All new and existing ticketholders are required to show proof of Covid-19 Vaccination Certificate on entry to this event at glór. Children under 18 who are accompanying adults do not need proof of vaccination or recovery. Please note wearing of mask/face covering is compulsory at all times inside the building.
glór in association with Transworld Books presents In Conversation with Martin Hayes –a night of conversation and music with renowned fiddler Martin Hayes, on the publication of his memoir Shared Notes. Curator and producer Philip King will facilitate the conversation.
Martin Hayes is one of Ireland’s most successful and treasured traditional musicians. He won his first of six All-Ireland Fiddle Championships at the age of 13. He is a founding member of Irish-American band The Gloaming. It is hard to imagine him without his fiddle in hand. Harder again to imagine those hands hammering nails on a construction site in the depths of a Chicago winter. Or working on a stock market trading floor. Yet no matter where he went or how he made a living, Martin Hayes never stopped playing. Traditional music was the heartbeat behind everything he did, in a journey that was anything but traditional. Shared Notes will hit shelves in hardback on 14th October.
Born to a founding member of the Tulla Céilí Band, in Maghera in East Clare, Martin’s household was steeped in musical tradition. In a 1960’s kitchen with no refrigerator, where the food came straight from the family farm, a session could start at any moment. Ireland’s greatest traditional musicians regularly turned up unannounced and were welcomed in.
Fans might presume Martin had a straightforward path to professional musicianship. Instead, in Shared Notes, he tells the incredible story of a free-spirited youth, propelled forward by music when at times the wheels threatened to come off entirely. With honesty, humility and wit, he recalls dropping out of college in Ireland and the years that followed in the States. The days working as an illegal immigrant and the nights gigging and drinking all blended together, before he moved towards an incredible career playing the sort of music he always wanted to play, partnering with Dennis Cahill and founding The Gloaming.
From practicing his fiddle as a boy on the edge of the family bathtub in Clare, to sharing a stage with Paul Simon and Sting and performing for Obama in the White House, Martin has taken a unique style of music steeped in local tradition and introduced it to the world. Shared Notes is his story, but it is also a glimpse into the story of Irish traditional music from the 1960’s to the current day: how it works, why it matters and how it continues to connect generations of the past to those of the future.
Martin Hayes is a renowned fiddler from County Clare. He won his first of six All-Ireland Fiddle Championships at the age of 13. He is a founding member of Irish-American band The Gloaming and has played with many of the greatest traditional Irish musicians of the past thirty years, as well as Sting, Paul Simon and Yo-Yo Ma. He has won TG4 Gradam Ceoil Musician of the Year and BBC Instrumentalist of the Year. He lives in Spain.
Philip King is the presenter of The South Wind Blows on RTE Radio 1 every Saturday night. He is co-founder of South Wind Blows, independent film and television production company. He is a curator and producer of bespoke cultural events, film director, writer, musician, broadcaster and cultural commentator.
Most notably, Philip co-created Irelands best-known music series, Other Voices, with Oscar-winning musician Glen Hansard. Now in its eighteenth year, Other Voices continues to grow and evolve.
Ennis Book Shop will be selling signed copies of Shared Notes (out on 14th October 2021) at glór before and after the event (retail price €22.99).
