My extra 'a'

Quite a few people ask about my extra 'a' in Maartin. Some people ask if I'm Dutch. I’m not Dutch, I’m from Manchester, but I escaped a long time ago, between the times when it was fab…

I was playing with Kieran Halpin, dear friend and hero, in Ireland around 1987. We played a residency at the Harcourt Hotel every week with an extended band. When we turned up in the afternoon to rehearse we had to shovel away the dogdirt from the carpet to put up the backline. That’s where the guard dogs stayed overnight...

After all the gigs in town were over, all the musicians used to congregate in The Onion Field, a wine bar in Ranelagh run by Donal Lunny’s then girlfriend Madeleine. All the cream of the crop would be there and one time I was sitting against the wall near the bar when my hero Kevin Burke (Bothy Band, Patrick Street) sat down next to me, got out his fiddle and joined in.

After he finished, I said to him, “Kevin, I’ve watched you from afar, I have your autograph, but to hear and watch you play so closely is a privilige”
“Phwhat’s yer name?”
“Martin Allcock. I play with Kieran Halpin”
“North Manchester!”
“How do you know that?”
“I have an ear for these things. I shall call you Maart, and you must spell it with an extra ‘a’”
So I have ever since, and after the first while of spill chuckers, it’s stuck. It’s one of the best presents I’ve ever had, it cost Kevin nothing and I use it every day. Thanks Kev!