Rowan Leslie is an Irish fiddle player and composer from rural County Antrim,
currently based in Glasgow.
His trio of fiddle, accordion (Sam Mabbett - The Canny Band), and guitar (Graeme
Armstrong - TALISK) play tunes from across Ireland blended with self-penned
material, producing music that is driving, innovative and evocative.
" The beauty that is music is right here and it's going nowhere " - Grainne McCool,
Irish Music Magazine
Rowan Leslie began playing the fiddle at the age of seven with a traditional fiddle
group in his home village of Broughshane, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He
then studied with Johnny Murphy, a fiddler and fiddle maker from Ballymena in
County Antrim, himself a pupil of the legendary Belfast fiddler Sean Maguire.
Rowan went on to study at Newcastle University, graduating with a BMus in Folk
and Traditional Music in 2014. He also benefited from time spent at the Irish World
Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. In 2013 he was
awarded the ALCM diploma in Irish Traditional Music from the London College of
Music.
While splitting his time between Glasgow where he currently resides and his native
County Antrim, Rowan has released two albums, two EPs and a tune book entitled
“Contemporary Fiddle Tunes from the North East of Ireland”.
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Sam Mabbett, originally from Didcot, Oxfordshire, started playing the button-keyed
accordion at a young age, and was exposed to lots of traditional music at the folk
festivals around the country where he was taken to by his parents.
Sam moved to Glasgow to study at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and was a finalist in the prestigious BBC Young Traditional Musician Award in 2023.
A prolific player, Sam is also known for his work in his group The Canny Band, The
Ross Couper Band and The Unprepared, and his duo with folk singer Heather
Cartwright.
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Graeme Armstrong hails from the Scottish Borders and grew up playing the guitar
and singing amongst the vibrant music scene of the area.
Graeme attended Newcastle University in 2011, studying on the Folk and
Traditional Music, where he flourished under the teaching of the esteemed Chris
Newman, amongst others.
Graeme joined the band TALISK, who went on to win Folk Band of the Year at the
2017 MG Alba Scots Trad Awards, as well as having their second album shortlisted
for Album of the Year in 2019. He toured with the band for six years, playing at
some of the world’s biggest folk festivals including Cambridge Folk Fesitval,
Denmark’s Tønder, WOMAD UK, Chile and Las Palmas, the Philadelphia Folk
Festival, Celtic Colours, Milwaukee Irish Festival and 4 successive outings at
Glasgow’s Celtic Connections.
In 2022 Graeme also released his debut solo album You Are Free; an album made
up of traditional folk songs and original writing.
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