Martin Hayes to debut the Common Ground Ensemble at the NCH

Gloaming fiddle super-hero Martin Hayes - he of the flowing curly locks that would shame any shampoo commercial - will present his latest sonic excursions with The Common Ground Ensemble in the National Concert Hall on the 14th and 15th of March of next year. Martin's intention was to bring in musicians from all over the musical shop who also had connections to Irish music. Accordingly, we'll get Cormac McCarthy (piano, ‘Cottage Evolution’, not the All The Pretty Horses bloke so), Kate Ellis (cello, Artistic Director of Crash Ensemble), Kyle Sanna (guitar, a collaborator with Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile) and Brian Donnellan (bouzouki / harmonium / concertina, and, like Hayes, an alumnus of The Tulla Céilí Band).

We're promised "improvisation, arrangement, jazz, avant-garde (Come back!, Come back!!) and cutting edge contemporary classical" although, according to the man himself, "Even though there’ll be plenty of space for people to develop their own parts, the larger picture will be driven by my vision for the music. We’ll be seeing what the tune wants to say and seeing how the band can support that. With years of performing I have a sense of what brings me the deepest joy and what gets to the heart of the music."

Getting to the heart of the music is nothing new to Hayes. He was named All-Ireland Fiddle Champion seven times before he turned twenty, which is just showing off really, and through his solo work and collaborations with guitarist Dennis Cahill, and on to the mesmerising, world-conquering sublimity with The Gloaming, Hayes has proved himself - several times over - to be a bit of a genius. I certainly won't quickly forget their sublime show in the same National Concert Hall earlier this year, and I'm hardly on my own there.

Back to the press release: The Common Ground Ensemble was also designed to operate as a platform to highlight the talents of various guest performing artists. Joining them at their debut concerts will be special guests David Power playing uilleann pipes (“one of Ireland’s finest uilleann pipers”) and the incredible Sean Nós singer/harpist Síle Denver. The sets promise to be a mixture of everything you’d hope from such a line-up: core elements of the tradition combined with new composition, improvisation and an opportunity for each musician’s remarkable talents to shine. Or as Hayes summarises, “I want this to be the most fun I can have while I’m on stage.”

Hayes puts it this way: "You have to accept that absolute perfection may elude you forever, but that’s ok because music isn’t about perfection. For me it’s about heart, feeling, trust, freedom, communication and true aliveness in the moment." He's on the money there, but he's also selling himself a bit short. His beautiful playing, whether it be on masterpieces like The Gloaming 3 or delights like The Butterfly - recorded with Brooklyn Rider, dances as joyously close to perfection as it is possible to get.

See NCH.ie for more details and tickets.

https://open.spotify.com/album/2iGUlszOxQeRFb7x31UiP0?si=ZDzvYbKbQcmMDNPZdTeX9Q