Tracks 1. The Exploding Bow/ The Lisagun/ Swerving for Bunnies 2. Micho Russell's / Na Goisidich (The Gossips) 3. Ho Ro Mo Bhobag An Dram (The Favourite Dram) 4. Donald, Willie & His Dog 5. Spirits 6. President Garfield's / Marry Me Now 7. The Humours of Scariff / Good Spirits 8. The Futterat with the Grey Tail/ North Highland Dance/ Ray & Kevin's Reel 9. Sands of Hosta 10. Angus Jig / John Joe's / Would The Minister Not Dance 11. The Angel's Share/ Taureen Derby Polka / O'Connor's Polka   Click on underlined titles to hear sound samples with Real Player

We are delighted to announce our release of this fine recording.

First Things First
LRRCD 1
Ailie Robertson

with
James Ross: piano, Harmonium
Paul Jennings: Cajon and Percussion
Ewan Robertson: Guitar
Duncan Lyall: Bass


BIOG:
Ailie Robertson: Clarsach
Ailie Robertson is a musician in the broadest sense: composer, arranger, teacher, improviser and “harp virtuoso”. Although just 24, she has some of the most impressive credentials in the Scottish harp world. She holds a 1st class MA in performance from the IWAMD in Limerick, is a 5-time National Mod Gold Medalist, and was also a BBC Radio Scotland Young Musician of
the Year 2008 finalist, 1st prizewinner at the inaugural London Harp Competition, and best overall musician at the Edinburgh Competition Festival. She has represented Scotland at the Pan Celtic Festival in Ireland, was awarded an ESU scholarship in recognition of her 'virtuosic clarsach playing', and was a winner of the New Roots award. She works as a soloist for Yehudi
Menuhin’s Live Music Now! program, and has given recitals at events all over Scotland, including performing for HRH the Queen. When not performing, Ailie is in great demand as a tutor and
gives lessons and masterclasses all over Scotland and beyond.

“Inspired genius”, “Innovative, assured, and beautiful”, “exquisite”, “a sure contender for new-comer of the year”, “irrepressible joie-de-vivre”, “a player of Ailie’s class has the ability
to tear your heart out".
It can't be often that a Cambridge University graduate with a lst-class honours degree in Genetics decides to give it all up to pursue to her dreams of being a traditional musician,
but that's exactly what harpist Ailie Robertson did three years ago. With a scholarship from the ESU in recognition of her 'virtuosic harp playing,' she moved to Limerick and took the Irish Music Performance course at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, graduating with a first class MA in 2006. Her accomplishment there was such that leading Irish flautist Niall Keegan said: "Ailie's synthesis of Irish, Scottish and contemporary harping technique into an individual style represents the realisation of otherwise unimagined possibilities for the Celtic harp."

Ailie grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland, and began playing the clarsach when she was eleven years old. Since then Ailie has been going from strength to strength as a professional musician and adding to some of the most impressive credentials in the Scottish harp world. A four-time National Mod Gold Medalist and a BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2008 finalist, Ailie also won first prize at the inaugural London Harp Competition, was judged best overall musician at the Edinburgh Competition Festival and won the St Albans New Roots award. She has represented Commun na Clarsach for Scotland at the Pan Celtic Festival in Ireland and played at two World Harp Congresses.

With her debut solo CD, First Things First, Robertson puts the harp within a line-up of guitar, bass, percussion and piano, showing that the harp can really stand out on its own as a solo instrument within a band setting. There are jigs, reels and polkas to get the feet tapping and prove that the harp can be just as fast and driving as a fiddle, while her slow airs have been described as 'heart-achingly beautiful'. The album was recorded at Watercolour Music in Ardgour, with the help of producer Mary-Ann Kennedy and musicians Paul Jennings on percussion, Duncan Lyall on bass, Ewan Robertson on guitar and James Ross on piano.

Copperplate is very proud to have this title on our roster and to help it achieve its full potential will be supporting this release with a full-scale promotional mail out to media and retail. Please copy us on any reviews/ airplay or interest. Feedback welcome

You can find out more about Ailie at www.ailierobertson.com or www.myspace.com/ailierobertson

  BBC Radio Scotland Young Trad Final Clips
You can find audio and video clips from Sunday nights young trad final here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/music/celticconnections/features/young_trad.shtml

Thanks to the BBC for their wonderful filming and recording!

