Sounds of a City - Martyn Bennett
Sheila Stewart is a national treasure, the last in a long line of a rich oral tradition and a singer of unsurpassed character, passion and power. Born on July 7, 1937 in a stable that belonged to an hotel in Blairgowrie, Sheila grew up in a family of travelling people whose roots in Scotland have been traced back to the eleventh century and whose... MORE INFO
Sheila Stewart - A National Treasure (1937 - 2014)
Sheila Stewart is a national treasure, the last in a long line of a rich oral tradition and a singer of unsurpassed character, passion and power. Born on July 7, 1937 in a stable that belonged to an hotel in Blairgowrie, Sheila grew up in a family of travelling people whose roots in Scotland have been traced back to the eleventh century and whose... MORE INFO
GRIT: The Martyn Bennett Story Wins Award
A STAGE show inspired by the life and legacy of a groundbreaking musician whose life was cut short by cancer at the age of just 33 has been named event of the year at the annual Scots Trad Music Awards. GRIT: The Martyn Bennett Story was created by award-winning theatre-maker Cora Bissett, who had previously turned the story of “The Glasgow Girls”,... MORE INFO
GRIT: The Martyn Bennett Story Nominated
Pachamama Productions is delighted to announce that GRIT: The Martyn Bennett Story has been shortlisted for Event of the Year at the 2014 MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards. The shortlist for the prestigious awards was announced following weeks of anticipation and thousands of nominations from the public, with the grand unveiling of the winners taking... MORE INFO
Notes from The 2013 Martyn Bennett Prize Winners
The Martyn Bennett Trust caught up with The Martyn Bennett Prize winners Hector MacInnes and Christopher Bradley and asked if they could shed a little more light on their thoughts about the competition, their music, Rick Astley and future compositions.... MORE INFO
The 2013 Martyn Bennett Prize Queen's Hall Concert
The Martyn Bennett Prize was open to all Scottish-based musicians to create a new five – ten minute long composition that showed its roots in traditional music. The winner received £2000 and the runner up received £1000. All the finalists’ work was performed at The Queen's Hall on Saturday 14 September. The finalists of the 2013 Martyn Bennett Prize for traditional music were... MORE INFO
Pachamama Productions presents GRIT
An ambitious new cross-form, Scots-Canadian site specific production based on the inspiring life and music of one of Scotland's most innovative, pioneering and influential musicians; the tragically late Martyn Bennett. Directed by multi-award winning director Cora Bissett (Olivier award winning RoadKill, Creative Scotland award winning 'Whatever gets You through the Night' and bold new... MORE INFO
The Martyn Bennett Prize for Traditional Music
The Queen’s Hall and the Traditional Music Forum are inviting submissions for a compositional prize for new work that takes its inspiration from Scottish traditional music. Applications are open to all composers and musicians aged 16+ based in Scotland whose work and practice evidences the influence of Scottish traditional music. The submitted piece should be between five and ten minutes long and... MORE INFO
Blackbird: A film directed by Jamie Chambers
Directed by Jamie Chambers and nominated for this year’s prestigious Michael Powell Award, BLACKBIRD, inspired and featuring Martyn Bennett's track Blackbird from the album GRIT, is a captivating tale of belonging and loss receives its public world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on Tuesday 25 June at Filmhouse 1 at 8.50pm and Thursday 27 June at Cineworld 3 at 6.25pm... MORE INFO
Gary West: Voicing Scotland
Dr Gary West has kindly allowed us to post an excerpt about Martyn from his superb book 'Voicing Scotland'. We think this is one of the finest accounts of Martyn and his music, written by a fellow musician; someone 'within the tradition', and someone with a deep scholarly knowledge of the cultural context that Martyn lived and breathed, whilst also of course embracing aspects.... MORE INFO
Martyn Bennett and Article12.org's feature on Gypsy Traveller Folk
By the age of twelve I was winning prizes in many of the junior piping competitions around Scotland, however I was really more interested in playing the folk scene. Being a young prodigy meant that I got a lot of attention at the folk festivals, as there were very few young musicians around at that time. It was also a total gas being snuck into the pubs under someone’s coat and... MORE INFO
Martyn Bennett music promoting the Outer Hebrides
As one of Europe’s last untouched natural habitats, the Outer Hebrides offer visitors an experience they will never forget. Whether strolling across white sand beaches or among the shadows of 5000-year-old standing stones, the history of the islands is a constant presence. The beauty of the area is world-renowned as evident by Wanderlust travel magazine featuring... MORE INFO
