Malin Lewis

Malin Lewis is a queer bagpiper, fiddler, instrument maker and award winning composer. One of Scotland’s most exciting innovators, Malin melds West coast tradition with a newly invented, self-made bagpipe. Hair tingling, philosophical and dance inducing melodies inspired by European folk traditions, humans, queerness and the universe. Having played in Canada, Europe and across the UK. Halocline, their debut album, began as a New Voices commission for Celtic Connections and was premiered to a sold out Strathclyde Suite, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in 2023.

Halocline

“I saw my first Halocline aged fourteen whilst swimming in an estuary in the Isle of Skye. I didn’t know what it was at the time but the image has stayed with me ever since. Appearing like a hazy layer of cloud under the water; it floats between two worlds and provides an environment which is home to a unique microbial ecosystem. As a trans person I live in a space in between; this beautiful space between a binary with its own colourful and unique culture. My music and gender have always felt intrinsically linked. Music is my form of self-expression."

Halocline embodies authenticity, born from musical experimentation and identity as one of the first openly trans bagpipers exploring queerness through music.