pure drop opinion of martin hayes

oleorezinator · Post by **oleorezinator** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:47 am

we caught martin hayes and dennis cahill, wed. night at the philadelphia art museum, nothing short of spectacular in my humble opinion. i've always wondered what the pure drop fans think. anyone?

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 3:15 am

Martin is, IMHO, without a doubt, one of the finest fiddlers out there! His style of playing is exactly as I like to hear it...very lyrical, smooth, emotional...very Clare. I have been listening to Martin since he started playing in the states up to the present day and I have nothing but praise for the man. Dennis Cahill, again IMHO, is a tremendous guitar player and a perfect compliment to Hayes. The two weave a fine musical thread that is both delicate yet strong, and always a joy to listen to.

May not be exactly what the prue drops want, but I know of very (and I mean very) few who would turn their nose up at Hayes and Cahill... a 'must hear' in my book.

djm · Post by **djm** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 6:17 am

I can take Martin in small doses (he tends to put me to sleep), but Dennis Cahill to me is the supreme guitar accompaniest. This IMHO is the only way a guitar should be heard in ITM.

djm

Mark Cantor · Post by **Mark Cantor** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 10:33 am

I absolutely love Martin Hayes... it just depends on my mood and what I'm after! But all music is that way. Sometimes I want the rant of Tommy Peoples, or the powerful flute of Seamus Tansy. On the other hand, the cool contemporary trad of Kevin Crawford's flute while I'm fixin' dinner is the way to go. And if you've ever played with a fiddler who favors the Martin Hayes style... well, there's a great deal to be admired (and to learn from)!

Back to Martin... if he's not the pure drop, who is? His father was PJ Hayes. The purest of drops!! Sets that PJ recorded decades ago have become the standards at sessions worldwide! What his son does with the music can redefine the pure drop, IMNSHO, which changes every couple of generations, anyway!

Rosemary Lane · Post by **Rosemary Lane** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:30 pm

Yes!! Two thumbs up. Six stars out of five. The Pure Drop indeed. Great exponent of East Clare fiddling. Of any fiddling. None better. Buy the CDs. Read the book. IMHO it doesn't get any better.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 2:15 pm

I like Martin Hayes' first album the best. And Martin can certainly play pure drop, truly a great musician.

But are his CDs and the stuff he currently plays pure drop? No. Nor will he redefine pure drop (just like Tommy Potts didn't) although he may have an influence.

At this point the discussion can remain at the level of adulation, or you actually look at how Martin Hayes' playing differs from the playing of people like James Kelly, Tommy Peoples, Brian Conway. Just one obvious point: The departures from the tunes and the improvisation that M Hayes' uses in his music not pure drop. Less obviously, I feel that he has a very stylized approach to the music (in his recordings) that varies very little and is both the reason why one grows tired of his stuff quickly and why he won't redefine Clare fiddle music.

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 2:37 pm

Bloomy, which is the first album?

NicoMoreno · Post by **NicoMoreno** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 4:41 pm

Mark Cantor wrote: contemporary trad

This has to be an oxymoron...

rh · Post by rh » Thu Jul 01, 2004 4:43 pm

i agree with Bloomfield, i thought the first (eponymous) album was great, and also enjoy "Under the Moon". But his newer stuff strikes me as a little too self-conscious. As regards Pure Drop, i remember a debate on Irtrad-L a few years ago (after "Under the Moon") and there are a number of people who don't regard his music as ITM. I doubt the opinion of those in question has changed little since the last couple of albums have come out. I'm sure Martin Hayes couldn't give a rat's a**, he's making a living doing what he loves, so more power to his elbow sez i.

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 5:29 pm

This seems to be a funny debate to be having.

If he plays traditional tunes in a traditional way (none of that speeding-up or slowing-down stuff for example), without accompaniment, it's pure drop, right? I asked about this a month or two ago here and that's what I gleaned. And if he doesn't, it isn't, right? I'm glad the debate has edged decidedly in the direction of discussing his merits - much more fruitful. I think he's great!

