Maia, also known as Sonjia Hubert Harper, is an internationally renowned multi-dimensional expressionist, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and composer. She is proficient on a range of instruments including flute, piccolo, harp, and vibraphone. As an educator, Maia specializes in vocal training for adults with developmental disabilities (including autism and Down syndrome) as well as school-aged children. Over the course of her career, she has gained recognition as a longtime member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM of Chicago) and the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (Horace Tapscott, Los Angeles). She headlined the Gorée Island Jazz Festival in Dakar, Senegal in 2019 with the Maia Quintet, the first all-women band in the festival’s history. She has also performed with the André 3000 New Blue Sun Ensemble at Hollywood Forever in Los Angeles, and appears on recordings by Carlos Niño & Friends. She is a former Executive Secretary of the AACM and a 2025 M3 Luminary Award recipient through the Mutual Mentorship for Musicians program. “Water is life. Water is a vital spiritual medicine, essential for cleansing and healing. It embodies a space for surrender, memory, strength, and enlightenment. All living beings depend on water to thrive, as it symbolizes life, fertility, and sustenance, as well as hardship. For many people, water is viewed as a sacred gift from the Creator.” Maia originally created Waters Deep as a solo harp composition intended for a dance tribute choreographed by Laurie Goux in honor of the iconic dancer Katherine Dunham, performed in Chicago in 1996 with Dunham present at the debut. Over time, Waters Deep evolved into a three-movement suite celebrating water as a fundamental force of life.
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