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.

His latest album is An Tobar Inspired by The Isle of Mull, it’s geography, music and people, the piece celebrates the tenth anniversary of An Tobar, The Tobermory Arts Centre. It was composed during a residency in Tobermory, when Aidan used the late Martyn Bennett’s old studio there, which Martyn used to call 'The Well'.

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.

An Tobar

Aidan O'Rourke, from Lau and Blazin’ Fiddles, has collaborated with musicians from across musical genres before, but this time the sparks of creativity are shining brighter than ever. Yes, the performers here are of the highest calibre, and yet, it's the unorthodox juxtaposition that is formed by his choices that sets this work apart. Here we have, Lau buddy, Martin Green on Accordion, Scottish harp player - Catriona McKay, and percussionist - Martin O'Neil. Then, just to add spice to the mix, there's bonafide jazzer Phil Bancroft on saxophone... read full review

MySpace: www.myspace.com/aidanorourke

LAU: www.lau-music.co.uk/

Blazin' Fiddles: www.blazin-fiddles.co.uk/