Phil Bancroft & Dolphin Boy - 4 Notes
The spark for the 4 Notes Re-Mix project was ignited a few years ago when The Martyn Bennett Trust held a series of events to celebrate Martyn’s legacy. This involved a series of intensive music workshops with young people led by some of Scotland’s most creative musicians and dancers followed by a diverse and dynamic concert in the Queen’s Hall, all inspired by Martyn’s... MORE INFO
Michael Marra - 1952 - 2012
Tributes have been paid to singer-songwriter Michael Marra, who has died in hospital in Dundee at the age of 60. Michael passed away on Tuesday night at Ninewells Hospital. It is believed he had been ill for some time. Born in Dundee in 1952, Michael rose to fame in the 1980s as a solo performer and became one of Scotland's most prolific songwriters. Michael was also... MORE INFO
Piping Today July/August 2012
Let’s be clear. Martyn Bennett was an outstanding piper. Indeed, such an outstanding piper that when the histories of piping in the late 20th century are written, he will stand shoulder to shoulder with the very best and be in the very rarefied company of Duncan, Morrison, Mathieson et al whose playing revolutionised the music of the bagpipe... MORE INFO
The Restorative Power of Music
THE widow of Scottish music innovator Martyn Bennett could hardly bear to listen to his work again. But releasing a posthumous album has proved a liberation, she tells Peter Ross. When her husband Martyn Bennett died in 2005 at the age of 33, Kirsten Bennett felt she might never be able to listen to his songs again. The late musician – acclaimed... MORE INFO
Martyn Bennett: It's Not The Time You Have...
It's January, Celtic Connections again and this year Colin Hynd has programmed 'Martyn Bennett Day' for the first Saturday of the festival. Everyone I meet, who knew Martyn or his music, seems to have a 'Martyn story'. He himself loved listening to, and telling, stories - except perhaps 'Martyn stories'. There were of course, exceptions when he'd tell one that usually began, "You won't believe..." MORE INFO
BJ Stewart: GRIT... The Story behind the Cover
Photographically, what inspires me most is the more hidden, non-obvious beauty... the kind of things that I have to work a bit harder to see the beauty in, the things that take me more by surprise in that way, are always the things that most remind me what I'm doing this for... MORE INFO
Peter Gabriel: Martyn
Talking to Peter Gabriel one is struck by how he is as much into technology as music, and deeply involved in the political implications of both. You can see why Gabriel brought out the late Martyn Bennett's powerful roots-electronic album Grit on his label, Real World, and why he's excited that his connection with Bennett's 'Brave New Music' has led to Real World's first Scottish... MORE INFO
Anna-Wendy Stevenson - The Flying Fiddles
The Flying Fiddles are a group of young musicians from the Islands of Uist in the Outer Hebrides - the Islands which lie off the far North West coast of Scotland. Formed in the year 2000, the group was started and funded by local community group Gleus with fiddler Deirdre Morrison as their tutor. After a couple of years Ceolas - South Uist's Gaelic Arts organisation - provided the... MORE INFO
Jamie Hale: Storyteller
1998 was our busiest year for touring. We managed over 100 flights in 9 months, and whilst most went without a hitch, it was only realistic that some, eventually, would go wrong. We’d been invited by The British Council to perform in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s former capital city. The British Council to perform in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s former capital city. The British Councillor there... MORE INFO
George Watsons College: Charity Event 2008
Well done to Kirsty Law who organised a varied and eclectic concert at George Watson’s college in Edinburgh on 1st of March in aid of the Martyn Bennett Trust. The evening showcased some of Scotland’s young teenage up and coming talents among them the unassuming Ryan Young who blew the crowd away with his agile brilliance on the fiddle and singer guitarist Adam... MORE INFO
David Fox-Pitt: The Experiences of a Binge Runner
As I spend most of my life bullying people into signing up for one or more of our team challenge charity events, I felt it was appropriate that I in turn should set my own personal challenge and so I registered for the North Face event back in December 2006. All 2400 places had been taken within two days of registration opening, a tribute to the popularity of this extraordinary event. I had... MORE INFO
Martyn Bennett Memorial Concert 2007
Sue Wilson hears the musical legacy of Martyn Bennett act as a catalyst for new creative explorations. It's coming up for three years now since the death from cancer of the composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Martyn Bennett. This is the third concert staged by the Martyn Bennett Trust, established in 2005 to build on his groundbreaking musical legacy. Where the first... MORE INFO
