Conan Whitley Wins Slow Air Competition

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Martin Doyle has just received some happy news from a young flute player who has been competing at this years Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (All Ireland Festival of Music) in Drogheda, County Louth. Conan Whitley sent Martin a message to say that he had just won the Under 18 Slow Air Flute Competition at the fleadh and he sent a photo of himself with the first place trophy in one hand and his Martin Doyle flute in the other.

Conan Whitley

Conan Whitley holding the Under 18 Slow Air Flute Competition first place trophy and his Martin Doyle flute.

The All Ireland competitions are loaded with talented young musicians, the best of the best one could say, and to win first place in any category requires great effort, focus and dedication. Our heartiest congratulations go to Conan and his family!

Humour: Our Only Saviour!

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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? …

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Martin Doyle In Recovery Mode

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In a previous post, we gave notice that Martin Doyle was going to be unavailable for a few weeks due to having to go to hospital for an operation. Martin has now had that operation (August 07, 2018) and it was a biggie – a quadruple bypass open heart surgery.

We are happy to announce that the operation went very well and Martin is now in recovery mode. What is remarkable is the rate of his recovery – something that the nursing staff have been commenting on quite a bit. He was in CVICU for 24 hours and within a few short hours of being sent from there to the recovery ward, Martin’s daughter Aoife recorded the following short video of Martin sitting up in his hospital bed playing a tune on his whistle! His comment, “It was good to play the whistle as the music is so healing.”

It just goes to show that you can’t keep a good man down!

We will post another update as time passes. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and messages of goodwill for Martin’s wellbeing. This heartfelt support has been really helpful and is much appreciated by Martin, his family and close friends.

Happy Birthday Ronan Browne!

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Ronan BrowneOn 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, A Birthday, Some Tunes

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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

Martin DoyleSunday 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.

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Kind Words From Our Customers

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Martin Doyle Flutes – 35 Years2018 marks the 35th year that Martin Doyle has been producing simple system wooden flutes (aka Irish flutes) – 35 years of focus and effort that have bought great joy to musicians of all ages and grades throughout the world and a great deal of satisfaction for Martin himself no doubt.

For Martin and the small team of people who assist him, it is always encouraging to get positive feedback from the people who purchase his flutes. Martin has recently received three very kind comments from grateful customers and we at Martin Doyle Flutes would like to share them with you.

The first is from a self-admitting “proud mother” in the beautiful County Waterford where, as the Waterford comedian Hal Roach used to say, “all the lovely crystal is made”. The second is from a novice fluter who resides in Dublin town and enjoys anonymity for reasons unknown but respected, and the third is from Sligo flute player Seamus Hernon. First, our proud mother:

Hi Martin,

I just want to thank you for your beautiful flute which we got from you a year and a half ago. Just to let you know my daughter Eve, who was 11 last month, won the under 12s flute reel and jig, the under 12s slow air on the flute, and the same two competitions on her whistle. Also her group cheoil won, so a cup and 5 gold medals her first time in the Waterford fleadh was a great result. Also she won a scholarship yesterday in her Comhaltas branch for flute and whistle. TG4 were there to capture the moment.
What a proud mother I am!

Regards,
Marcella.

From the novice fluter of anonymity:

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Eimear McGeown’s Debut Album: Inis

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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

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:

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