NATURAL GRACE: IRISH MUSIC & MARTIN HAYES

Filmed over a two-year period, Art Ó Briain’s documentary Natural Grace: Irish Music & Martin Hayes, is an important and evocative exploration of an icon of Irish music who is playing a pivotal role in the evolution of Irish traditional music in the twenty-first century. Natural Grace is a musical journey into the heart and style of one of contemporary Ireland’s great traditional fiddlers, Martin Hayes. We travel with him to his home in East Clare, to the USA and Japan, where we see and hear him in both informal and concert settings. The film reveals a fascinating character, an eloquent and articulate champion of the old and the new in Irish music, blending striking images of Irish nature with sensitive and diverse settings for his exquisite playing.

Best Irish Documentary Winner – Galway Film Fleadh

The ICC wishes to thank Network Ireland Television for permission to screen the film. Thanks also to the actor and storyteller Nuala Hayes, wife of the film’s director, the late Art Ó Briain.