about | ailsamairsong

hi, i'm ailsa mair...

singer,

cellist,

songwriter,

improviser,

land-listener,

co-creator of spontaneous sacred soundscapes,

budding storyteller

yarn spinner,

weaver of song-cloth,

ritual-artist

environmentalist,

activist,

trainee ecomusicologist,

(possibly) part-mermaid...

I place myself at the edges of land and sea, earth and cosmos to be a vessel for creativity... Having trained and identified mainly as a cellist for years, I am now offering myself as a musician and artist with a conscious awareness of the healing power of sound, story, nature and ritual space. I work as much as possible outdoors, having done a lot of site-specific performance all over Britain, including with aerial circus company Whispering Woods, with dancer & choreographer Denise Rowe and band Ombiviolum on Dartmoor, and solo and in collaboration with my duo Tinc y Tannau in Wales.

Right now, whilst 'Locked-Down' in Machynlleth, I am embracing immersing myself in wild soundscape, learning birdsongs and listening to the rivers - realising my music must be a collaboration with these if it is to unfurl in harmony. I am working on a new storytelling show (news to follow!), spinning hand-dyed wool collected from the Welsh hills, planting seeds (to be eaten by voles...), making medicines from garden herbs. Writing, experimenting, giving permission to explore myself as a whole creative being. And thinking seriously about the way forward, my role as an artist in these rapidly shifting times...

You can find loads more about me in two recent interviews

I did earlier 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:

https://www.wvpublic.org/post/folktales-and-music-bring-life-wva-welsh-connection?fbclid=IwAR2Kcm2iQWkuh5M7FYOSmX03uQqbX0g76QqbUW55JaGjG2U3F3iug-y_K1Y#stream/0