Fay, Martin Joseph

by Frank Cullen

Fay, Martin Joseph (1936–2012), musician, was born on 19 September 1936 at the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, the youngest of four children, three boys and a girl, to parents Joseph Christopher Fay, a motor vehicle driver, and Annie Fay (née Kelly). Shortly before Martin's birth his parents acquired a house on the newly-built Cuala Road in the working-class suburb of Cabra in north Dublin, where Martin remained until he married in 1968. He grew up listening to the large collection of céilí records in his home. His mother played piano and taught his older sister Ann, who in turn began to teach Martin piano pieces such as Schubert's Marche militaire. By age five he was performing as a novelty piano act at the local roller-skating rink at Cabra School Hall.

At the age of six Martin switched from piano to violin having seen the film The magic bow about the life of the celebrated Italian violinist, Niccoló Paganini. It was more the soundtrack of the film performed by the great American virtuoso, Yehudi Menuhin, than the actual story, that left a deep impression upon him. Not long afterward he received his first violin from his father and was enrolled in the Dublin Municipal School of Music.

Fay was educated at St Canice's, Finglas, and O'Connell's CBS, North Richmond Street. By the age of thirteen he was clearly a gifted classical musician with the rare ability to read and play complex arrangements on first sight. His teacher at the music college recognised his potential, setting him up, aged fifteen, in the Butlin's Orchestra at Mosney, Co. Meath, and then as stand-in violinist for the Gaiety Theatre opera season. Upon finishing school in 1954, Fay decided regretfully not to pursue his ambition of becoming a professional musician and began working as a purchasing officer in Unidare, a Dublin electronics firm.

Shortly afterwards, he was offered a place in the Abbey Theatre orchestra performing overtures and intermission music. Each evening he went directly from his day job in Finglas to perform in the Abbey, then located in the old Queen's Theatre on Pearse Street. The Abbey's new director of music, Seán Ó Riada (qv), respected Fay as a musician and the two became friends. Ó Riada was experimenting with Irish traditional instruments, and he introduced Fay to some slow airs which the latter found charming, transforming his previously negative perception of traditional Irish music.

In 1959 Ó Riada gathered a number of highly regarded Irish folk musicians including Éamon de Buitléar (qv) (accordion), Paddy Moloney (uilleann pipes), Sean Potts (tin whistle) and John Kelly (qv) (1912–89) (fiddle), to perform on the Abbey stage in Bryan MacMahon's (qv) play, The golden folk. Ó Riada felt that the Irish public, particularly Dublin audiences, were ready for a more refined and cultivated expression of Irish music and he invited musicians to form an Irish folk chamber orchestra, to be known as Ceoltóirí Cualann. Before long, Fay was invited to join on account of his classical training. The group rehearsed at Ó Riada's house; there Fay imbibed the culture of traditional Irish music.

Ceoltóirí Cualann presented Irish music in a novel way, departing from the unruliness of the traditional session where audience and musician intermingled; the setting was more reminiscent of a concert with listeners separated from artists. Musicians, rather than playing in unison as in the céilí bands, played according to Ó Riada's arrangements with solo breaks to showcase the characteristics of each instrument. Ó Riada introduced counter melodies and Fay was chosen on fiddle for his technical ability and fine treatment of the slow airs. The group grew in popularity and in 1962 Garech Browne (1939–2018), the founder of Claddagh Records (1959), asked Paddy Moloney to form a band to make a record with his label.

Moloney brought in Michael Tubridy on flute, David Fallon on bodhrán, Potts on tin whistle, and Fay on fiddle and the resulting record was the Chieftains' first album, simply called Chieftains (1964). The Chieftains incorporated some of Ó Riada's ideas and arrangements into their own brand of traditional music, while performing some of the older tunes Moloney had introduced to the band. After the record was made the Chieftains continued to make occasional appearances, but much of Fay's time was spent between his regular job and his commitments to Ceoltóirí Cualann, which by now had its own radio series, Reacaireacht an Riadaigh and Fleadh Cheoil an Raidió.

By the end of the 1960s the Chieftains were growing in popularity, and in 1968 an appearance at the Edinburgh festival brought their music to an international audience. On 4 September of the same year, Fay married, at St Joseph's Church, East Wall, Gertrude (Gráinne) McCormack, a shorthand typist from nearby Caledon Road in Dublin's north inner city. Gertie (as she was known to her friends) met Fay while performing as a cabaret dancer at one of his shows and she later became a professional dancer, opening a successful dancing school in Sutton, Co. Dublin. In 1968 the Chieftains were offered a recording contract with Claddagh Records. Paddy Moloney, then working for Claddagh, encouraged the group to sign up, but because Ceoltóirí Cualann was already signed to the competing Gael Linn label, Fay and Sean Potts refused, leading to the Chieftains breaking up. This was a temporary setback and the band reformed the following year when Ó Riada disbanded Ceoltóirí Cualann.

The Chieftains released three more albums between 1969 and 1973, all on the Claddagh label, winning further international acclaim for their contribution to the musical score of Stanley Kubrick's film, Barry Lyndon (1975). Fay's distinctive tone on Ó Riada's, 'Mná na hÉireann', proved one of the most memorable tracks in the entire film. An important turning point in the Chieftains' story was the sell-out concert in the Royal Albert Hall, London, on St Patrick's Day 1975, following which the band decided to turn full-time professional. For Fay it was a difficult decision to quit a permanent pensionable job, particularly with two young children to support. The gamble paid off, as he remained with the band for a further twenty-seven years, recording over thirty albums.

Reserved and modest, Fay possessed a dry sense of humour consistent with his sometimes stolid expression, and his sharp Dublin wit was a source of entertainment when the Chieftains were on tour. He was a determined individual who could stand his ground when he felt strongly about something. He was outspoken at times, publicly declaring his dislike of the Chieftains' superstar collaborations with acts such as the Rolling Stones, Art Garfunkel, Van Morrison and others, preferring that people come to a Chieftains concert to see the Chieftains. Over the years Fay mastered the art of the slow air and his sensitive and emotive treatment could change the mood of a concert from vibrant and swash-buckling to haunting and evocative. Although he aspired from an early age to be a classical musician, Fay came to love the music he played with the Chieftains and never had any regrets about his chosen path, which enabled him to fulfil his childhood dream of playing in Carnegie Hall.

After a diagnosis of emphysema Fay stopped touring with the Chieftains in 2001 and played for the last time with the band in October 2002 in Belfast at the funeral of Derek Bell (qv), a long-time member of the Chieftains. He lived out his retirement in Sutton, Co. Dublin, and died at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, on 14 November 2012 from pulmonary fibrosis. He was survived by his wife and by his children, Fergal and Dearbhla. He is buried at Fingal Cemetery, Balgriffin Road, Dublin.