Martin Hayes: inspiring conversation and great music with the legendary Irish fiddler

Martin Hayes is an internationally renowned Irish fiddler beloved for his expressive playing and his collaborations with many great musicians in different genres including Bill Frisell, Sting, Paul Simon and more recently Yo Yo Ma with the Silk Road Project. During this episode we spoke of his wonderful book Shared Notes, and he plays some beautiful music live (you can always use the timestamps if you’re curious to jump to some music right away), but I encourage you to listen through the whole episode. Martin speaks eloquently about life, culture, friendship, identity, and staying true to what you value, and I hope this episode will thrill lovers of Irish music and bring new listeners to many of Martin’s projects including The Common Ground Ensemble, The Gloaming, and many more. We talked about the loss and legacy of Dennis Cahill, how he met Thomas Bartlett, the rich depths of traditional music that Martin learned from the older generation, and the rhythm of life growing up on the farm in County Clare. Like all my episodes, this is available as both a video and a podcast on your favourite podcast platform, and the transcript is also linked:https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/martin-hayes

Martin's website: http://www.martinhayes.com/ During the episode we talked about the tribute to Dennis Cahill, which I hoped to link directly but can't find now. It's called: Litir ó do Chara

Timestamps (00:00) Intro (02:33) “Shared Notes” book and Martin’s childhood, PJ Hayes, Paddy Canny, Tulla Ceili band and learning fiddle (09:59) the nature of memory and writing the book “Shared Notes” (13:42) fiddle: jigs by Sean Ryan (16:12) different approaches to fiddling with musical demonstrations (23:10) challenges of recording, self-consciousness (25:06) The Common Ground Ensemble (29:51) pandemic reflections, teaching, mindfulness in nature (34:15) fiddle: The Glen of Aherlow (37:28) Dennis Cahill (43:15) Irish diaspora, Irish in America, immigrant experience (48:27) communicating on stage and playing what you want to play instead of what the audience expects (52:49)story about offering money back to disruptive audience (55:35) meeting Thomas Bartlett, The Gloaming (01:02:30) harmonizing Irish music (01:05:46) The Martin Hayes Quartet, Liz Knowles viola d’amore, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh (01:08:35) Irish language (01:11:09) Celtic culture in Spain and close cousins musically with different Celtic traditions (01:13:40) negotiating performance conditions; playing on Capitol Hill for Obama (01:16:25) traditional Irish airs (01:18:06) Fiddle: Air A Stór mo Chroí (01:19:52) the immigrant experience (01:24:19) keeping the love of music alive, performing in the moment, Mary McNamara Fleadh Cheoil (01:34:08) Fiddle: The Caolite Mountains