The harp. One of the most beautiful instruments to exist. Watch anyone play the harp and they just look so peaceful and content.

Dorothy Ashby is one of the greatest musicians to have ever existed, there’s no doubt about it. Listen to her records and you will realise that this magnificent woman was way ahead of her time. She created a sound that is STILL being sampled in today’s Hip Hop records. Many associate the harp with Classical and the like. Not Dorothy, not at all. She brought an element of Soul, Funk and Jazz to it.

Her 1968 album, Afro Harping is just wonderful. My personal favourite is Life Has Its Trials, it sounds like something you would hear in a film during some outrageous shoot out (think Pam Grier in Foxy Brown.) Her music is so stunning, and I really don’t understand how her name isn’t mentioned in lists of great musicians.

Just listening to this, it is easy to see that Dorothy should be regarded as one of the ones responsible for the start of Hip Hop. She’s the Godmother of Hip Hop, there’s no doubt about that. Her music back then was way ahead of its time, nobody was making music like this. Nobody is making music as moving as this right now.

My favourite record by Dorothy Ashby is The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby. It has a less soulful feel to it than say, Afro Harping but her musicianship on this record is out of this world. Her music was essentially Jazz but she merged so many different genres together, you’d be a fool to label it with just one genre.