William Jackson of Glasgow has been at the forefront of Scottish traditional music for more than 40 years. He is highly regarded as one of the leading harpers and multi-instrumentalists in Scotland and has gained an international reputation as a composer. In 2004 he was given the Swannanoa Gathering’s Master Music Maker award for Lifetime Achievement, and in 2015 the Somerset Folk Harp Festival awarded William with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
William was a founding member and creative tour de force of Ossian in 1976, which became one of Scotland’s best-loved traditional bands. The band, whose music influenced a generation of musicians, has toured extensively in the USA and Europe. In 2015, he and the band were inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame in Inverness Scotland.
In addition to his performing, as a composer William is well-known for combining traditional and classical music in such major works as The Wellpark Suite, St. Mungo, Inchcolm, and A Scottish Island. In 1999 his “Land of Light” won the international competition as the new song for Scotland, and in that same year his composition ‘Corryvreckan’ from the album Inchcolm was included on Fiona Ritchie’s favourites collection, “The Best of The Thistle & Shamrock, Volume 1.”
William’s music is featured on many BBC and other television productions; he is not only in demand as a composer of sensitive music, but is increasingly becoming a producer. He directed and performed the music for “Battle of the Clans” for The History Channel, and produced and recorded the music for a new six part series about Scottish National Trust properties for Scottish Television.
William’s performance on harp, whistle and bodhran is featured on the soundtrack of the motion picture starring Robert Duval and Michael Keaton, which was filmed in Scotland. (Sounding Strings)
“… he has total command of the Scottish traditonal idiom.” — Sounding Strings