Rachel Hair

Rachel Hair

Rachel Hair is a folk musician from Highland, Scotland, known for playing the clarsach, the traditional harp. She is from Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands and is of mixed Irish and Scottish heritage. Her mother is from Ireland and her father from Scotland.

Early life and training

Hair first encounters the harp at the age of 10 at Feis Rois, one of Scotland’s Gaelic arts tuition festivals. She later studies music at the University of Strathclyde on the BA Applied Music course, where she graduates with first-class honours. In her final solo honours recital she receives the Alexander Stone Prize for Outstanding Performance.

Style and repertoire

Hair develops a personal style of traditional harp playing shaped by her Highland upbringing, her Irish family roots and her exposure to a wide range of musical settings, including folk, jazz, classical, funk, rock and pop musicians. Her debut solo album, Hubcaps and Potholes, appears on March Hair Records and includes 11 tracks, seven of them solo harp pieces. The recording features tunes from Scotland and Ireland alongside several of her own compositions. Douglas Millar appears on three tracks and traditional flute player Peter Webster on one track.

Performance career

As a professional musician, Hair performs across Scotland and the wider UK, and also in Europe, India and the USA, where she tours twice. She appears on the BBC TV Hogmanay Live show with Eddie Reader, Phil Cunningham, Karen Matheson, Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker and Aly Bain. She also performs at festivals including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Edinburgh International Harp Festival, Gosport and Fareham Folk Festival, and Celtic Connections in Glasgow, where she also appears with Irish harper Laoise Kelly for BBC TV.

Teaching and lecturing

Hair teaches harp and traditional music widely, and her pupils go on to win gold medals at national and local Gaelic Mods and music festivals. She teaches for Feisean nan Gaidheal, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and Celtic Connections, using the traditional by-ear method with an emphasis on enjoyment. She also travels to teach in countries including Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, the USA and India, and she lectures in Scottish and Irish traditional music at universities in Scotland and America.

Rachel Hair Trio

Hair also performs as part of the Rachel Hair Trio.