RUA SOUL
aka RORY COMERFORD
I'm a musical director, guitarist, songwriter, producer, and educator with over 15 years of experience in live performance, studio work, theatre, and film. I've been performing since the age of four and trained in Composition and Guitar at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Over the years, I've co-created more than 30 record releases as a session player, songwriter, and producer.
Some highlights of my work include commissions for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Psappha Ensemble, Sound Festival, and the National Galleries of Scotland. I was Musical Director for the international theatre production Morag, You’re a Long Time Deid, and I produced on Mali-I's recent album In Session. My session recording work includes collaborations with Monzanto Sound, PAIX, Mali-I, Mawadduh, Kevin Daniel Cahill, Fairweather Friends, and Zazim.
I led the international album collaboration Yarrow, funded by the Creative Scotland Open Fund, and have been involved in many other funded projects such as New Approaches to Traditional Music (Aberdeenshire Council Youth Music Initiative), the Traditional Arts Mentoring project with Christine Kydd (Creative Scotland), and Spikker performance development (Sound Scotland).
I’ve performed on, written, and produced releases for Rhythm Section International, None More Records, XXII and other labels. My live work has taken me to many venues and festivals including the Jazz Cafe London, Aberdeen Music Hall, Glasgow Jazz Festival at Òran Mór, Push Festival in Vancouver, Worldwide FM, Kelburn Garden Party, Doune the Rabbit Hole, and many more.
My work has been featured on BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Asian Network, Selector Radio, NTS Radio, and others. Music I’ve created for film and theatre has been shown at the Glasgow Film Festival, Scottish Queer International Film Festival, Fringe of Colour, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Rathaussaal Telfs, Take Me Somewhere Festival, Buzzcut Festival, and Touchstone Theatre.
In addition to mentoring and co-writing with Mawaddah on their latest EP, I'm currently co-writing, co-producing, MDing and arranging with PAIX for her debut solo album, and producing a new Rua Soul record to be released on renowned DnB label Inperspective Records in 2026.