Martyn Bennett was a Canadian-Scottish musician who was influential in the evolution of modern Celtic fusion, a blending of traditional Celtic and modern music.
29 Facts About Martyn Bennett
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Martyn Bennett died from cancer in 2005, fifteen months after the release of his fifth album Grit.
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Martyn Bennett was born Martyn Bennett-Knight in St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
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Martyn Bennett's father, Ian Knight, was a Welsh geologist and musician.
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Martyn Bennett's mother was Margaret Bennett, a singer and folklorist who was born on Skye.
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Martyn Bennett spent the first five years of his life in the Codroy Valley, where Gaelic and traditional music were parts of the local culture.
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Martyn Bennett won a place at the City of Edinburgh Music School, the first traditional musician to do so.
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Martyn Bennett worked with Martin Swan's Mouth Music project, combining traditional Gaelic songs and music with contemporary instruments.
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Martyn Bennett made his debut at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on 14 January 1994 supporting them.
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Martyn Bennett was a teenager when Swan had first spotted him playing.
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Martyn Bennett took part in the summer festival of the city of Nantes in historic Brittany in July 1994, perhaps his first concert outside the UK.
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Martyn Bennett released his first album, the eponymous Martyn Bennett, in 1995 on Eclectic, a small Edinburgh-based independent label.
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Martyn Bennett had recorded the album in just seven days at Castle Sound studios in Pencaitland.
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Martyn Bennett provided the live musical score for David Harrower's play Knives in Hens.
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Martyn Bennett performed at the party held at Stirling Castle for the European premier of the movie Braveheart on 3 September 1995.
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Martyn Bennett was back performing in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in January 1996.
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Martyn Bennett played at Edinburgh Hogmanay events in 1995 and 1996.
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Martyn Bennett released Bothy Culture in 1998 on the Rykodisc label.
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Martyn Bennett sported dreadlocks, an image that fitted with the musical and cultural boundaries that he was crossing.
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Martyn Bennett was awarded the 1998 Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award in the music category.
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Martyn Bennett appeared at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2000, giving an electrifying performance.
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Martyn Bennett was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in November 2000.
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Martyn Bennett brought together samples of unaccompanied traditional Scottish folk singers, his own bagpipe and fiddle playing, with and electronic drum beats.
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Martyn Bennett died from cancer at the Marie Curie Hospice, Edinburgh on 30 January 2005, aged 33.
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Around the same time the Martyn Bennett Trust was set up by his family and friends, as a commemorative fund to help young musicians.
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The 2006 Celtic Connections programme included a Martyn Bennett Day, held on 14 January, with events to celebrate his work.
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In 2008 Margaret Martyn Bennett released a CD single, Love and Loss, with three tracks where Martyn Bennett played to accompany his mother's singing; two of the tracks were previously unreleased.
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Mr McFall's Chamber, a string quartet from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, toured with a tribute show Aye: An Affirmation of Martyn Bennett, performing pieces that were inspired by Bennett and his work.
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Martyn Bennett assembled eighty musicians to form the Grit orchestra.