An epic symphonic reimagining of the visionary GRIT, the final album by pioneering Scottish piper, fiddler and studio mixer Martyn Bennett, bringing together an 80-piece symphony orchestra, plus folk and jazz instrumentalists and singers, many deeply associated with Bennett himself.
Martyn Bennett caused a sensation with his controversial blending of Scottish traditional tunes and hard techno beats across five acclaimed studio albums. With GRIT, he spliced together archive recordings of emotive traditional Roma and Gaelic songs with throbbing samples and electronics. The album became a subversive landmark in new traditional Scottish music.
Bennett died from cancer in 2005, aged just 33. His close friend and musical collaborator, cross-genre classical violinist Greg Lawson, recast Bennett’s GRIT for full orchestra for the opening night of Celtic Connections in 2015, winning the Scots Trad Award for Event of the Year with his spectacular transformation. Lawson brings his stunning live vision of Martyn Bennett’s uncompromising GRIT to the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival.
Tickets for the event available here: http://www.eif.co.uk/2016/grit
GRIT was originally released on 13 October 2003. Tragically Martyn Bennett lost his valiant battle to cancer on 30 January 2005, age 33. During his short but brilliant career, Martyn was simply one of the most exciting, daring and innovative musicians working in Scotland.
"Martyn took the soul and passion of the roots of Scottish music, and planted them in a modern, electronic world. I'm delighted that through this project we are all reminded of what an extraordinary talent we have lost, but can now continue to enjoy." Peter Gabriel
There have been few concert images more compelling than Martyn Bennett on stage, hair flailing in all directions, playing a traditional tune on bagpipes or fiddle while a thunderous sound system pounded out beats and samples behind him. His music is rightly regarded as a landmark meeting of traditional Scottish and electronic music.
GRIT– Bennett’s most extraordinary work and his final project – is a deeply emotional collection of traditional singers - largely travellers - showcased via an inventive avalanche of sounds and beats. It's simultaneously rooted in the passionate purity of the past while glorying in modern dance culture. It's a risky and dangerous balance, but far from being swamped by the swathes of electronica, it's the amazing voices of the traditional singers like Jeannie Robertson, her daughter Lizzie Higgins and the Gaelic singer Flora McNeil that ultimately dominate the attention.
These were the singers Martyn Bennett was raised on and for him GRIT was a deeply personal and painful album. He battled with cancer of the lymphomes throughout the making of it, undergoing extensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy and even a bone marrow transplant. Unable to play himself, Grit was his sole artistic outlet, albeit an incredibly difficult one.
The Real World Gold reissue of GRIT features two bonus tracks. The first is a remix of Peter Gabriel’s ‘Sky Blue’, which Martyn had worked on at Peter’s request.
“Sadly we only had the opportunity to work with Martyn towards the end of his music-making,” explains Peter.
“ I loved how he created and handled his work. There was always a mix of intense emotion, compassion and pride, served on a bed of atmosphere and rhythm. When I was working on the song ‘Sky Blue’, I felt that it had some of the elements that could provide natural raw material for Martyn. He gave us a beautiful remix, and very sadly it was the last thing he did.”
“‘Sky Blue’ was the last thing Martyn worked on,” recalls Kirsten Bennett. “
I think doing that remix gave him a bit of a boost - and he actually had lots of fun doing it. I remember him asking if we thought the big low loud rasping sample at the end of the remix was ‘too much’. I said maybe, and then Martyn looked with his cheeky wee smile and went ahead and put in an extra one! He said ‘well I like it, I hope Peter Gabriel isn’t offended’. And then he had a wee giggle to himself. Pushing the boundary as usual!”
The second bonus track is ‘Mackay’s Memoirs’ - Martyn’s final recorded work. This is a stunning piece featuring pipes, clarsach, voice and orchestra, first performed in 1999 at the opening of the new Scottish Parliament by the students of The City of Edinburgh Music School, for whom the piece was written. This recording was made in early 2005, and completed the day after Martyn’s death. Produced by close friend Martin Swan (Mouth Music), it also features Martyn’s favourite ensemble Mr McFall’s Chamber with percussionists Tom Bancroft and James Mackintosh.
"I am very honoured to have been asked to write this piece for the talented students of The City of Edinburgh Music School and I hope that, most of all, this is an apt celebration of youth that will see our heritage firmly united for generations to come." Martyn Bennett
GRIT: The Martyn Bennett Story
The re-release of the album coincides with the opening of GRIT: The Martyn Bennett Story. The production forms part of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Cultural Programme and will showcase at two locations – Glasgow’s Tramway from 3-7 June (with previews on 30/31 May) and Mull Theatre from 20-22 June.
Presented by Pachamama Productions, the show is directed by Olivier Award winning theatre director Cora Bissett and written by one of Scotland's brightest writing talents Kieran Hurley. GRIT will take the audience through Martyn’s incredible life journey - unveiling the story of his musical imagination, passion, fierce love of life, music, the country and people who inspired his ground-breaking creations.
“
Martyn was a phenomenal creative force, making music which was way ahead of its time and I am really excited to present his story to a whole new generation who may not be aware of the amazing work he produced in the short life he had,” explains Cora. “
Both in the context of the Commonwealth Games and our referendum year, I feel Martyn is also a potent icon of a Scot who had the deepest respect and love for his heritage and was passionate about finding ways in which his culture could meet, and connect with others. To tell his story now is to tell a tale of ambitious dreams and possibilities.”
To reflect the explosive, high octane yet delicate layers within his music, world-class trapeze artists and stunning choreographed dance moves from Montreal based choreographer
Dana Gingras will come together to create a visual extravaganza, set against the backdrop of Martyn's legendary dance music in its original form.
Real World Records Gold Series
This album is part of the Real World Gold series - looking back at the rich catalogue of nearly 200 albums over 25 years. Real World Gold is a series of reissues that brings some of the key Real World releases back into the sunlight; many of these titles have been unavailable for a number of years.
Order your copy now: CDRWG114 - CD or Digital
Real World Records / Distributed by Proper. Release date: 19 May 2014
Martyn Bennett - Grit
Martyn Bennett on Real World Records - www.realworldrecords.com/martynbennett
GRIT on Real World Records - www.realworldrecords.com/grit
'Move' video: http://youtu.be/ogn6v09y48E
'Move' audio: https://soundcloud.com/realworldrecords/martyn-bennett-move
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Real World Records on Twitter - @RealWorldRec
