MARTIN GREEN is a long-standing multi-instrumentalist folk performer and composer, best known as the accordions in the innovative folk trio Lau.

It was after seeing a poster at the National Mining Museum in Scotland four years ago, however, that led him to embark on a journey that took him into the world of brass bands and their connection with the lives and struggles of mining communities.

Moving to Midlothian from living in Cambridge Martin says that “as a folk musician what resonated with me was how brass band music was woven into the fabric of those communities and was used as a mechanism to coach young people.

“It performed a social function that was self-sustaining and was quite clearly music for working people, something which is intrinsic to the folk tradition.”

This interest led in 2022 to a three-part documentary series for Radio 4 Banding: Love, Spit and Valve Oil nominated for numerous awards.

“During lockdown I started interviewing people, talking to miners about their experiences during the strike some who had been arrested on the picket line. But I also talked to young people proud of their history and the fact their grandfather was a miner.”

Following the documentary series came Keli, an audio drama about a talented but troubled young horn player, and then in 2024 an album of brass band compositions which has just been rereleased to mark the 40th anniversary of the end of the miners’ strike.

As a companion piece to the Split the Air album Martin Green has composed a single The Eyes of Others, featuring the voice and guitar work of Louis Abbot from folk-indie group Admiral Fallow as well as some of Scotland’s brass musicians.

And the story in Keli has now become a National Theatre of Scotland production touring throughout May and June.

To those who dismiss talk of the miners’ strike and brass bands as nostalgia for a lost world, Green says: “What has been inspiring is the number of young people who come to the performances. They are interested in the history of their community and have a clear sense of which side they are on.”

The album, single and drama are all testament to the power of music, community and solidarity.

Split the Air is released on Lepus Records.