About this speaker
Ainsley is a songwriter, singer, voice over artist, step-dancer and co-director and founder of The Association of Exiled Scots. Much of her own and traditional material is performed with 'Fourth Moon', ‘Barluath’ and solo with her band.
Ainsley hails from Cardross in the West of Scotland, and has been involved in singing, dancing and performance from a young age, and specialises in songwriting, Gaelic Song and English Song, Step Dance and Voice Over in both a performance and teaching capacity.
Ainsley’s love of Gaelic song was nurtured whilst studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she obtained a First Class Honour’s Degree in Scottish Music, with Gaelic Song as her Principal Study. There she met her band mates, and Barluath was formed. In recent years, the band has recorded two studio albums, ‘Source’ and ‘At Dawn of Day’, along with touring extensively in Britain and abroad.
In October 2013, Ainsley won The Silver Pendant at The Royal National Mòd, held in Paisley. She has also appeared in the final of the An Comunn Gàidhealach Gold Medal competition in 2014, and 2015. Ainsley was also named as a BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year Finalist in 2014/15, and recently nominated for Gaelic Singer of the Year at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards. Ainsley has been broadcast on radio and television numerous times both with her band and solo.
She has also appeared at major folk festivals such as The Festival Interceltique de Lorient, and Celtic Connections since 2010, along with many others in Britain and abroad, whilst touring extensively in Germany and Denmark with Barluath.
