Beating Time: The Story of the Irish bodhrán

The Irish frame drum that we know as ‘bodhrán’ first entered modern-day Irish consciousness in 1959 with John B. Keane’s use of a tambourine in his play Sive at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. From 1960 onwards, it gained tremendous visibility in the traditional music revival through Seán Ó Riada’s Radio Éireann ensemble Ceoltóirí Chualann, then by the Chieftains, and, later, by the Bothy Band, Planxty, Christy Moore and De Dannan. By the end of the century, tens of thousands of bodhráns had bee...