DATES: Sept 08
17 BATHGATE, The Regal Community Theatre TMSA Young Trad Tour 2008
Start: 8pm Box Office: 01506 433634

18 HAWICK, Heart Of Hawick TMSA Young Trad Tour 2008
Start: 8pm Box Office: 01450 360688 Web: www.thebooth.co.uk

19 CARRBRIDGE, Village Hall TMSA Young Trad Tour 2008
Start: 8pm Box Office: 01479 841211 Web: www.thebooth.co.uk Tickets also available at the Old Bakery Coffee Shop, Carrbridge.

20 LOCHINVER, Village Hall TMSA Young Trad Tour 2008
Start: 8pm Box Office: 01571 844262

22 STORNOWAY, An LANNTAIR TMSA Young Trad Tour 2008
Start: 8pm Box Office: 01851 703307 Web: www.lanntair.com

23 PLOCKTON, National Centre of Excellence TMSA Young Trad Tour 2008
Start: 8pm Box Office: 01599 544706

27 EDINBURGH, St. Bride's Centre, 10 Orwell Terrace, EH11 2DY *FREE EVENT* - Scot's Music Group Ceilidh Concert Start: 7.30pm

OCTOBER 2008
3 DUNDEE, Fest 'n' Furious, Caird Hall TMSA Young Trad Tour 2008
Start: 8pm Box Office: 01382 434940

4 DUNDEE, Fest 'n' Furious, Central Library 'Come & Try' Harp Session Start: 10am & 12pm

10 - 12 WESTER ROSS "Harp 2 Ewe' Wester Ross Harp Weekend Web: www.harp2ewe.net

16 KIRKCALDY, Acoustic Music Club

DECEMBER 2008
4 PERTH, Live Music Now Concert Venue TBC

8 EDINBURGH, Live Music Now @ Eric Liddel Centre Start: 2pm

ENDORSEMENTS

“Her synthesis of Irish, Scottish and contemporary harping technique into an individual style represents the realisation of otherwise unimagined possibilities for the Celtic harp".
Niall Keegan

“Quite simply, this girl is a star” – Norman Mitchell, Head of Music GWC

“Your harp playing takes my breath away and makes me weepy! That's a good thing! I honestly don't think I’ve ever heard anything so beautiful in all my years” - fan in Florida, USA

“An act worthy of particular mention was Ailie Robertson, who played the harp so beautifully” – The Unicorn Folk Magazine

“Wonderful Stuff!” – John Kirkpatrick, Bellowhead

“Very sophisticated and accomplished…gorgeous, beautifully-placed chords” – Lynne Heraud, New Roots Adjudicator

“ Beautiful playing, demonstrating marvellous control of touch and tone” – Benji Kirkpatrick, New Roots Adjudicator

“Virtuosic Clarsach playing” – John Duncan, Chairman of ESU Scotland

“Played to absolute perfection!” – Anne MacDearmid

Press Reviews

The Irish Times
Shattering preconceptions about the fragility of her chosen instrument, Scottish debutante harpist Ailie Robertson basks in a heady excavation of the driving rhythms that lie dormant between the strings. Forget misty images of lovelorn maidens at lattice windows. Instead, step into a world where Robertson's harp jousts (alongside the energising confidence of fellow Scots harpist Catriona McKay) with percussion, bass, guitar and piano. Her opening salvo, The Exploding Bow, sets the tone for a funky excursion around a trio of contemporary jigs, the final one written by Robertson herself. Another of her original compositions, Good Spirits, is paired cannily with a reel, The Humours of Scariff. The tunes revel in the unpredictability of newfound company. Robertson's genius is in straddling the Irish and Scottish traditions with a fresh-faced and utterly bearable lightness of being. **** Siobhan Long

www.liveIreland.com

Good heavens, Ailie Robertson of Scotland can play the harp! So, there are lots and lots of harp players, right? Correct. But, now, Ailie Roberts becomes the third in a full trio of the best of the best in the music. There are the unparalleled Michelle Mulcahy and Maire ni Cathasaig---and now comes Ailie with her debut album, First Things First. How many musicians do you know who have graduated with a Master's from the Limerick University Irish music program? Well, there ARE several, aren't there? But, how many also have an undergrad degree in Genetics from Oxford? I suspect we have just narrowed the field noticeably. In short, Ailie has chosen to follow her heart and hands into the music, and all of that is on display with this album. Don't make the mistake of thinking all harpists sound the same. Wrong. Wrong. She is a superior musician, understands the tradition, has her own style and is at home in trad as in the jazz idiom. The amount of major awards she has won for her harp playing would fill this column. The awards don't tell the story. Her music does, and the album is on Lorimer Records. Google them, or Ailie. Get this album. We are playing it constantly on the public radio show. This is wonderful. A major, new star. Rating: Four Harps. Bill Margeson

Scotsman Review
AILIE Robertson's debut CD confirms the major promise that the Edinburgh harpist has shown in the course of picking up an armload of prizes at successive National Mods. If that implies a strictly traditional approach, then think again.

