Rosemary Barry writes:
Renowned bagpiper, academic and broadcaster, Gary West and photographer Barryjohn Stewart, introduced a large and keen audience to Martyn Bennett, who was born in Newfoundland in 1971 to a folklorist mother and geologist father who moved to Scotland when he was very young.
Martyn was an artist ahead of his time. A piper, violinist, composer, producer, and DJ , his radical blend of tradition and technology created an audacious new sound that was uniquely his own. Steeped in the folk cultures of Scotland, yet inspired by deep-rooted traditions from far beyond, his music ignored boundaries and celebrated cultural difference wherever he found it.
Although classically trained, he was drawn to the gritty excitement of the urban dance club scene, and his fusion of folk, classical, jazz and hard-edged electronica was championed by the likes of Peter Gabriel and the folklorist Hamish Henderson who labelled it ‘brave new music’.
Gary West who wrote his biography and Chris Maclullich his friend who helped set up the Martyn Bennett Trust , did so in his memory and to ensure that his legacy lives on.
Taproot 2026 Martyn Bennett
A slide show mixed various poses and locations with excerpts of his music and examples of his albums. An extraordinary video illustrated his vibrant ‘rave’ like playing fusing orchestral backing with calls for the already enthusiastic audience to participate in arm waving and clapping.
There were questions as to why, as such a brilliant musician and pioneer of this fusion of the traditional and the electronic, he wasn’t better known outside of Scotland with the answer seeming to be that without being signed to a major label he was unfortunately unable to be sufficiently promoted elsewhere. Had he betrayed the piping community? His ardent fans certainly didn’t think so.
Taproot 2026 Martyn Bennett