We have just posted a video and two audio samples of Irish flute player Leonora Lyne playing a Martin Doyle B flute. Martin does not construct B flutes very often – Leonora’s was only the second one – but they are completely of his own design and have great tone. Enjoy the music (links below) and many thanks to Leonora for sending the samples.
Martin Doyle recently visited Gandharva Loka in Dublin to drop off a pair of flutes made from native New Zealand timbers – the last of the ‘KiwiCelt’ flute line that Martin has produced throughout the years. Here is a video clip of Martin playing the flute made of black maire wood in the Gandharva Loka store.
As our huge posse of true believers already fully know, most if not all of our posts are really, really serious – really! But this one is just for a wee chuckle, a throw away article as it were, and will certainly appeal to those among the thousands of people who pour through our really, really serious in-depth articles each day who are musicians. Are you with us so far – or still? Good, we shall continue then …
Our good and dear and recently one-year-older friend Ronan Browne, sent us a humorous little piece of cartoonery that has probably been floating around on the internet for centuries, but because we have never seen it before, to us it is completely new and well worth sharing. Perhaps Ronan thought that the boss needed a laugh after his recent really, really serious surgery, which is very kind of Ronan. I mean, a week after major controlled-death surgery, who wouldn’t want a good side-splitting laugh, right? Right!
Right so, here it is then … this is it … ready? …
On behalf of Martin Doyle, who is a little incapacitated at the moment due to being in hospital for surgery, we at Martin Doyle Flutes would like to offer our dear friend Ronan Browne a very happy birthday!
The Doyle/Browne friendship goes back many years and they have always supported and encouraged each others endeavours. We have no idea what age Ronan is, but he seems at once ancient and ever youthful – a reflection of the man’s timeless soul perhaps, and his ever present sense of humour.
For the two or three people in the audience who don’t know him, Ronan Browne is an Irish musician and composer whose primary instrument is the uilleann pipes. He also sings and plays a raft of instruments including flutes. A lot can be gleaned about musicians from the music that they create. Have a listen to the following piece, entitled Critical Mass, that Ronan produced some years back …
And here’s a video clip of Ronan performing with Martin Doyle and others at a traditional music day during the 2008 Drogheda Arts Festival …
Thank you Ronan – your life and activities add a lovely hue to this world.
A BREAK
Martin Doyle will be unavailable for a few weeks from Sunday August 05 as he is going to hospital for an operation. Apologies for any inconvenience.
A BIRTHDAY
Sunday August 05 also happens to be Martin’s birthday – he has seen 67 summers and looks 50! Happy birthday and congratulations Martin! Thank you for the many good and great qualities that you offer to the world through what you do and who you are.
“When people play music, they offer people flowers. When people make flutes, they offer people seeds.” – Martin Doyle.
SOME TUNES
And what’s a birthday without some music? The following tune is called ‘King Of The Blind’ – a Turlough O’Carolan composition that featured in Nicholas Carolan’s facsimile edition of John & William Neal, A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes proper for the violin, German flute or hautboy that was first published in 1724. For this piece Martin Doyle is playing one of his own baroque flutes.
For more samples of musicians playing Martin Doyle’s flutes, kindly visit this page: Flute Music »
Here is a lovely rendition of King of the Blind played on harp by Ann Heymann – the instrument that Turlough O’Carolan played during his lifetime.
Falling into the category of “better late than never”, Martin Doyle Flutes is proud to announce that our very good friend Eimear McGowen has recently (April 8, 2018) released her debut album entitled Inis – a lovely compact disc packed with stunning flute playing!
Eimear McGeown’s debut album: ‘Inis’
And, not that we wish to steal any of the thunder, we are very proud to have a small but important presence in the totally epic artwork for the Inis album cover – yes, that’s a Martin Doyle flute that Eimear is holding in her hand! But enough about us …
Inis offers tunes that span a broad range of genre – this is an album that has something for everyone. The online music store CD Baby describes Eimear’s debut album as a “Genre breaking flute album, mixing Irish traditonal, classical, pop and original compositions with filmic arrangements.” Inis features a lovely selection of traditional Irish tunes mixed with such classics as Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence’, Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’, Erik Satie’s ‘Gnossiennes, No. 1’, Eimear’s own variations of a 17th century melody entitled ‘La Folia’ and her first ever composition that lends it’s title to the album. In Eimear’s own words:
Irish flute player Eimear McGeown has just published a lovely rendition of May It Be – a song co-composed and sung by Enya for the 2001 Peter Jackson movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Eimear is playing a keyless Martin Doyle C flute made of African Blackwood and is accompanied by Jonny Toman on guitar. Enjoy …
And for anyone wishing to hear Enya’s original version of May It Be …