Stunning Traditional Irish Music performed by
Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill

When I went to see this duo, I was expecting it to be an understated evening. I expected to hear pretty Irish reels and jigs played in a subdued manner. It’s just two guys, I told myself. They weren’t going to have bagpipes with fireworks coming out of them like Gaelic Storm or Flogging Molly. How intense could it get?

That night, One Longfellow Square was packed to the gills, and the two men came out and began to play. The darkened house and the lilting tunes (why is it that Irish tunes are always  lilting, and yet they are--) thrummed along until the whole bunch of us were on a hypnotic journey with Martin and Dennis. They played in an understated way, like whirling dervishes. They whirled like gentlemen at first, maybe more like twirling dervishes, pulling us all into the centripetal force of the whirling, which sped ever so lightly along, until Martin’s legs were going up and down off the stage, his wild, long, curly hair flying, his arms and fingers constant and channeling the god of music, with a building, unifying, joyous frenzy. The audience, eyes fixed on the pair, were one in focus, many legs, feet, knees, hands bouncing along with Martin’s, and the whole place levitating with the transcendent hypnosis of the music.

It seemed to me that each medley lasted about 30 minutes, and they played several medleys. Dennis started off stately and lovely on the guitar, and then the pace accelerated, and accelerated more, but not to the point of driving off the cliff into oblivion, but with control, balance and poise. And intensity. Did I mention intensity?

Martin mentioned that he was experiencing flu symptoms, and I wondered which kind of flu, hoping it wasn’t the stomach flu. I got visuals of the possibility of a kind of Vesuvius eruption happening between the bow and strings. But he didn’t manifest anything publicly. In fact he stated that as long as he was playing he felt fine. He felt the symptoms between tunes. His sense of humor was charming and understated, and Dennis was his straight man, constant and faithful.

Over the years they have received multiple awards and recorded several albums. Anyone who enjoys Irish music in its spare simplicity will love these two guys. I would relish the chance to see them live again, and plan to enjoy their CDs until the next time I have the opportunity.

Check out Green Linnet Records Website, featuring their latest CD, Welcome Here Again, at http://www.greenlinnet.com.

You can also visit http://www.martinhayes.com/ to find out about tours and other details.

Photo by Derek Speirs