Experience that universal communality in a distilled form
A unique Minority Language Songwriters' Circle
On the first day of Tønder Festival, Wednesday 27 August 2025, a very special event will take place at 5:45 pm in Tent 1. A semicircle of five musicians from five different countries will take turns to sing their songs and tell their stories, each in their own language.
Tønder Festival's audiences know the concept: the Women’s Circle and Gentlemen’s Circle, both of which are also on the programme this year. This new addition is a songwriters' circle focusing on songs written and sung in minority languages.
One of Greenland's most prized musicians, Rasmus Lyberth, sings in Greenlandic. Ainsley Hamill from Scotland sings in Gaelic. Lleuwen Steffan from Wales sings in Welsh. Nolwenn Korbell from France, who also sings in Lleuwen Steffan's band, sings in her native Breton. And Danish Rikke Thomsen sings in South Jutish.
The special songwriters’ circle is partly financed by Denmark's Ministry of Culture, to support an "office for minority music."
THE MUSICIANS:
Ainsley Hamill (SCO)
Imagine a blend of Heather Small and Julie Fowlis, and you have singer-songwriter Ainsley Hamill – one of the UK’s most distinctive and versatile vocalists, known for her remarkable voice, compelling storytelling, and emotionally charged style.
Hailing from Scotland’s west coast, Ainsley Hamill has built a career defined by authenticity and a seamless fusion of traditional Scottish folk music with a contemporary edge. A graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, she has a deeply rooted connection to Gaelic and traditional song, and often performs in Gaelic.
She began her career as a founding member of the folk band Barluath, but in recent years she has been focusing on her solo work. She also performs regularly with the band Fourth Moon, with whom she appeared at Tønder Festival in 2022.
In early 2025, Ainsley Hamill released her third studio album, ‘Fable’, produced by Sam Kelly. Inspired by Scottish folklore and myth, ‘Fable’ blends traditional Gaelic and Scottish songs with Hamill’s own compositions. Each track tells a story that resonates with echoes of ancient tales and contemporary relevance.
Ainsley Hamill returns to Tønder Festival with her trio, which features Toby Shaer and Sam Kelly alongside Hamill herself.
Rikke Thomsen (DK)
She grew up in the village of Blans in Southern Jutland, and her deep connection to the region forms a vital foundation for Rikke Thomsen’s songs and storytelling. Naturally, she has performed at the Tønder Festival before – most recently at the grand anniversary concert in 2024.
Back in 2022, an unforgettable solo concert in Tent 1 established her as a songwriter with something on her mind and a rare ability to connect effortlessly with the audience, reaching even the back rows.
Rikke Thomsen broke through in 2019 with the EP ‘Omve’n Hjemve’, which received excellent reviews and earned her the prestigious Modersmål Prize (Mother Tongue Prize) the same year. Her 2021 album ‘Opland’ – featuring songs like ‘Ballebrovej 2’ – brought further acclaim and won her three GAFFA Awards. Her most recent album, ‘Makværk’, was released in autumn 2023. Across her recordings and live performances with her band, Rikke Thomsen proves herself not only as a gifted songwriter but also as a skilled guitarist and unabashed rock enthusiast.
During the winter and spring of 2025, she toured Denmark with Niels Hausgaard on his annual three-month tour. In April, she was awarded the Ordkraft Prize, presented each year by Aalborg Congress and Culture Centre. From 2007 to 2019, Rikke Thomsen lived and worked in Aalborg and Vendsyssel – a period that became a significant part of the musical foundation she stands on today.
At Tønder Festival 2025, Rikke Thomsen will perform with her full band.
Rasmus Lyberth (GL/DK)
Musician and actor Rasmus Lyberth is one of Greenland’s most celebrated artists, who has, since the 1970s, sung his way into the hearts of audiences in Greenland, Denmark, and beyond.
He grew up in Nuuk and began playing guitar and performing at the age of 12. At 18 he moved to Copenhagen, where he started performing in bars. His debut album ‘Erningaa’ was released in 1974, and he has since recorded numerous albums and collaborated with artists such as Christian Alvad and Lars Lilholt Band.
Rasmus Lyberth primarily sings in Greenlandic, blending folk music with rock, pop, and traditional Greenlandic elements. Through his original compositions and captivating voice, he sings about the nature, development, and living conditions of his homeland in a way that transcends language barriers — whether he’s performing at the Royal Albert Hall in London or in a festival tent at Tønder Festival.
He has received numerous awards for his music and cultural contributions and has represented Greenland at international events, including the Nordic Music Awards.
Audiences at Tønder Festival have had the pleasure of experiencing Rasmus Lyberth multiple times over the past three decades — most recently in 2018. In 2025, he will be inducted into the Folk Music Hall of Fame in Tønder.
Nolwenn Korbell (FR)
Since graduating from the Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique in Rennes, Nolwenn Korbell has built a career as a singer, songwriter, composer, and actress.
As a singer, she has released seven albums and performed on stages across France, including at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient and l’Olympia in Paris. She has also toured in Scotland, Italy, Spain, Poland, and Japan, singing in Breton, French, Welsh, English, Serbian, and Russian.
As an actress, Nolwenn Korbell has worked in theatre, film, and television, primarily in Brittany, and she has lent her voice to dubbing films and cartoons in both French and Breton.
A multilingual artist, she grew up in Douarnenez, Brittany, in a family where Breton was the everyday language. Her mother, Andrea Ar Gouilh, is a renowned gwerz (traditional Breton lament) singer, and her father, Hervé Corbel, was a bell-ringer and amateur musician. This cultural background deeply shaped Nolwenn Korbell’s early interest in music and languages.
Her work is deeply rooted in Breton identity and driven by a desire to give the Breton language a visible and legitimate place in contemporary culture. She is a key figure on the Breton cultural scene, where she brings together music, theatre, and language activism in her artistic practice.
Lleuwen Steffan (WAL)
Lleuwen Steffan (also known as Tafod Arian) is originally from Wales, but now resides in Brittany. She is an innovative Welsh singer and multi-instrumentalist who composes music for theatre, film, television, and radio. Above all, she writes songs rooted in the Celtic language of her homeland.
In her latest project, ‘The Lost Welsh Folk Hymns’, she breathes new life into long-forgotten traditional Welsh hymns and sermons. Lleuwen Steffan was working in a museum archive when she came across recordings of Welsh-language hymns she had never heard before. The recordings, she discovered, had been made by a historian and folklore expert who, starting in 1964, travelled across Wales collecting rhymes, riddles, poems, and folk hymns.
Many of these hymns date back to the 18th century and had been passed down through generations. However, they were excluded from official hymn books - rejected by the hymn selection committees of the time, who deemed them inappropriate. The reason? Many of the songs deal with topics such as alcohol abuse, mental illness, and the darker sides of the human psyche.
Now, on a tour of 50 chapels across Wales, Lleuwen Steffan is performing these rediscovered hymns and returning them to the places where they were born. During her concerts, she sings alongside descendants of the original hymn singers - individuals she has traced from the archive recordings.
