Traditional Irish Folk Music 6 Instrumentation 3 Bodhrán

Battle Drum or Farming Impliment?

Like the harp, the bodrhán is an iconic symbol of Ireland.

Yet there is a huge amount of speculation over not only the meaning of the name, but also of the instruments origin.

Liam Ó Bharáin(1), Ronan Nolan(2), Paul McAuley(3), Josh Mittleman(4), and Tony Locke(5), have all arrived at roughly the same conclusions, no-one knows for certain.

The name itself is either 

a) a derivative of the word tambourine which became bourine then bodhrán. 

b) a varient of the Gaelic bodhar (deaf) which came to mean deafening or thundering drum.

 As for the instruments origin it is either

a) A round tray used to separate wheat from chaff

b) It came to Ireland via either Asia, Spain or Africa as a result of migration or trade.

 What is agreed upon is the fact that until around the mid 20th Century the bodhrán as an instrument was mostly relegated to use during special occasions.  Harvest festivals (perhaps where the farming implement origin came from) or warfare, appear to be the most common times of use.

Since around the 60's the bodhrán has become a mainstay of Irish Folk music percussion. Artists such as platinum selling pop band The Corrs, helping to drive that image with their blend of traditional Irish Folk music and pop.
 Drummer Caroline Corr a very adept bodhrán player shows off her skill at 1:37 in the video below

The Corrs -Toss the Feather (live)

The Corrs here use a traditional instrumentation of fiddle, tin whistle and bodhrán accompanied by piano (perhaps this would have been a harp in days of old).

Though Caroline Corr is a very talented bodhrán player it is people like Martin O'Neill who really showcase the bodhrán as the video below shows, where he creates an amazing Jazz style piece including bass line on just a bodhrán

Martin O'Neill bodhran solo during Fred Morrison concert at Edinburgh Folk Club - November 2009

Reference
1 Ó Bharáin Liam,'Bodhrán: its origin, meaning and history' PART I:ETYMOLOGY 2000–2013 Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. (article) [online] availabe at:<http://comhaltas.ie/music/treoir/detail/> (accessed 29 September 2013) 
2  Nolan Ronan, 'History of the Bodhran' 2009 ramblinghouse (article) [online] availabel at:<http://www.ramblinghouse.org/2009/08/history-of-the-bodhran/> (accessed 29 September 2013)
3  McAuley Paul, History 2013 irishbodhrans (article) [online] available at: <http://www.irishbodhrans.com/pages/view/history> (accessed 29 September 2013)
4 Mittleman Josh, 'History of the Bodhrán' 2000 ceolas (article) [online] availabel at: <http://www.ceolas.org/instruments/bodhran/history.shtml> (accessed 29 September 2013)
5 Locke Tony,'The History of the Bodhrán' 2013 Irishabroad (Blog) [online] available at:<http://www.irishabroad.com/Blogs/PostView.aspx?pid=4374> (accessed 29 September 2013)
The Corrs (Toss the Feather Live),  patoche75017, uploaded 17 Jul 2007 (video) [online] Available at:<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1FqGm5z9X0> (accessed  29 September 2013)
Martin O'Neill bodhran solo during Fred Morrison concert at Edinburgh Folk Club - November 2009davidvivanco Uploaded 5 Nov 2009 (video) [online] available at:<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlP2aWgOEfw> (accessed 29 September 2013)