Aidan O’Rourke – Fiddle
One of the UK’s most expressive and dynamic musicians, Aidan O’Rourke is a fiddle player and composer from Oban on the West Coast of Scotland. He is a member of BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winning trio, Lau and supergroup Blazin’ Fiddles and was recently voted ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ at the Scots Traditional Music Awards.
A composer of flair and imagination, Aidan O’Rourke’s melodies have been recorded by many established artists and he has been commissioned by numerous arts organisations including the Dundee Rep Theatre, Folkworks in Tyneside and Tolbooth in Stirling, where he is the current musician-in-residence. Last year he made vital compositional and performing contributions to two new creative collectives. The first is Parallelogram, a genre-defying, beautifully anomalous nucleus of creative sound, which also features his Lau band mates Martin Green and Kris Drever in addition to Pete Wareham (Acoustic Ladyland) and Flook’s Brian Finnegan (whistles/flute), John Blease (Drums) and Oli Hayhurst (Bass). The second is Cascade, a project that features Aidan alongside Andy Sheppard (saxophones), Sheema Mukherjee (sitar), Simon Thoumire (concertina) and Kuljit Bhamra (tabla/percussion) - musicians with international reputations for cross-genre and improvisatory work. Both of these collectives premiered at the South Bank Centre in London in the autumn of 2006 and were performed throughout 2007.
Other recent commissions include: Encore – a project involving some of the UK’s finest young musicians which toured extensively as the opening act for Blazin’ Fiddles and has been recorded for CD; Mantra Alba which featured the children of Dunfermline and welcomed the Dalai Lama to Scotland in 2004 and Sirius a work for 13-piece band that was commissioned by Celtic Connections New Voices series. Aidan’s musical style and expression is evident in this vast work which incorporates a wide variety of musical styles from ultra-traditional folk to jazz, roots and groove. The band featured some of Europe’s top jazz and traditional musicians including Harald Haugaard, Charlie McKerron, Brian Finnegan, Colin Steele, Luke Daniels and Phil Bancroft and has not only been released on CD, but was chosen for performance by the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music (Odense, Denmark) as an example of how different musical genres can work together.
Aidan is much sought after as a teacher and session musician and has performed on over 80 albums, ranging from Runrig to Karine Polwart and Karen Mathieson. Always one who is keen to diversify, he has been a featured soloist in Donald Shaw’s spectacular “Harvest†concert and he also made his acting debut as a helmsman from Barra in the Highland Festivals theatre production The Seven Hunters.
In addition to his ongoing work with Lau and Blazin’ Fiddles, Aidan is also a member of the Colin Steele’s Stramash and appears occasionally with Karine Polwart and Scotland’s unofficial folk orchestra, The Unusual Suspects.
Press Quotes.
“….the piece showed extraordinary powers of description, ambition and a vast range of musical references, and yet was as impressively executed as it was imaginatively conceived.†The Herald
“It is O’Rourke’s playing that most immediately commands attention with his fervent hyperactive bowing and quicksilver dynamic control.†The Scotsman
“O’Rourke is a dazzling fiddler in any setting†Scotland on Sunday
“Aidan O’Rourke underlined the sheer quality available in this band, with marvelous, soft toned articulation and apparently endless reserves of musicality.†The Herald.
FOR LAU:
“This is the album of the Year†fROOTS Magazine
"An utter corker" The Daily Telegraph
“The exhilaratingly-audacious Lau took Best Band and also played such an amazing live set that most of the audience were too stunned to remember to clap the next announcement of nominees†Channel 4
“It was a compelling performance both because of rousing virtuoso instrumental work and the sheer originality of their approach. On this showing, they should have won Best Live Act as well.†The Guardian
