Ailsa Mair Arts
Singing Cellist
Emergent Storyteller
Ecological Sound Artist
picture by Valériane Leblond
hi, i'm ailsa mair fox (a.k.a. hughes)
Classically trained and wholly untamed...
Having studied and identified mainly as a cellist from age 7, over the last decade I have found myself falling deep into the realm of Stories, collaborating musically with many other storytellers and more recently doing the storytelling bit myself. I thrive as a musical improviser and write songs with the cello, influenced by musical traditions from all over the world, and fuelled by my own intuitive connection with the land in which I roam and live.
I work as much as possible outdoors, having done a lot of site-specific performance all over Britain, including years of touring with aerial circus company Whispering Woods, collaborating with dancer & choreographer Denise Rowe on Dartmoor, various bands and solo and in collaboration with my duo Tinc y Tannau in Wales.
I am currently studying on the new MA Arts & Place at Dartington School of Arts.
Just starting to get gigs in the diary after this crazy year of pandemic pandemonium - keep an eye on my Events page for details...
If you like you can find loads more about me in two interviews I did in 2020:
one with writer Leslie Tate here:
https://leslietate.com/2020/05/9599/
...and one with Folklife presenter Caitlin Tan for West Virginia Public Broadcasting, about a project I've collaborated on with storyteller Peter Stevenson, called The Moon Eyed People:
some nice things people have said about my work...
"One of the most heart-felt singers i have ever met, Ailsa literally gives me tingles down my spine. Her musical ability is astonishing and transcendental"
- Musician, sound healer, Artist Stu Hampton
"You sound like a full-grown fairy and my Mum loves you"
- fan at the Green Gathering
"Beautiful Cello Witch"
- fan
Past Collaborations &projects include:
Tinc y Tannau - duo of viol beauty and mischief with Sianed Jones
Whispering Wood Folk - magical family aerial circus/storytelling shows set in the woods:
http://whispering-wood-folk.co.uk/
Ombiviolum - Zimbabwean/Celtic fusion band, Devon: http://www.ombiviolum.com/
Dancer & choreographer Denise Rowe - 'She Who Walks'; 'Enter the Circle'
https://www.earthdances.co.uk/
Peter Stevenson (illustrator, storyteller, writer) - MANY shows with this amazing being!
http://cabinetofcuriosities.moonfruit.com/
Georgia Ruth (Welsh Music Prize winner) - cello parts on 2020 album 'Mai': https://georgiaruth.co.uk/
Tingle - cosmic reggae in West Wales: https://www.tingleme.uk/about
Mackerel Sky - magical duetting with the extraordinary Pixy Tom
https://www.facebook.com/pixytomsmusic/
Ayla Schafer - visionary songwriter (inc. EP 'Words and Wolves' )
https://aylasong.bandcamp.com/album/words-and-wolves
Joanna Bond - performance art piece: 'Inseparability of Human and Nature'
Sacred Activists' Sanctuary - Co-holding of this beautiful zone at The Green Gathering Festival
http://www.greengathering.org.uk/
'Pan, Miss Mae, & their Pole of Disarray - with Kitty O'Blitherin a.k.a Cath Rigler as part of Machynlleth Comedy Fest 2019 (funded by Articulture)
https://kittyoblitherin.weebly.com/