Ailie Robertson

Ailie Robertson is a musician in the broadest sense: composer, arranger, teacher, improviser and harp virtuoso. “Her synthesis of Irish, Scottish and contemporary harping technique into an individual style represents the realization of otherwise unimagined possibilities for the Celtic harp” (Niall Keegan, 2006).Although just 24 years old, she already has some of the most impressive credentials in the Scottish harp world. A 5-time National Mod Gold Medalist, she was also a finalist in the BBC Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2008, 1st prizewinner at the inaugural London Harp Competition, and best overall musician at the Edinburgh Competition Festival. In 2006 she gained a 1st class MA in Irish Music Performance from the IWAMD. She has represented Commun na Clarsach for Scotland at the Pan Celtic Festival in Ireland, and in 2005 she was awarded a scholarship from the ESU in recognition of her 'virtuosic clarsach playing', and was a winner of the St Albans New Roots award. She played in the Scottish Harp Orchestra, Na Clarsairean for many years, performing with them at two World Harp Congresses - in Seattle and Prague. REVIEWS FOR 'FIRST THINGS FIRST', Ailie Robertson's debut album: Wow! Harp player, Ailie Robertson has just released First Things First. What a brilliant debut! We're listening to this repeatedly. Wow! A sure contender for new-comer of the year" - Chigago Irish American News "innovative, assured and beautiful...her harp exerts an undeniable and inexorable tug at the heart strings" - Scotland on Sunday "'First Things First' is a golden opportunity to hear a harp played with flair, precision and consummate skill, plus passionate drive and gentle reserve. There's many clichés you could use such as 'old head on young shoulders', and 'talent beyond her years' – but they don't come close. Simply listen to this album to hear a harp played as never before. You know without doubt you're listening to inspired genius." - Folkwords "a player of Ailie's class has the ability to tear your heart out" - Maverick Shattering preconceptions about the fragility of her chosen instrument, Scottish debutante harpist Ailie Robertson basks in a heady excavation of the driving rhythms that lie dormant between the strings. Forget misty images of lovelorn maidens at lattice windows. Instead, step into a world where Robertson's harp jousts (alongside the energising confidence of fellow Scots harpist Catriona McKay) with percussion, bass, guitar and piano. Robertson's genius is in straddling the Irish and Scottish traditions with a fresh-faced and utterly bearable lightness of being. - Irish Times 'She is a superior musician, understands the tradition, has her own style and is at home in trad as in the jazz idiom. The amount of major awards she has won for her harp playing would fill this column. The awards don't tell the story. Her music does, and the album is on Lorimer Records. Get this album. We are playing it constantly. This is wonderful. A major, new star' - LiveIreland.com Get ready, gang. We'll be playing this a lot in the next few months. A stunning debut called, First Things First. Scotland gives us a real winner. Listen to this..." American Public Radio