Ailis Sutherland is performing at Celtic Connections festival’s The New Tradition: Rejuvenation concert on Saturday 22nd January at 1pm in Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
We asked Ailis about the music they will perform in the concert.
I’m Ailis Sutherland, a piper and flute player from Kirriemuir, Angus. I started learning the pipes at the age of 9 and was taught by her father, Alec Sutherland.
After years of competing and performing with my local pipe band in Brechin, and the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland, in 2015, I won the Grade 1 World Pipe Band Championships with Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia.
Since then, I’ve performed at festivals and venues around the world including Noite Celta de Porcía (Asturias), National Celtic Festival (Australia), Festival Interceltique de Lorient (Brittany), Piping Live! Festival (Scotland) and in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Romania, Switzerland and The Netherlands.
While studying in South Uist, I picked up the wooden flute and learned from Iain MacDonald (Iain the Whaler) of Glenuig. It was here I started folk trio ‘Hecla,’ nominees at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards.
Having graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Applied Music in August 2018, I’m an instructor at the National Piping Centre in Glasgow.
Just before the pandemic, I read a book from the mind of an explorer who became the ‘first person to reach the North Pole, the South Pole and the summit of Mount Everest on foot.’ The author drew a correlation between thought and footsteps and how a person can get to know landscape through their body. I was captivated by the idea that walking is a conversation between a person and their surroundings. Whenever I’m out and about, I find comfort in the idea that everything around me is a sounding-board for my internal thoughts. When I’ve walked for long enough, musical phrases have been coming to me – some I’ve known for a long time and some original. I’ve never had a practice chanter in my hands when they’ve appeared, so I’ve been singing into my phone and developing them later.
Some of these melodies are getting their first outing at this concert and I’m delighted to get to share them with you. They’re all tunes which I’ve named after people I’ve got to know over the years and places I’ve visited or lived. It’s been lovely to frame some fond memories in this way. I’ve also included a few of my friends’ tunes which I really enjoy playing.
Find out more about Ailis at their website.
Thanks for Celtic Connections and Stonehaven Folk Club’s Folk In Crisis Fund for supporting this concert.
Follow these topics: News