Peruvian-born harpist and composer Eve Matin has always experienced the world through a lens of deep listening and devotion. Born to Persian parents and raised within the Baháʼí faith, her practice as a musician is rooted in a belief in unity and the power of conscious knowledge put into action.
That foundation now finds expression in her debut EP, TRANSMUTANCIA, released on LA-based label Leaving Records — a project that positions the harp not just as instrument, but as the language of movement, communion, and radical vulnerability.
The harp has long been Eve’s purest voice; extending beyond words into body and sound. Today, she channels that depth into experimental, site-specific work — performances that dissolve boundaries between composition and improvisation, contemporary impressionism and landscape music.
TRANSMUTANCIA emerges from one such performance — a spontaneous, one-hour improvisational set at Morphine Raum in Berlin. The entire concert was captured live and without her knowledge, preserving the intensity and intimacy of the moment. When the recording was later shared with her, Eve recognized in it the raw essence of her work: a documentation of freedom and honest expression. The EP unfolds as a triptych of three improvisational pieces inspired by spiritual exploration, each drawn with mystic and devotional resonance. The final two tracks are Eve’s original compositions, and also serve as the opening of her forthcoming debut album, slated for July 2026.
Questions and Answers
FACTS
1- faith is conscious knowledge put in action.
2- peruvian ceviche fuels my soul.
3-music is a ladder suspended between earth and heaven
Questions
1- What inspires you?
The radical acceptance of being present, bold imagination and autheticity, even when it is raw or ugly.
people around me, their generosity, nature in its wildest – la Amazonía. Reading sacred scriptures like Bahai writings or Hazrat Inayat Khan´s “Mysticism of Sound…”
you know… everything can be inspiring if you have the right lens and are vibing in a good hair day.
Since my performances are site-specific, inspiration arises from that organic exchange ~ what I carry inside meeting and resonating with the environment, both human and physical.
2- how and when did you get into music?
I remember hearing my dad early in the mornings, praying in Farsi. His voice would wake me up with beautiful Persian melodies filled with powerful words. Then, when I was very young, a harp came to me in a dream, and after many years studying in the conservatoire, it became part of my life through various transmutation periods.
Music was always around me, in the nature sounds of the valley I grew up in, and in the Peruvian radio I’d listen to on the bus for two hours traveling to the city to study in the conservatoire and take flamenco lessons. Rhythm and sound were constant companions. The harp and classical music became my first formal encounter with music, my first way of learning Western music, through its intellectual and structured form.
3- 5 of your favorite albums
SE PAAAASAN CON ESTA PREGUNTA
I didn’t grow up thinking of music in terms of albums, but rather as complete works, almost like books or art pieces. I listen to entire symphonies and live projects.
If I think of my main “album” inspirations, they would be the compositions of Ravel, Debussy, Messiaen, Mahler; timeless works that shaped my understanding of harmony and form. I was also surrounded by traditional Persian and Peruvian music, as well as flamenco and global traditions. Paco de Lucía was a big influence, as well as artists like Chabuca Granda, Björk, Jeff Buckley, Jobim…
4-what do you associate with Berlín
Wild imagination
Contortion distortion
Potential
Diversity in need of unity.
5-what’s your favorite place in town?
I’m still new in town, but Morphine Raum is a very special place for me, it was my first solo performance in Berlin, and the studio where Transmutancias was conceived ♥️
There is so much to do/see/be in Berlin. Anywhere I’m with friends, that’s my favorite place in town.
6-if there was no music
…
I’d study quantum physics.
Sell flowers, making cute bouquets at a small street stall.
Open a Peruvian ceviche restaurant.
7-last record you bought
The last record I bought was a vinyl by the experimental harpist Marina Melloa.
The last album I listened to, just before answering this question, was Arooj Aftab -Night Reign.
8-who would u most like to collab?
Impossible to answer just 1 person.
But always Bjork, Kayhan Kalhor, Susana Baca come first to mind. I hear the symphony orchestra of Berlin playing an orchestral version of my compositions as well. Ya.
9- This years best gig was in April at a festival in Chile called Luz a la Cordillera, which means “Light in the Andes.” The venue was beautiful, near the Baha’i Temple in the mountains, with a view of all of Santiago. I felt so blessed to share stage with some of my favorite musicians: Chieko Donker Duyvis- singer and cellist, and Apoorva Krishna my favorite violinist from India. We played a mix of my compositions and theirs, and it was truly a transformative, spiritual experience, a strong, feminine energy in music that I’ll never forget. Being able to play and listen to them up close was incredibly moving.
10- Technology can be a very important tool if we use it consciously and consider its short and long-term impacts. I’m still far from understanding or incorporating it into my music. But over the past few years, I’ve slowly started to include technology in ways that feel organic and keep my work authentic.
Ive been lucky to be surrounded by amazing female producers, Alex Rapp does my live sound designs, and Mia Gracía is producing my next album, acknowledging a more tender angle of my creations.
11-Please tell us more about the development of your new EP, Transmutancia.
Transmutancia began as a live performance in Berlin that I didn’t even know was being recorded. Organized by Radical Sounds Latinamerica, it was part of the 40th anniversary commemoration of the 10 Baha’i women in Shiraz – Iran, who were martyred for their beliefs. I dedicated the performance to them, so the improvisations are full of devotion, wild female energy, bravery, and selfless sacrifice.
There’s also a personal connection; my mom, Azam, born and raised in Shiraz, knew some of these women. The EP reflects both that history and my own musical “birth” into the world. With the first piece called “Azam and Eve” playing with the “beginning” “becoming” concept of Adam and Eve.
The first three tracks are fully improvised, and they represent this mystical, prophetic, female courage and power that faith has inspired.
The final two tracks, Chiqchipa and Pilgrimage, are compositions I’ve been developing over the past few years, playing them live and improvising while touring Peru and Spain. They appear in their live form on Transmutancia, but will also feature on my next album, serving as a connective thread between the two.
The EP is site-specific, improvised, raw and live, capturing the interaction with the audience in Berlin. I’ve played a few concerts here since, and I love performing for this audience; they crack their hearts open, and my music becomes infused with their presence.
