45 f
tures and are more consistent than we imagine. They are like little conversations and a dialogue within the melody, with a call and response. And there are moments of resolution… and if the resolutions are inter- esting and the call and response has some emotional depth or some kind of exhilara- tion and joy, that’s what I look for. It’s how I see melodies. I feel them more in my chest than in my head and that’s how I respond to them.”
Whether with Cahill, the Quartet, The Gloaming or his solo stuff, the Hayes philosophy remains consistent – you need to strip the music in minimalist fashion to discover its essential core before develop- ing it anew.
“It’s like renovat- ing an apartment. If you want to renovate it properly, then you need to clear every- thing out and get down to the bones of
The Martin Hayes Quartet
the place before you start building it back up again. I think it’s important to clear the deck with a tune just to get to the pure bones of the melody, which allows it to reinvent itself and flourish in its own par- ticular way.
“It’s a kind of a metaphor for the way I look at the music. Whenever we play a tune it’s not a version of the Tulla Band, the Bothy Band, Planxty, the Chieftains, Lunasa or anything else – we start every- thing afresh. That’s not to say all those things don’t seep in and influence you when you reconstruct the melody, but you are starting again from zero. The influ- ences of all the people you ever listened to are perhaps floating in the air when you’re doing it and making your choices, but at least you’re making the choices freely and giving the melody a chance for a fresh and new experience.
“If you don’t get back to basics you
often can’t see what you have. If you can’t see the melody in clear and simple terms without all the embellishment you won’t see what it is and you can’t see the full potential because it’s already pointing in a certain direction.”
Not that the Quartet signals the end of The Gloaming. Far from it, they have a new live album ready for lift-off with plen- ty of plans for future shows.
“The Gloaming has become a lot more successful than we ever imagined. We just ramble on stage and feel very comfortable almost immediately and there’s always something new happening every night. With all these things there’s no way of
knowing how it will work. You just do things but mostly you don’t know what you’re doing.”
Any theories why people have taken The Gloaming to their hearts with such alacrity?
“I don’t know… we are playing Irish traditional music but there are waves of other sounds floating through it which maybe makes it accessible to a wider audi- ence – and maybe we connect with people who like Sigur Rós and Radiohead.”
We talk of Thomas Bartlett – aka Doveman – The Gloaming’s left-field American keyboard player who plays a key role in giving the music its edge.
“He’s a very nice guy who works incred- ibly fast and has astute musical instincts and it’s very easy to work with him.”
Y
ou do wonder, though, how they manage to get a coherent sound from musicians of such diverse backgrounds, styles and influences…
“Well, it looks like the people are very
diverse but Tom played piano in New Eng- land bands, which included a lot of Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton and Quebecois tunes and knew how to play that stuff from when he was fourteen or fifteen. He knew Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin’s piano playing. And Caoimhin (Ó Raghallaigh) is an impro- viser, but he’s also steeped in Sliabh Luachra music. Like Iarla, too – he’s done all this stuff with Afro Celts and Gavin Bryars and people, but he is essentially a sean nós singer from West Cork who I’ve
known since he was twelve. I think he’s amazing. If ever I need a singer he’s the one I call. So everyone is connected in some way to traditional Irish music but they all have another side and it’s that other side that gives it flavour.”
It must be a logistical nightmare,
though… “It’s the biggest headache of my life trying to keep all the balls in the air and make sure nothing comes crash- ing to the ground, but that also makes it very exciting.”
At least living in Madrid now (his wife Lina is Spanish) makes Ireland more acces- sible to accommodate his regular visits home, where he fulfils a number of differ- ent roles, including curating a five-day fes- tival in Bantry, as well as a sequence of the Kilkenny Arts Festival, and projects at Cork Arts Centre and Limerick University.
Ever tire of the road, Martin? “I can’t afford to tire of the road! If I
don’t go on the road I can’t do the gigs I love to do. I really love playing and per- forming and doing all these different pro- jects and the road is a necessary part of that so I try not to get too worked up when I have to take my shoes off a couple of times at airports. So I try to make my peace with it.”
“There’s a certain amount of hassle and it can be exhausting but I can honestly say I’ve never felt more enthusiastic or felt better about playing than I do now. I may get physically tired but emotionally and mentally I’ve never been more excited…”
www.martinhayes.com F
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