Steve

The Sporting Pitchfork · Fri Jul 02, 2004 2:02 am

There was a very interesting interview with the man himself in Fiddler Magazine several years back. Wonder if it's still on their website?

Matters of taste aside, he is a prodigiously talented musician. I would caution listeners not to assume the fiddling on most of his recordings is representative of the stylistic traits of East Clare. It certainly is based on that to a degree, but Martin's style is Martin's style and I have a feeling he's probably prone to varying it a bit depending on the context in which he's playing. Were he having a few tunes with his father PJ or his uncle Paddy Canny, it might veer a lot more towards notions of what East Clare fiddling sounds like. He did appear on one album very early on before he went to the States. I think it was on Gael Linn..."Ceol An Fhideal II" or something like that...Where's Peter our man in Clare when you need him?

And yes, rh nailed it right on the head. He's making a living doing what he loves (and he lives in Seattle, which means that aside from the traffic, he's a lucky man). More power to him.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 4:01 am

I am hiding for the WIllie avalanche presently landing on the town, where else.

I actually retracted an earlier post to this thread. I enjoyed the tape he made with his father. I saw him play in 1992 and he managed to hold the audience spellbound with a very simple version of the Foxhunters reel. He's great with an audience, great at pulling the strings on them.
I thought that was wonderful. I enjoyed the first CD but noticed a few traits I didn't fancy all that much. ofcourse then he instantly became the flavour of the month. And madness grew up around him.

He then came up with Under the Moon. I listened twice to that and put it aside. I heard a few bits from live in Seattle on the radio last night while driving back from Ennis. I can't stomach it.

He is a wonderful musician, he has kept his integrity under all the fame [although he isn't the flavour of the month anymore] he has put a lot of thought into what he plays and why he plays it. He has to my ears been utilising a few stylistic traits far beyond their sell by date, the overly slow playing, the slides etc, when you use that sort of stuff all the time it looses it meaning completely, they become empty mannerisms. Bloomfield said 'boring'.

He acknowledges the musicians he learned from I don't think though many people can appreciate really how much he took from Martin Rochford Paddy Canny and Tommy Potts, a lot of stuff there he really didn't invent himself.

When he turns off the stage music and sits down to play with other musicians he's just a great fiddler but re-defining Clare fiddling? Nah wouldn't think so.

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 5:38 am

http://www.martinhayes.com/albums.htm

I got the 1993 album while I was at WC last year. I picked out about 5 cds, based partly on what tunes were on the CDs and partly who was playing, and if I'd see them playing in the concert. I don't find Martin's style to my taste, but that's just my taste. Maybe I'm not that good at listening yet.

As a debut album, I actually preferred Malachy Bourke's Draw the Bow.

http://celticgrooves.homestead.com/CG_B ... lachy.html

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 7:35 am

On the Lonesome Touch album, Hayes explains that "draiocht" is a quality many of the old musicians had...an expression he heard in County Clare all of hs life. He says the lonesome touch means to put the requirements of the music before other personal considerations.

I was in the small audience of about 50 people when he recorded live with Burke about 4-5 years ago. When it came time for Martin to join him, Martin was nowhere to be found. Burke finally got right into the mic and said, "anyone seen a long-haired, Jewish, pot-smoking hippy wandering around?" Everyone laughed, of course.

When those two started playing sets of reels together, you couldn't distinguish one fiddle from the other--he played them Burke's style. All you knew was that there was two fiddles going and two different ways of bowing--they'd change directions at completely different times. The playing was uncharacteristic of Hayes playing by himself. I get the feeling that Martin knows several styles of fiddling, including classical.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 8:08 am

He can, that's what I meant above , he can turn off the stage music and blend in. kevin Burke went a lot to Martin Rochford too by the way.