Our good friend Anurakta O’Neill recently found a forgotten video clip from Martin Doyle’s trip to New Zealand in December of 2014. Martin was visiting Anurakta at his workshop in Christchurch and he asked Martin if he knew the famous O’Neill’s March. Martin proceeded to play that tune and was then prompted to talk about another tune that he had played earlier in the day called Return from Fingal. This second tune relates to the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 AD and the subsequent death of the famed Irish High King Brian Boru. As usual, Martin brought the magic and it was a lovely wee interlude for those present. Martin is playing one of his own traditional style keyless D flutes that is made from cocus wood.
Several days ago, our webmaster discovered three video clips in an archive from Martin Doyle’s trip to New Zealand in December of 2014. But first, a couple of anecdotes…
Poor Martin! He stayed in Christchurch for three weeks, and for the first week he was stuck in bed with a nasty bug that had latched on to him during the long flights from Ireland to New Zealand. Exhausted from his pre-Christmas rush to get his flute orders out to customers before his holiday, Martin had become vulnerable to airplane bugs. As if that wasn’t enough, during the period of his illness, an earthquake gave the area a good shake in the wee hours of one morning and the old bed that Martin was sleeping on partially collapsed. It was a real welcome to “The Shaky Isles“, as New Zealand is sometimes called. Remarkably Martin seemed to almost enjoy his first time experience of that aspect of nature’s power!
Having recovered from the dreaded lurgy and the quake, Martin did get a chance to have a look around Christchurch and the Canterbury region. During that time he was a guest at The Lotus-Heart vegetarian restaurant where he offered a couple of informal music sessions with some local musicians and small but appreciative audiences. Here are three video clips from those sessions that we posted on Martin’s YouTube channel recently. The local musicians are Shardul (Irish flute), John Wood (guitar and vocals), Jade Bell (bodhrán and vocals), Rowan Oliver (Irish harp) and her father Peter Oliver (guitar).
On a sunny Saturday morning in March (southern hemisphere Autumn) 2025, Ronan Browne visited and enchanted a gathering of around fifty souls with a message of peace in the Irish language – and a lovely traditional Irish air. Despite the fact that he did not visit physically, but in digital form, Ronan touched the heart’s of all who had gathered at Zuvuyaland, a peaceful nature reserve that is a short distance from the great lake Taupō in the central North Island of New Zealand.
The purpose of this gathering revolved around the Peace Poles at Zuvuyaland. A Peace Pole is a monument that displays the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in the language of the country where it has been placed, and usually some additional translations. The message is often called a peace prayer. On this particular day eight new translations in Irish, Bengali, Danish, French, Czech, Greek, Russian and Ukranian were added to the poles. At the gathering were members of the Zuvuyaland society, the local community and twenty members of the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run who were visiting Taupō for the weekend.
Ronan had been invited to offer a translation in Irish of “May Peace Prevail on Earth” by the organisers and he kindly recorded a message and a tune for the ceremony. When it was played, it was as though Ronan was standing there among us – it was quite special. And how lovely it was to hear him playing the traditional Irish air Bonny Portmore on his Martin Doyle flute.
So we are very grateful to Ronan for his efforts and to his friends who helped with the translation. It is sometimes difficult to exactly translate an English phrase into some languages. The Irish words for May Peace Prevail on Earth, Síocháin do Chách, Anois is go Brách, translates back to English as “Peace to All, Now and Forever” – an equally fitting phrase to the original.
We invite you to enjoy this precious moment that was captured on video.
Since 1986, many significant landmarks around the globe – from natural wonders to entire nations – have been dedicated to peace as part of the Sri Chinmoy Peace-Blossoms programme. The Peace-Blossoms family offers an opportunity for different communities to share in mankind’s common quest for peace.
“What does peace do? Peace blossoms. What else? Peace spreads. What else? Peace illumines. What else? Peace fulfils.” – Sri Chinmoy.
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.
If you read the previous post, you will be aware that Martin Doyle spent a couple of weeks visiting friends (and making more) in Christchurch, New Zealand, over the 2014 Christmas period. On arrival Martin was quite ill with a heavy cold that he had caught in Clare the day before he left, which incubated very nicely during the 36 hours of air travel he had to endure to reach the far side of the world.
It is a matter of fact that bugs also like to travel and so it came to pass that Martin’s Kiwi friend and host Shardul caught a downgraded, second-hand, left-over version of the vicious and virulent virus. Life went on like this for a few short (and sometimes long) days and while the two were in convalescence mode one night, it was decided that a good movie would help clear the head-fog. The conversation revolving around which movie to watch went something like this…
Shardul: “Hey Martin, can you recommend a movie? I think we need to zone out for an hour or two.”
In the final three weeks of 2014, Martin Doyle abandoned the Irish winter for a well earned vacation in the form of a first time visit to New Zealand and the unique experience of Christmas in a sunny southern summer. After an epic thirty-six hour journey via London, Abu Dhabi and Sydney, Martin finally arrived in Christchurch which is in the Canterbury region of New Zealand’s South Island. During his stay in Christchurch, Martin was involved in a couple of informal music sessions that were held at The Lotus-Heart vegetarian restaurant.
An informal music session at The Lotus-Heart – from left: Shardul, Martin Doyle, John Wood and Jade Bell.
Martin also enjoyed a visit with local musicians Jade Bell and John Wood who live at Fisherman’s Point at the southern tip of Lake Ellesmere. Jade and John perform as a folk duo around Christchurch and were also involved in The Lotus-Heart sessions.
Martin Doyle gets his fair share of visitors to his home and workshop in County Clare and they come from near and far. This week saw a small group of intrepid Kiwis pop in for a ‘cuppa and a chat’. Nearing the conclusion of a two week walking tour through the west of Ireland, the happy and hardy group were spending a couple of days in the area with visits to local artisans, walking the Burren and a night on Inis Meáin (one of the Aran Islands). Martin and his assistant Gwenn Frin were delighted to receive the guests who hailed from New Zealand, the US and Canada.
Walking tour leader Rachel Ryan (back left) and members of the group with Martin Doyle (back centre) and Gwenn Frin (back right) among a forest of wooden flutes at Martin’s workshop in County Clare.
The tours are led by County Limerick native Rachel Ryan who has lived in Nelson, New Zealand, since 1980. Each year Rachel and her team guide walking tours of west Ireland and also take visitors to New Zealand on walking tours throughout the beautiful Tasman District in the north-western region of New Zealand’s South Island.
Martin has developed a connection with New Zealand since meeting his friend (and webmaster) Shardul in 2001 when Martin was still living in County Wicklow. Shardul was looking for a flute for his meditation teacher Sri Chinmoy and arrived at Martin’s workshop in Bray. For a period spanning four or five years after that, Martin made a small number of Irish flutes from native New Zealand timbers that were supplied to him by his Kiwi friend. Shardul currently lives in Nelson and met Rachel Ryan at the 2012 Race Unity Day which is organised by the Nelson Multicultural Council. One thing leads to another in this world of ours.
