14 January 1994 supporting them. Bennett was still a teenager when Swan had first spotted him playing. He released his first album, the eponymous Martyn Bennett, in 1995 on Eclectic, a small Edinburgh-based independent label. He had recorded the album in just seven days at Castle Sound studios in Pencaitland. Floret Silva Undique uses a poem by Hamish Henderson, who commented "What brave new music". The album had a "dramatic" impact on Scottish music. He provided the live musical score for David Harrower’s play Knives in Hens. He performed at the party held at Stirling Castle for the European premier of the movie Braveheart on 3 September 1995. He was back performing in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in January 1996. After writing scores for stage and television, he went on tour to America, supporting Wolfstone. He played at Edinburgh Hogmanay events in 1995 and 1996. He released Bothy Culture in 1998 on the Rykodisc label. One composition Hallaig takes its name from the poem by the Gaelic bard Sorley MacLean, incorporating a sample of MacLean reading the poem. Bothy culture topped the US college radio charts. The album came close to winning a Mercury Music Prize nomination. His performances were also attracting attention. It was unusual for a piper to be sporting dreadlocks, this image fitted with the musical and cultural boundaries that he was crossing. At times he was characterised as "the techno piper". He played at T in the Park in 1998. Scottish celebrities attended his performance at the Buddha Bar in Paris, ahead of Scotland playing Brazil in the opening match of the 1998 World Cup. He was awarded the 1998 Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award in the music category. He played at Celtic connections again in 1999. At Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations at the millennium, his band Cuillin played at the Castle Esplanade, supporting Texas. In 1999 he moved to Mull, where he met Dundonian musician Martin Low who helped him with his next work. Rykodisc had now become part of Palm Pictures. In 2000 he released the album Hardland on his own Cuillin label. He appeared at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2000, giving an electrifying performance. A reviewer wrote in Mojo that "Scots music has never sounded like this before. No music has ever sounded like this before. Half the audience fled in fear of their lives." Bennett sold a thousand CDs after the