Tag Archives: Martin Doyle

Introducing The Aiki Céilí Band

Double bass (Frank Healy) and flute (Martin Doyle) in action.

As recently posted on this weblog, Martin Doyle featured on a radio programme called The Music Tree. As the The Music Tree is about the Mpingo (African Blackwood) tree and its popular timber that is used extensively for the production of woodwind instruments, one of the requirements for the programme was some Irish traditional music that was predominated by the Irish flute. This task fell upon Martin Doyle to organise.

Asides from making great Irish flutes, Martin is also an Aikido instructor who offers classes at the town hall in Liscannor, County Clare – the Aikido group is known as Clare Aikikai (defunct as of 2022). One of the many wonderful aspects of the County Clare is that music is an integral part of the culture there – musicians, singers and story tellers abound in Clare as they do all over the west of Ireland. And so it is with Martin’s Aikido group. Four of the members are strong traditional musicians so Martin got them together after an Aikido session one evening and they recorded a very nice piece of traditional music – and The Aiki Céilí Band was born!

The Aiki Céilí Band consists of Martin Doyle (flute), Éamon McCarthy (flute), Frank Healy (double bass) and Gabrielle Cappachione (guitar). Featured on The Music Tree documentary, the piece consists of two reels and can also be listened to here: The Aiki Céilí Band – Flute Music »

The Music Tree Airs On Newstalk

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The Different Voices series on Ireland’s Newstalk 106-108 FM radio station continues with The Music Tree – a documentary featuring the Irish flute maker Martin Doyle.

Martin Doyle in Tanzania.

As a young man, Martin Doyle travelled from his native Bray in County Wicklow to Africa. He was employed as a ships engineer for a couple of years – a job he took to raise much needed funds to purchase expensive tools and machinery for his dream of developing a flute making business in the early 1980s. The hard work and time away from Ireland paid off, and as the years have passed, the dream has blossomed into a reality.

Now an established and highly respected flute maker living in County Clare, Martin decided to revisit East Africa where African Blackwood (Mpingo as it is known in Tanzania), the timber that Martin makes most of his flutes from, is grown. There he hopes to visit the forests where the Mpingo grows, to meet those whose livelihoods depend upon it. He also hopes to make an Irish flute with the help of local craftsmen in a Tanzanian workshop – quite possibly a world first!

Martin Doyle at the workshop in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. From left: Martin, Focus Senga, Salim and James Laizer.

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Testimonial From Tomás MacUileagóid

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Testimonials from flute players all over the world can be viewed here: Testimonials »

The Tanzanian Adventure Unfolds

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Martin Doyle in Tanzania.

Martin Doyle is currently visiting Tanzania with Nina Perry of Falling Tree Productions to make a radio documentary called The Music Tree for the Irish radio station Newstalk. The Music Tree will feature Martin Doyle as an instrument maker visiting the area of East Africa where the Mpingo (African Blackwood) trees grow. Since the nineteenth century African Blackwood has been a timber favoured for woodwind instruments as its density, tonal properties, stability and durability are incomparable.

This trip is in its own way an historical occasion as many of the local people of Tanzania, some of whom are involved in burgeoning Mpingo conservation projects, have never before met a European craftsman who uses their timber to make musical instruments. Martin accomplished the task of making a flute with some of the local Mpingo carvers on the third day of his visit and by all accounts they were enthralled when it was played to them.

Nina Perry is kindly authoring a blog dedicated to the trip – Music Tree – so that we distant onlookers can keep abreast of events. No story, small or large, is complete without a picture or two, so here is one from Nina’s blog:

Street scene in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Irish Tunes On A Martin Doyle Flute

Tanzania Update

Irish Translation Added

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Diarmuid Breathnach.

Recently added to Martin Doyle Flutes is a translation of the About Martin Doyle page. It has kindly been translated into Gaeilge (Irish language) by Irish biographer and encyclopaedist Diarmuid Breathnach of Bray in County Wicklow, whom Martin Doyle has known for many years.

Born in 1930, Diarmuid was educated at University College Dublin and became a librarian in Kilkenny, then a sound archivist and chief librarian at RTÉ from 1974 to 1986. His major achievement is the compilation, with Máire Ní Mhurchú, of Beathaisnéis, a multi-volume dictionary of modern Gaelic culture. On May 17, 2002, the National University of Ireland conferred honorary degrees – The Degree of Doctor of Celtic Studies – upon Diarmuid Breathnach and Máire Ní Mhurchú at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

Our heart-felt gratitude to Diarmuid Breathnach for his kind efforts and abundant patience – he is indeed a grand gentleman! The new page can be viewed here: Sceal Máirtín Ó Dubhghaill »

News – Martin Doyle Flutes

News, articles and updates relating to the Irish flute maker Martin Doyle.