Held annually in Milltown, Kerry; the World Bodhrán Championships is one of Ireland’s newest and most exciting musical events. The event promotes and showcases the Irish frame drum, aiming to find the best bodhrán players in the world.

I was lucky enough to attend this year’s festival with a local player, Martin Lawlor.

Martin has been blind since birth and started playing the Bodhrán in 1994 and has loved its sounds, beats and rhythms ever since. He is fascinated with the different tones you can get from the instrument. His first Bodhrán was a 10-inch model which he got as a present. He started going to sessions with it but he has now graduated to the more professional 15 or 16 inch Cristian Hedwitschak drums.

Originally from Rathvilly in County Carlow, Martin moved to Dublin in 2002 and is now a regular performer at the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann branch in Monkstown, he also plays in The Oarsman in Ringsend and The Cobblestones near Smithfield Market.

Martin first heard about the championships in 2006 and decided to give it a go, finishing sixth overall that year. This year, Martin managed to get into the finals and finished joint second in the Solo competition. A panel of renowned adjudicators was assembled for the championships and they looked for the best style, rhythm and technique in the world.

The competition was judged by Mel Mercier of University College Cork, Sandra Joyce of the University of Limerick and Svend Kjeldsen from Denmark. Martin also entered the street entertainment competition with Comhaltas Groups with prize money for the best performers and managed to bag himself first place in this competition.

The festival aims to promote the bodhrán and encourage new innovations in bodhrán playing as well as being a celebration of its place in Irish traditional music and heritage.

The bodhrán is an ancient frame-drum made with a wooden body and a goat-skin drumhead and is played with a double-headed stick called a cipín, tipper, or beater. Bodhráns were traditionally made with goatskin, sheepskin, or greyhound skin. The skins were prepared by burying them in lime for six to eight weeks, then soaking them in a river to wash away the hair.

Although it has existed in Ireland for centuries, the instrument was not widely used until the folk revival of the 1960s and 70s. More recently, a significant functional development of the Bodhrán has been the introduction of tunable bodhráns.

Between six and twelve tuning screws move a ring which presses against the skin, allowing the drummer to tighten or loosen the skin to change the pitch and adjust it for varying humidity.

Surprisingly, one of the leading manufacturers of these new drums is Cristian Hedwitschak, based in Bavaria! Surely an opening for Irish light industry in this area.

The World Championships will be held on the last weekend in June next year. I am sure it will be a great weekend and well worth a visit.

Left: Martin tries out some of the Cristian Hedwitschak drums.