First catch your goat…
The bodhran comes from a long line of
tambourine-type drums which feature in folk music throughout
Europe and in the religious ceremonies of Native Americans, and
the nomadic peoples of the Arctic Circle.
Similar drums were used by priestesses in
the temples of ancient Greek and Roman deities.
The Irish version is first recorded in the
19th century. It was the custom then for mummers to beat the
bodhran on December 26 to drive away the wren, the tiny bird
blamed for betraying the hiding place of the Christian martyr
St. Stephen. It was made by stretching a skin from a
she–goat’s belly across a wooden riddle used for
winnowing grains.
The bodhran was introduced into traditional
Irish music as late as the 1950s by the great Irish composer
and musicologist Sean O’Riada.
Today bodhrans are still made from
goatskin, but the rims are much more sophisticated with tuning
pegs. My own tunable bodhran was built by Seamus
O’Kane, who lives in the townland of Drum, near Dungiven, Co.
Derry.
Every year during the Fiddlers Green
festival in Rostrevor I hold a bodhran workshop where visitors
can get a taste of the instrument that gets their feet tapping.
I also give bodhran classes to small groups and individuals
when I’m not touring with The Sands Family.