonish by virtue of [his] finger-style technique.” 

American singer-songwriter Moses Sumney declared of Castañeda’s “NPR “Tiny Desk Concert”: “My brain cracked open when I first saw this. Some classical instruments are so ingrained in our heads for sounding one way; Edmar restructures what we know of harp, defiantly expanding the bounds of the instrument.”

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote. “The Colombian plays the harp like hardly anyone else on earth. His hands, seemingly powered by two different people, produce a totally unique, symphonic fullness of sound, a rapid-fire of chords, balance of melodic figures and drive, served with euphoric Latin American rhythms, and the improvisatory freedom of a trained jazz musician — captivating virtuosity, but in no way only virtuosity for its own sake.” 

Edmar Castañeda released his latest studio album, “Viento Sur,” featuring his World Ensemble, a nine-person band of acclaimed global musicians from Switzerland, Brazil, Cuba, Israel, Chile, United States, Argentina and Colombia, in May 2023. It  follows seven prior albums (“Cuarto de Colores,” “Entre Cuerdas,” “Double Portion,” “Live at the Jazz Standard,” “Live in Montreal,” “Harp vs. Harp,” “Family”). Several tracks on “Viento Sur” were commissioned by American Chamber Music, underwritten by a New Jazz Works Grant.

Castañeda’s renowned albums as a bandleader feature with awe-inspiring symphonic works performed by the Orquestra Clássica de Espinho and the São Paulo Jazz Symphony Orchestra, and chamber pieces for the Israel Camerata Jerusalem and the Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia.

Edmar Castañeda will appear with his band in an SCP Jazz concert also featuring Eliane Elias on May 9.