The harpist is pushing the instrument in fresh and contemporary-sounding musical directions, and the band setting that she adopts here – with James Ross on piano, Ewan Robertson on guitar, Duncan Lyall on bass and Paul Jennings on percussion – is a very effective complement to her own virtuoso technique and expressive interpretations in the role of lead instrumentalist.

Her lovely, evocative execution of slow airs is particularly impressive, but she is equally intent on underlining the fact that the harp is also an appropriate vehicle for flying jigs, reels and polkas, all dispatched in vibrant, sure-fingered style. KENNY MATHIESON

Netrhythms Review

Young Scottish harpist Ailie's pedigree is already impressive: five times National Mod Gold Medallist, erstwhile member of the Scottish Harp Orchestra, Na Clarasairean, and currently member of international six-piece band The Outside Track (who have been delighting UK festival audiences over the past year, and whose CD I reviewed in Stirrings 133). Inevitably, Ailie's debut solo CD is a more intimate affair, with an at times quite laid-back atmosphere that's both soothing and invigorating. Ailie's instrument is the clarsach (the small harp whose recent resurgence has been led by the likes of Corrina Hewat and Patsy Seddon), and its unique and definitive sound-world is captured here in a demonstration-class recording that manages to convey all the relevant nuances and timbres in due perspective without sounding at all clinical or sterile. Each of the eleven tracks brings its own special delights, starting with the almost jazzy insouciance of the opening set of jigs, where the rippling joy of the harp line offsets James Ross's classy piano embellishments and the crisp, busy percussion backing (Paul Jennings on cajon). The playing is sprightly, yet with an enviably relaxed precision of attack that holds the listener's attention throughout - and this quality applies equally to the slower-paced items on the disc, notably the gorgeous slow air Spirits (co-written by Angus Lyon and his father), which forms its centrepiece. The Irish and Scottish hornpipes that are wedded together on the gently swinging Marry Me Now set are a model of delicate playing, with Ailie's deft syncopations and skilfully bent “blue notes” enticingly complemented by guitar (Ewan Robertson) and bass (Duncan Lyall); these same two musicians bring an exhilarating sense of drive to the tricky time-signatures of Ailie's own tune Good Spirits in the ensuing set. Ailie's slower-than-customary treatment of The Favourite Dram brings out its inherent beauty in a way I've not heard on any other recording of the tune, while her own composition Sands Of Hosta (written after a long beach walk on North Uist) is both genuinely tranquil and introspectively evocative. And you can hear Ailie taking the harp technique into hitherto-uncharted areas of innovation and expertise on tracks such as the infectious Angus Jigs set: the closer you listen, the more detail there is to revel in. First Things First is a thoroughly charming disc, replete with both a consummate finger-dancing intelligence and an irrepressible joie-de-vivre. - David Kidman August 2008

Danish Irish Review
Ailie Robertson’s aim with First Things First was to put the harp in a contemporary sounding “band” setting and I think she has succeeded with that. I didn’t know what to expect when I first put the cd on, but from the word go I was captured. Not only is she a great player, but she also shows all the potential of the harp. From mellow and subtle slow airs to almost rock like tracks, her playing is spot on. Yes, the harp is indeed a very delicate instrument, but in the skilled hands of Robertson it can also be transformed into an instrument as potent as an electric lead guitar.
Alongside the harp the cd features guitar, bass, piano/harmonium and cajon/percussion - all played by very competent musicians. There’s no doubt, though, that this is a solo album for the harp. The other instruments are along to make up the band setting.

There’s a good mix of tunes on the cd, ranging from traditional Scottish and Irish tunes to newly composed tunes. Several of which are Robertson’s own compositions, proving she is not only a gifted and original musician, but also a gifted composer. Beautiful slow airs almost leave you in a trance from which you are catapulted the next moment by fast and heavy rhythms.

