Aidan grew up in an Irish family in Argyll and learned fiddle in the West Highland style. His roots are in Scottish and Irish music but he roams the edges of those traditions.

 His trio Lau came together in 2006 and has ventured a new sound in progressive folk music. The trio has released six studio albums, multiple live albums and collaborative EPs. Lau won Best Group at the BBC 2 Folk Awards an unprecedented four times.

Elsewhere, Aidan has been part of multiple inventive traditional music bands for nearly four decades. He joined The Caledonia Ramblers aged 14 in 1989; formed the duo Tabache with Claire Mann in 1994; became a member of Blazin’ Fiddles in 1998; founded the quartet Kan with whistle player Brian Finnegan in 2010; formed a duo with jazz pianist Kit Downes in 2016; joined Donal Lunny’s Atlantic Arc in 2017. Aidan performs with Brìghde Chaimbeul and produced her celebrated debut album The Reeling in 2019. He has recently been working with Lebanese ney player Bashir Saade, and has formed a new duo with guitarist Sean Shibe.

Aidan was named Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2014. His multiple solo albums include Sirius (2006), An Tobar (2008), Hotline (2013), 365: Vol 1 (2018), Vol 2 (2019) and Iorram (2021).

As a composer Aidan has written ensemble/orchestral works including for Scottish Ensemble, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Edinburgh International Festival, Sage Gateshead, Celtic Connections, the Tolbooth (Stirling), An Tobar (Mull), Cottier’s Chamber Project (Glasgow) and Capella Nova. He is three-time awardee of the PRSF New Music Biennial commission at London’s Southbank Centre. He collaborated with celebrated Australian circus company Gravity and Other Myths on the multi-genre, multi-nation Macro which opened both Adelaide and Edinburgh International Festivals in 2022. In 2017, he wrote the official opening music for the new bridge across the Firth of Forth, performed alongside Mr McFall’s Chamber.

A major project of recent years is the epic tune-cycle 365. In response to a short story collection by James Robertson, Aidan wrote a fiddle tune every day for a year, and the result is 365 tunes which he recorded with Kit Downes, guitarist Sorren Maclean and harpist Esther Swift. In 2019, Aidan and Kit wrote a new work together for Scottish Ensemble inspired by the poetry of Edwin Morgan. According to The Herald, “rarely has this land’s musical community spoken as eloquently of an outward and forward looking approach to its roots and heritage.”

Aidan wrote the score for the first ever feature-length Gaelic cinematic documentary, Iorram, which premiered at Glasgow Film Festival in 2021. The Guardian admired the film as “a feast for the ears.”  

In 2022, Aidan curated a series for the Edinburgh International Festival called A Great Disordered Heart which culminated in the premiere of his film The Ballad of a Great Disordered Heart made with directors Mark Cousins and Becky Manson. It has been shown with live performance at the Irish Film Festival London, the Victoria Film Festival (Canada) and the Northern Film Festival (Netherlands).

As curator, Aidan has co-directed multiple editions of the Lau-Land festival including in Edinburgh (Queen’s Hall, Summerhall), Glasgow (CCA), London (King’s Place), Gateshead (Sage), Bristol (Beacon). Aidan programmes for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and reincarnated the Scottish Enlightenment debating/musical forum Lucky Middlemass’s Tavern for Edinburgh’s Burns festival. 

In 2024, Aidan is writing the opening work for Nordic Music Days, Glasgow. It is scored for fiddle, Greenlandic musicians and Scottish Ensemble. He is currently guest curator at Kings Place in London.

“Few contemporary musicians in any category can match either his artistic ambitions or his achievements in bringing them to fruition” (The Scotsman)

“O’Rourke’s music – both his writing and playing – is unfailingly strong and imaginative” (The List)

“Lau are a remarkable band - exquisite and hypnotic, musicianship at its best” (The Guardian)