For a brief moment, not so long ago, a small part of New Zealand was alive to the ringing sound of harpists playing Manx folk music.

More than 30 harpists took part in a rural harp retreat in Port Waikato, New Zealand, which included a range of workshops led by the Scottish harp player and tutor Rachel Hair.

One particular tune which Rachel taught to the group was the modern Celtic composition ’Auldyn River’, written by Paul Cringle.

A video posted to the Manx Music and Dance Facebook page shows a group of the harpists sat around a small river, playing the tune at the end of the workshop.

The harp retreat was organised by the New Zealand Celtic harpist Anna Dunwoodie.

’They’ve all been learning Paul Cringle’s Auldyn River over there, so much so, they made a big occasion of it at the Harp Retreat course that I was teaching on.’ Said Rachel.

’On the Saturday evening they even ’renamed’ the wee creek behind the camp, "Auldyn River".’

Glasgow-based harp player and tutor Rachel is a familiar face on the Isle of Man.

She regularly travels to Manx shores to teach some of the island’s young harpists and was also tutor to Mera Royle, who went on to become the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Musician of the Year in 2018.

She was due to play with ’Claasagh’, a harp group which features a group of her students, at the Villa Arcade last weekend.