Martyn Bennett Memorial Concert 2005
This was such a one-off occasion that it's possible no review can really do it justice; nor, indeed, is it clear that a review serves any purpose other than to record that it happened. But happen it did, and in spades. he evening was designed as a celebration of the unique talent that was Martyn Bennett, taken from us at a cruelly young age; of his own achievements, and of a relatively small... MORE INFO
Scottish culture gets a make-over
Off Kilter, a feisty and fabulous celebration of dance and music styles alive and kicking in Scotland today, appears at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh this Hogmanay from Tuesday 29 December to Saturday 2 January. Artistic director Morag Deyes has gathered together world class choreographers, dancers, musicians and visual artists, including renowned Scottish painter and illustrator... MORE INFO
Fundación Emmanuel
In November 2007, MBT Trustees BJ Stewart and Chris MacLullich traveled to Argentina to visit a music project for 25 children that the Martyn Bennett Trust has been funding. The Project culminated in November with two concerts by the Children’s Choir and a performance of Martyn’s 'MacKay's Memoirs' in the University of Buenos Aires and the immense Cathedral of La Plata.... MORE INFO
True Grit: Kenny Mathieson's Hi-Arts Interview
Kenny Mathieson talks to Martyn Bennett about his work at the cutting edge of the fusion of Scottish traditional music and contemporary club culture, and his battle with cancer. Martyn Bennett has seen his musical world turned upside down. His battle with cancer has transformed both his life and his art, forcing him to turn away from the kind of instrumental virtuosity on... MORE INFO
Testimonial: World Music
A Mass is to be held on Friday the 4th of February 11am at St Michael and all Saints Church in Brougham Street, Tolcross, Edinburgh. Then on Mull, Saturday 5th of February 11.30am at Salen Church, Isle of Mull. Born in Newfoundland, his family went to Quebec when he was five and then moved to Scotland. The family were close to the travelers.... MORE INFO
Testimonial: BBC News
Multi-instrumentalist Bennett could trace his family back to the Isle of Skye and Wales, and he was raised among Scottish-speaking immigrants on the island of Newfoundland. He returned to Scotland when he was six, where he was brought up surrounded by the sound of traditional Celtic folk songs. He was enrolled in a specialist music school as a teenager, leading... MORE INFO
Testimonial: Foot Stompin' Records
Martyn Bennett was born in Newfoundland, Canada in 1971 to a family rooted in both the Island of Skye and Wales. He spent his formative years in the Cordroy Valley surrounded by Gaelic-speaking Scottish immigrants who had come from Canna and Moidart in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland in 1820. So it is ironic that the most concentrated source of his... MORE INFO
Testimonial: The Sunday Herald
He was the once-dreadlocked "techno piper" who also composed for string quartet and symphony orchestra; the champion of Scottish tradition who spliced it with pounding dance music; a visionary who could whip thousands into a frenzy. Multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Martyn Bennett, who died in January, aged 33, after a five-year battle... MORE INFO
Obituary: The Scotsman
SCOTLAND’S musical landscape is a sadder, less colourful and vastly poorer place following the death on Sunday night of Martyn Bennett, the formidably inventive piper, violinist, composer and producer. Steeped in traditional piping yet conservatory-educated, he was gifted with a musical vision which knew no bounds but remained potently thirled to his.... MORE INFO
Obituary: The Telegraph
Martyn Bennett, who has died aged 34, was a musician responsible for mixing traditional Scottish folk with techno; his albums Bothy Culture and Hardland demonstrated the possibilities of combining his own virtuoso performances on the pipes and fiddle with the thumping beats of club rhythms. Debilitated by cancer in recent years, he was unable to play on his... MORE INFO
Obituary: The Guardian
Star of the Celtic music scene with a unique pipes and beats sound. Martyn Bennett, who has died of cancer aged 33, was one of Scotland's most feted young musicians. He caused a sensation - and much controversy - in British folk music over the last eight years, as he mixed Scottish bagpipe and fiddle music with techno beats. Bennett struggled with cancer throughout... MORE INFO
Obituary: BBC News
Tributes have been paid to pioneering Celtic musician Martyn Bennett, who has died at the age of 33 following a long battle with cancer. He mixed techno, dance and traditional music as a solo artist and with his own band, Cuillin. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2000, but kept writing and recording despite his illness. Highland musician Mary Ann Kennedy, who presents... MORE INFO