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 musical upbringing was absorbed some 2500 miles from its origin, which, for the most part, had become much diluted since the times of The Highland Clearances and the tragic aftermath of the Jacobite uprisings of 1690-1746.
When he was six years old, Martyn and his parents moved to Scotland where he heard first hand the music he had been exposed to in Newfoundland. At the age of 15, he enrolled in a specialist music school in Edinburgh, Scotland which led to his acceptance at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, where Martyn began formal classical training for violin and piano.
Having learned the language of a new musical territory, and already well versed in the traditional folk of his family, Martyn played both in the pub session and in the symphony orchestra, learned both the Ceol Mor for the solo bagpipe (the oldest form of bagpipe music) and Ysaye’s solo violin sonatas. Each world knew nothing of the other, and the prospect of taking either across the boundaries seemed equally possible and daunting. At age 19, he took to the peaking rave scene in Glasgow and began formulating what would become his signature hybrid of traditional Gaelic and modern house, hip-hop, and dance music.
Martyn fused rural and urban music (rurban, urbal?), mixing classical styles with contemporary rhythms and technologies, and emerged with a sound which was unique yet familiar, and in high demand throughout Glasgow. After finding his niche in the Gaelic/dance arena, Martyn began garnering attention by composing for European theatrical productions. Beginning with the score for The Haunting of Billy Marshall, Martyn composed for the Tom McGrath adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped and David Harrower’s Knives in Hens. These works led to television and movie scores and eventually on to solo performances, highlights of which include performing as personal piper for the Tanzanian President on his visit to Edinburgh, a three month tour of the U.S. with Green Linnet recording artist Wolfstone, consecutive appearances (in 1995 and 1996) at the Edinburgh Hogmanay for crowds of over 90,000 people (and a couple of sheep), and a gig as entertainer for the Braveheart premiere at Stirling Castle.
He has appeared as a guest musician on numerous albums, and in 1996, the independent Scottish label, Eclectic Records released his first solo recording, a self-titled full length CD. The album brought the urban folk sounds of Martyn’s music to an ever widening European audience. In 1997, Rykodisc’s release of “Bothy Culture” extended Martyn’s musical reach across the pond and beyond. In 1999 Martyn released a collaboration with Martin Low entitled Hardland to rave reviews.
In November 2000 Martyn was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphona. Unfortunately, after having gone through a year of chemo and radio-therapy the cancer returned. In the beginning of January 2002 he underwent a major operation to remove his spleen which was found to have a tumour. 2002 involved having a radical course of chemotherapy followed by stem-cell transplant.
Last year, whilst Martyn was receiving treatment, he kept as active as he could and managed to finish a "gentle" album of songs in the Gaelic language.Titled Glen Lyon and sung entirely by his mother Margaret Bennett, this song-cycle is an exploration of Martyn’s own family's history as passed down from generations of aural tradition. It is a step away from most of Martyn’s work and very unlike the "fusion world music" (whatever that means!).
He has also been working on his hardest, most beatiest project yet. Entitled GRIT, it features samples of various Scottish travellers (Romany gypsies) and Gaelic west coast singers that Martyn knew personally, or grew up hearing at the folk festivals around Scotland in the 1980s. The samples are taken from original vinyl recordings, dating from the 1950s to the 1970s, recorded by the archives of Alan Lomax, School of Scottish Studies, and a few small Scottish labels. GRIT offers an alternative to those who think that traditional music is being spread thin amongst urban trendiness or to those of you who have noticed that "world-beat" music is just a load of arbitrary fantasy.
Maryn Bennett died on 30th January 2005. Read the tributes.
Hello to anyone out there who has been wondering where I have been hiding. Sorry about the length of time it has taken for me to resurface. I am grateful to those of you that may have taken time to check on this website and are in
A message from Martyn
"Hello to anyone out there who has been wondering where I have been hiding. Sorry about the length of time it has taken for me to resurface. I am grateful to those of you that may have taken time to check on this website and are interested in the music that is so much a life's passion for me.
As some of you may already know I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in November 2000. Unfortunately, after having gone through a year of chemo and radio-therapy the cancer has returned. In the beginning of January 2002 I underwent a major operation to remove my spleen which was found to have a tumour. This year will involve having a radical course of chemotherapy followed by stem-cell transplant.
This has been a year of enormous changes for every person living on this planet. In many ways the epoch-making events of September 11th 2001 were like a huge version of what Kirsten and I are going through. I would go so far as to say that perhaps terrorism and cancer are not so dissimilar. They both exist as a strange madness brought about by the starvation of love.
Many people who live with cancer have come to take it as a kind of spiritual test. Having been diagnosed with cancer three times now, it has forced me to reflect the need to make changes to my life. Unfortunately I'm a bit spiritually "hard-of-hearing" especially when it comes to listening to my inner voices. I do believe, however, that everything put across one's path has been put there to nurture you spiritually, and your job is to be open to change and listen to the guiding voice. The voice of that emissary can sometimes ask you to do some pretty brave U-turns.
Last year, whilst I was receiving treatment, I kept as active as I could and managed to finish a "gentle" album of songs in the Gaelic language. Entitled Glen Lyon and sung entirely by my mother Margaret Bennett, this song-cycle is an exploration of my own family's history as passed down from generations of aural tradition. It is a step away from most of my work and very unlike the "fusion world music" (whatever that means!) where many people have pigeon-holed me.
I have also been working on my hardest, most beatiest project yet. Entitled GRIT, it features samples of various Scottish travellers (Romany gypsies) and Gaelic west coast singers that I knew personally, or grew up hearing at the folk festivals around Scotland in the 1980s. The samples are taken from original vinyl recordings, dating from the 1950s to the 1970s, recorded by the archives of Alan Lomax, School of Scottish Studies, and a few small Scottish labels. GRIT offers an alternative to those who think that traditional music is being spread thin amongst urban trendiness or to those of you who have noticed that "world-beat" music is just a load of arbitrary fantasy.
This next six months is going to be yet another testing time for Kirsten and I, however, we know that we will get through it and we also feel that health and happiness lie just around the corner. I don¹t know if I will physically be able to do the things I once did but I hope to continue with music. I also hope that these next two albums will generate enough interest that enables me to work in the future with some of the musicians I have always admired. I certainly don't think that I will continue as a one-man producer, composer, technician, performer etc as this has drained too much energy from me in the past. I think
Master musician, piper, fiddler Martyn Bennett overlays five generations of hauntingly beautiful Gaelic songs with his unique and exciting blend of sounds, samples and instrumentation.
A powerful evocation of the tradition from the ever inventive Martyn Bennett. His trademark sounds and samples mixed with dance rhythms and voices from early recordings makes “Grit” a fascinating album.
Martyn's composition for pipes, clarsach and orchestra was written for the students of the City of Edinburgh Music School and in honour of the late Dr. Kenneth A Mackay of Badenoch. It was performed at the opening ceremony of the new Scottish Parliament
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