Cris' Artist Spotlight
When I started music, I started with the piano, just because it's the most accessible instrument, it's an easy go-to, and that's what I started with. And I was practicing to become a professional pianist.
I decided to learn other instruments to widen my knowledge in music. And I chose the harp because I thought it was the weirdest instrument. I heard horrible things about the harp, like that the strings would often break overnight, and that you would have to tune the harp couple of times a day. I thought, "Oh my God, this thing has no future. Why would someone play this? So primitive."
I chose the harp to experiment, but then I fell in love with it. I fell in love, gave up piano, and then I decided to work on the harp and become a professional harpist. So I took a bachelor's degree at the University of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and then I took a master's degree at the University of Arizona.
Then, I came to New Zealand in 2019 because it had been about 5 years since I couldn't pay the rent playing and teaching music. It was my last chance into going back to music professionally. So, I moved to New Zealand for that last shot. My plan was to take a Master’s degree at the University of Auckland and engage professionally.
And then I've learned that, "Well, wait a minute. People would offer me a hundred dollars to perform a recital? But it takes me a whole month to prepare one."
I cannot accept such gigs if I want to pay rent and do something with good quality. So the option is to face it as a hobby, prepare something at a lower quality, not care about it, and get my 100 dollars? It wouldn't fulfill me. It's not what I wanna do.
Besides, I can make more than that, just doing dishes as a kitchen hand, or three times in one hour with one client, not worrying about a whole month of practice.
So why would I? Why would I play the harp if they are offering me so little? It doesn't sustain itself. And that is very sad. So, I came to New Zealand, thinking it would be my last attempt. But it just didn't happen the way I anticipated.
I wouldn't be able to be a full time musician because there wasn't enough investment in New Zealand for that in the music industry. So I thought, "Maybe I have to change industries now," and prostitution had already been there for a while to kind of made me go through all the crisis and get where I am now.
Almost 8 years ago, when I started in prostitution, I chose a name to protect my identity. But a couple years in, it just became my identity. It became who I am.
It didn't take long for Cristiano to be this person. So, I don't like being referred to by my birth name anymore.
It used to be a name to protect my identity, but it became my identity. So, this is who I am now. I cannot think of myself anymore as a classically trained harpist who moonlights as a prostitute.
Now I see myself as a prostitute who plays the harp. I cannot use the name that I used before. I have to use this name from now on.
Everything that I've done and become as a prostitute, I'm so proud of. I believe I’ve became so much greater than I was.
For me, there was so much learning on vulnerable layers of society, and the ins and outs of this profession that made me a better human being.
So there's 1,000 reasons for me to be proud of that. If I want to go on stage, I want to represent that. I want that to speak first. I want the prostitute to come forward.
—Cristiano Terra