MARTYN BENNETT - Aye
Long Tail Recordings LTRCD10
Martyn Bennett died in 2005 at the age of 33, having fought cancer for some time, but his legacy undoubtedly lives on. This collection contains material from a number of albums spanning Martyn’s all too short, but legendary, recording career.
A graduate of RSAMD, where he studied classical violin, piano and composition, he became disillusioned with the world of professional classical music and reverted to his long time, clandestine pastime of playing the highland pipes - exceedingly well! Around the same time, he also discovered a whole new world of music technology, primarily used for hardcore dance music. He proceeded to fuse his love of the traditional music, heard from childhood, with beats, samples and sequences to produce something totally new, fresh, vibrant and exciting.
Many of his samples are taken from old recordings of legends like Lizzie Higgins, Harry Lauder etc which, along with his own piping, fiddle playing and electronic wizardry, he has melded into complex rhythmic patterns and overlays to produce something quite unique, mostly with a hard dance beat. Tunes learned from Cathal McConnell and Fred Morrison also feature, although in a somewhat different setting than The Boys of The Lough or a drum major accompaniment!
It’s hard to describe this music but “funky, hardcore, traditional Scottish rave” might come somewhere close!
Definitely not for the traditional purist or the faint-hearted, but if you like something completely different, put it on, crank it up to 10 and worry about the neighbours tomorrow!
Mighty stuff.
Jim Byrne
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this CD online from The Listening Post The Listening Post is the CD mailorder service of The Living Tradition magazine. This album was reviewed in Issue 92 of The Living Tradition magazine. |