Masters of Tradition - A unique festival

NOW in its 11th year, the Masters of Tradition Festival in Bantry, Co Cork (August 14-18) has turned out to be exactly the kind of festival that its artistic director, Martin Hayes, envisaged.

Ireland’s leading fiddle-player, from Co Clare, has been involved with the festival right from the start. “It’s a forum for really being able to hear musicians perform in a very performer-oriented environment,” says Hayes. The venues include St Brendan’s Church, in which Hayes, alongside long-time collaborator, the guitarist, Dennis Cahill, will perform the opening concert. They’ll be joined by sean nós singer, Nell Ní Chróinin, Danny O’Mahony on accordion and Steve Cooney on guitar. The other festival venue is elegant Bantry House.

“The main aim of this festival is to expose the unique artistic craft of various musicians. It’s also a kind of response to the fact that the country is full of festivals. I feel it’s important to highlight individual artistry in music rather than putting on a lot of bands that we’re all familiar with.”

International musicians have been a feature of the festival in the last few years. This year, there will be “an amazing display” of Appalachian double-fiddling with Cleek Schrey and Stephanie Coleman, both from the US.

“The festival is called Masters of Tradition rather than masters of Irish music or Irish traditional music because the idea is to have at least one act from abroad to see how other traditions stand in relation to our own. Cleek and Stephanie perform really beautiful old time American music which is such a close relative to our own music.”

Wine rather than pints are imbibed at the festival, which is about providing quiet and intimate spaces for the music. “If you want the pint drinking experience, it’s easily had. I want to offer something really different. I’m not saying that what I’m doing is better. It’s just a different way of approaching a festival. I certainly don’t see the point in replicating other festivals.”

As Hayes points out, the festival is for purists. “There’s only a percentage of the population that gets seriously involved and connected with this festival. I think that’s fine. The festival is about highlighting the uniqueness of each musician’s voice. We try to choose musicians that have found their unique voice. I’m not looking for the latest blazing hot craze. Some of what the musicians express can be quite humble but effective and very touching as well.” Hayes has an album coming out next January with his band, The Gloaming, formed in 2011 and featuring Thomas Bartlett, Iarla Ó Lionaird, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Dennis Cahill. “I think the album is a good representation of the band. When people hear it, they’ll pretty much know what we sound like.”

Despite what some people think, traditional Irish music “is not static and never has been. What’s important about the festival is that it allows for a good deal of personal creativity.” In other words, audiences can experience music evolving and make connections. Hayes has just returned from the US, where he performed a series of concerts on the east coast. “I was with Dennis for part of it and with The Gloaming for a part of it and I also played a little bit on my own. The audience in the US is a mixture of Irish-American and Irish. But I’d say the bulk of the audience is general, coming to the music in a variety of ways.”

Dividing his time between Killanena in Clare and New York, Hayes finds the Big Apple “pretty exciting and very lively. There’s an up and coming alternative world of music happening in Brooklyn. I’d know a lot of musicians connected to that.”

The New York Times has described the music of Hayes and Cahill as “a Celtic complement to Steve Reich’s quartets or Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain.” Despite the soaring talent and the acclaim, Hayes, now in his early 50s, can look back on a time in his life when he “believed it would be impossible to have a career in music. I had no expectations whatsoever. I just fell into this career accidentally.”

Hayes’s earliest influence was his late father, P Joe Hayes, the leader of the Tulla Ceilí Band. On an NPR webcast show in the US recently, Hayes and Cahill performed for a small group on the public radio network. They played the old ‘P Joe’s Reel’ which Hayes learned from his father, mixed with a newer tune from Peadar Ó Riada called ‘The Barack Obama Reel’.

In 2010, Hayes fulfilled an ambition to perform for and meet President Obama. He has also performed for President Michael D Higgins on a number of occasions. Hayes and Cahill travel the world together, performing everywhere from Japan to Mexico. “It’s a great life in the sense that I know I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing in this life. It’s something I feel very passionate about. Now, having said that, it doesn’t mean that it’s not without its fair share of difficulties. There’s the problem of trying to balance home life and travel.” (Hayes married a Clare-based Spanish woman two years ago).

The downside to Hayes’s artistic life is that he has to keep an eye on the business side of things. “Sometimes, I’m looking at a calendar for next year and wondering what I’ll do. I’m constantly in the position of having to make sure that I’ll have enough money to do all the things I have to do. It involves another side of the brain. As an artist, it’s not so easy to switch back and forth. When I come back from a tour, I really should be addressing accounting and responses to people contacting me. But I sometimes can’t flip that switch.” It’s the only negative aspect of Hayes’s hugely fulfilling career. In September, he will perform at a 10-day residency in the Irish Arts Centre in New York, accompanied on piano by Bartlett. It sounds like a charmed life.

* www.westcorkmusic.ie.