Annual Philadelphia Mid-Winter Scottish & Irish Music Festival & Fair February 15, 2007

Three days of non-stop entertainment featuring Scottish and Irish music, bagpipers, and dancers. This year's festival is presenting five Canadian bands and performers: Searson, Greenwich Meantime, Neil Emberg, Ashley MacLeod Band and MacLeod Fiddlers. Additionally, Ottawa's Companions of the Cross will take part in the festivities. The Companions of the Cross is a Society of Apostolic Life based in Ottawa, Ontario.

Read on to learn more about just one of the Canadian acts at the Festival
Ashley MacLeod is from Dalkeith, Ontario, in the county of Glengarry, a hotbed of Scottish culture in Canada and home of the well-known Glengarry Highland Games.

When she was 10 years old, Ashley began playing the fiddle and proceeded to win many awards at fiddle competitions throughout Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. At age 14, she was invited to play at the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship as a Junior Showcase artist, an honor given to only four young people across Canada each year.

In the summer of 2002, Ashley released her debut CD, From the Heart of Glengarry.

In August 2006, Ashley's second CD, Hold Fast, stole the heart of Glengarry...and many others far and wide. Hold Fast is unmistakeably Ashley—fierce and flashing, majestic and mournful, exhibiting again a maturity and feeling beyond her years. Named after the motto of Clan MacLeod, Hold Fast is an unabashed statement of Ashley's dedication to Scottish culture, and mastery of traditional Scottish music...with a touch of today. She has taken a firm grip on her heritage, and Hold Fast proves she is not about to let go.

Ashley MacLeod's Band will be playing at the Midwinter Scottish and Irish Festival February 17 - 18, 2007.

Official Website: http://www.eohebrides.com/events/index.cfm?EventID=281