<p>Hanz Araki and Kathryn Claire perform Celtic music.</p>

GEARHART Prepare to tap your toes and bob your head to the Celtic songs of award-winning Irish flute player Hanz Araki and fiddle-player Kathryn Claire. The duo will perform 7 p.m., Friday, May 24 at McMenamins Sand Trap Pub, 1157 N. Marion Ave. in Gearhart.

Araki is the quintessential world music musician. After six generations, the name Araki is synonymous with the Japanese shakuhachi (an end-blown bamboo flute), which Hanz mastered, making his professional debut in 1988. After four years of concert appearances and teaching at the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo, Japan, Araki returned to his hometown of Seattle and found himself drawn to the world of Celtic music. The penny-whistle and the Irish flute became his single-minded focus, and jigs and reels became a second language.

Araki also discovered his voice was well-suited to the songs of Scotland, Ireland and England, and he is highly regarded for his interpretation of folk songs. After several tours across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., Araki moved to Portland in 2006. This move proved to be most fortuitous as it led to the musical partnership with Kathryn Claire.

A self-taught guitarist and accomplished vocalist and fiddle-player, Claire has asserted herself in a new generation of traditionally-inspired musicians. Her violin-playing exhibits a technical grace that is matched only by her captivating voice. While she possesses the rare ability to move seamlessly across genres, her love and deep respect for traditional music has long been a driving influence, and those roots can be heard in her own original music.

Araki and Claire quickly discovered their shared love of harmony, and a creative process began that has produced a tremendous body of work. Their shared passion for traditional music is magnetic and they have become a favorite at music festivals and venues in the U.S. and abroad.