Three tracks, which epitomize the cd, are Ho “Ro Mo Bhobag An Dram (The Favourite Dram)” followed by “Donald, Willie and His Dog” and “Spirits” - They have it all: The impeccable and delicate harp playing followed by the wake up call of rough and fast harp picking and rhythmic drums and hand claps and back into a slow air when its best.

Ailie Robertson set out to prove a point and this she has done: This beautiful cd works!

Maverick Review

Award winning harp player produces debut CD sprinkled with magic and joy
Under the tutelage of the likes of Wendy Stewart, Patsy Seddon and Corrina Hewitt there has been a resurgence of interest in Scotland and elsewhere in the clarsach or small harp. This has lead to a new generation of exciting young players who are determined to explore all the new possibilities of this ancient instrument. One of the foremost in this set is Ailie Robertson, from Edinburgh, who has taken time from her busy teaching and playing schedule to produce First Things First, her first album. From the smooth jazz rhythm introduction to the opening The Exploding Bow and throughout the entire album there is evidence of a confidence in the instrument and material that allows Ailie to take a mixture of traditional and contemporary tunes and bend them to her musical whim. For this recording Ailie has gathered around her a set of extremely talented young Scottish musicians consisting of Paul Jennings (cajon / percussion), Duncan Lyall (bass), James Ross (piano and harmonium) and the BBC Young Musician of the Year, Ewan Robertson (guitar) who provide an excellent springboard for her flights of celtic fancy. The album was co-produced by acclaimed clarsarch player and broadcaster Mary Ann Kennedy and feel of this album is very much that of a ‘live’ performance with no sign of overdubs and with the harp, thankfully, to the fore in the mix. There’s also a vague theme running through the album with tunes like The Favourite Dram, Good Spirits and The Angels Share all referring to the distilling and enjoyment of whisky, which can be a bad thing. The clarsach, when played properly, can be one of the most versatile instruments in the world and this album has tunes like Swerving for Bunnies, and The Flutterat, with their complex time changes which fairly skip and dance and bring the inevitable smile. Alongside these are tunes like the self-composed Sands of Hosta and the beautiful, haunting Spirits by Angus Lyon and his father which in the hands of a player of Ailie’s class has the ability to tear your heart out. Simple hornpipes like President Garfield’s start off played more or less straight before evolving into the syncopated and extremely modern take on Marry Me Now. It is this intelligent juxtaposition of the old and new, ancient and contemporary along with the sheer standard of the playing which makes this CD so vibrant and compelling. Kevin Mough

Scotland on Sunday Review
These innovative, assured and beautiful arrangements place the young Edinburgh harpist at the forefront of the current evolutionary surge in Scottish musical technique and accomplishment. It's not just the molten fingering in the flying, percussively driven reels and dance grooves, or the relaxed precision in clever variations of traditional pipe tunes. But it's especially in the slow and medium tempos, as in the re-paced 'Favourite Dram' with James Ross's arresting piano chords, that her harp exerts its undeniable and inexorable tug at the heart strings.By NORMAN CHALMERS

FolkWords
The Outside Track But Right On Course
"Having heard them perform live and been mightily impressed, I'm pleased to say The Outside Track has produced their eponymous first CD. This band is a fine example of how young musicians can take 'traditional' acoustic folk music, ensure it continues to evolve and yet remain true to its roots. The minute you listen to them you just know they're going a long way. 'A Kiss in The Morning' has some hauntingly beautiful vocal harmonies entwined with flute, clarsach and fiddle, 'Sheliah's Spectacles' further showcases the intricacies of their instrumental work, and 'The Lonsome Hen' is another fine example of their vocal talents with outstanding harmonies and wonderful phrasing, once again their instruments weave a web around their words. So who are these talented folk? There's Norah Rendell who plays flute with a degree of style and sensitivity envied by many, Fiona Black who plays accomplished, entrancing piano accordion, and Alan Jordan who provides the sharp guitar work with a distinct jazz influence to his playing. Tricia Clark (remember the 2005 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award) is a class act on the fiddle with a natural distinctive style, and finally, Ailie Robertson who has the most delicate of touches and makes the Scottish harp come alive in her hands. It's little wonder that between them the members of The Outside Track have gathered an impressive tally of awards. These young folk combine their instrumental abilities with intricately balanced vocals, which blend seamlessly to deliver some of the freshest traditional music I've heard in a long time. They deserve success – I've a feeling it won't be a long wait to hear it happen." - Tim Carroll,

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