Kathlyn Sheehy is a young flute player who plays a Martin Doyle flute and won the 2012 All-Ireland Under-12 Flute Fleadh Cheoil competition in Cavan and placed second in the 2013 All-Ireland Under-12 Flute competition in Derry.
Our heartiest congratulations to Kathlyn – well done you!
Kathlyn Sheehy sporting a well earned All-Ireland trophy and her Martin Doyle flute.
More Fleadh Cheoil results can be viewed here: Fleadh Cheoil Results | Martin Doyle Flutes »
Mick McConnell performs The Ballad of Lidl and Aldi – a cracking good yarn written by himself about retail shopping and the effects it can have on ones marriage and living conditions. Mick is the brother of Cathal McConnell and the world is a richer place for the fact that traditional music, balladry and story telling courses through the veins of these lads.
As was reported in the Irish Examiner on Saturday September 28, 2013, “If you’ve ever gone into a certain German discount retailer on a Thursday morning and emerged with more than you intended, here’s the tune for you.”
In the previous post, we highlighted a new album that has just been produced and released by Martin Doyle’s daughter Aoife Doyle. Continuing with the theme of music in the family, this post highlights some video clips produced and posted on YouTube by Martin’s son Joe Doyle – a talented multi-instrumentalist/singer/composer and voice artist. Joe recently spent some time at Martin’s home in County Clare and recorded three video clips with local flute player Brian Morgan. Brian is playing Martin Doyle flutes and Joe is playing bouzouki.
Two reels with Brian playing a keyless Martin Doyle traditional flute made of boxwood.
Brian and Joe play two jigs, the second of which is Christy Barry’s jig. Brian is playing a Martin Doyle keyed flute made from African Blackwood.
Some recent additions to Martin Doyle’s website:
Martin Doyle recently sent a flute to Russia and, after some initial delays, it finally reached the hands of its new owner who kindly expressed his joy with these words:
Ivan Pustovalov
Hello, Mr Doyle!
I finally got the flute and it is incredibly beautiful! You are an expert in beauty and the sound is perfect! I have never seen and never played a flute easier than this one. This is a work of art for me!
Lately I’ve been studying a lot about the relationship between geometry and the sound of flutes. But the strong D of this flute – a mystery to me. I do not know how you manage to do this. This flute permits me to do the impossible! Unfortunately, I don’t quite know very well English, to tell you my impressions! But, believe me, it’s endless! I have very long dreamed of a flute like this and now the dream has come true!
Sincerely,
Ivan Pustovalov.
Martin Doyle has for many years had a close association with the members of the Hungarian Irish music group Bran and has travelled to Hungary on a number of occasions to take part in Irish music festivals to offer flute workshops, recitals and inspiration. Two of the members of Bran, Gáborján Kovacs and Judit Kuti, play Martin Doyle flutes and Martin has often commented on the enthusiasm that the Hungarians have for Irish music and of the joy and inspiration he has received from his association with Bran and the Hungarian Irish music festivals.
Bran has recently released a CD of Irish tunes that are linked by the common theme of ‘birds’. The title of the CD is Int én Bec – Birds’ Day – Rigmadár (‘Birds’ Day’ in Irish, English and Hungarian) and it is a delightful offering of simplicity, purity and joy that are distinctive features of Bran’s music.
Here is a video clip featuring the music of Bran:
Here’s a video clip of Joe Doyle playing The Mother and Child reel – complete with background accompaniment from the local bird life. Joe is playing a keyless Martin Doyle flute made from Brazilian rosewood in the key of D.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eOYg7PPNIw
Very nice Joe!
Some weeks ago, Martin Doyle sent me (his webmaster) links to the two videos offered below and said, “What do you think of them?” Naturally I liked them very much and was quite impressed with the spontaneity and freedom of movement in the dancers. And the music being played for the dancers is excellent! “Sean-nós – what does that mean?” was my question to Martin. “Old style,” was his answer. So I did a little looking around…
For the uninitiated (like me), sean-nós dance is an older style of traditional solo Irish dance – the lesser known free-form solo type of dancing that many of Ireland’s older traditional musicians played for.
It is a casual dance form (as opposed to the more formal competition-oriented form of) Irish Stepdancing. “Sean Nós” in the Irish language means “old style” and refers to various activities, including sean-nós song and sean-nós dance. These less common forms of Irish dance and traditional Irish singing have been documented by folklorists and song collectors (aka ethnomusicologists), but still often form part of the traditional dance scene in Ireland.
Read more: Sean-nós dance »
The musicians in this first video clip include the renowned Irish ‘box’ (melodeon) player Johnny Connolly. Emma O’Sullivan is the dancer…
