Folk luminary and Ivor award-winning composer Martin Green joined by Grimethorpe Colliery Band at Glasshouse, Gateshead

Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike, Ivor Novello Award-winning composer Martin Green is joined by the legendary Grimethorpe Colliery Band in music from his new album at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Gateshead on Sunday May, 12.

Best known as the virtuoso accordionist in the visionary folk trio Lau, Martin has spent the past two years delving deep into the world of brass bands, reflected in his acclaimed album Split the Air.

The Northern Echo: Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike, the music draws on rich history of

Inspired by the powerfully evocative sound of brass bands, and by the resilient, creative individuals he met, he produced a three-part BBC Radio 4 documentary. Premiered in Edinburgh in 2022, Keli told the fictional story of a talented but troubled young horn player.

In his other radio documentary Love Spit and Valve Oil, Martin sought to discover why banding in Britain has outlasted the pits, the picket lines and the closures.

He found the answer in the human stories that are bound up so inseparably with the music. That unmistakable sound is shaped by the grit of difficult lives: lives spent in darkness at the coalface, in fear of violence at home, or blighted by unemployment.

Now, Split the Air gives vent to Martin’s newfound passion and showcases the formidable skill in writing for brass that he has acquired.

The Northern Echo: Martin is looking forward to bringing the music to the stage at The Glasshouse

The music draws deeply on tradition, freighted with the long, rich history of British banding and its complicated links with industry, coal and competition. Yet it is never encumbered by the past.

Martin’s commitment to understanding the history and the culture of brass band music has led him to uncover new possibilities for its future.

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Now Martin is looking forward to bringing the music to the stage at The Glasshouse (formerly Sage) Gateshead with Grimethorpe Colliery Band, whose heroic survival following the pit closures inspired the story of the classic film Brassed Off, which the band also soundtracked.

Martin said: “The brass band is, of course, best experienced in the flesh, and these stories really jump to life with the band playing live”, he says.

Martin Green and Grimethorpe Colliery Band head to Gateshead at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Gateshead on Sunday, May 12.

Tickets, priced at £24.20, are available to book via theglasshouseicm.org.