(for reference, there's an article at http://news.scotsman.com/archive.cfm?id=118752005 ... requires registration)
Martyn Bennett was the first professional musician I ever recall connecting with who was my age. For a brief period of time, he toured the US with Wolfstone as their piper, filling in during their Spinal Tap piper period. I remember a short guy with an easy laugh, the only person I've ever seen successfully play bagpipes and pogo up and down at the same time.
In between sets at the Strawberry Festival that year, he prevailed upon the powers that be to let him do some of his solo stuff. He had a rack mount synthesizer and sequencer that pounded out some fairly shocking technobeats, over which he proceeded to lay pipe tunes, fiddle tunes and more that alternately mesmerized the crowd and sent them fleeing desperately for the hills. He had formidable chops and a bottomless imagination.
Since then, he's done a number of albums, notably Bothy Culture and the amazing and brutally underappreciated Grit
Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He's eight months older than me. I'm nigh unto crying right now.
1 comment:
He was a very special person and incredibly gifted talent. My only consolation is that there are a fair number of people in this world who knew both.
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