West of Ireland is Home to World’s Only Full-Time Bodhran Maker
ROUNDSTONE, County Galway - For more than 20 years, Malachy Kearns has been crafting bodhrans – a goat-skinned drum-like instrument played with a two-headed beater – at a Sixteenth Century Franciscan monastery overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in the west of Ireland.
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| MALACHY KEARNS, owner of Roundstone Music, has been crafting bodhrans for more than 20 years. He works from a Sixteenth Century Franciscan monastery, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in the West of Ireland. |
According to Kearns, bodhran (pronounced bow-rawn) means “that which deafens,” which explains the unmistakable racing and rolling rhythm of Ireland's reputedly oldest instrument. “There is a deep haunting sound from the bodhran. It's a sound that does not go through your head or heart but straight into your gut where your life centre is,” says Kearns.
Kearns, runs Roundstone Musical Instruments from a fishing village in Connemara where he is known as “Malachy Bodhran” by locals. The world's only full-time bodhran-maker, he says the Irish drum has its origins as a skin tray used for drawing turf (peat) from the bogs, and was later used for winnowing, or separating chaff from wheat.
In more recent times, the bodhran was popularized in a 1959 play by the late John B. Keane and up-and-coming traditional music groups were quick to bring it into their ensembles.
Each drum produced at Roundstone Musical Instruments is made by hand from native Irish Beech and the skin is attached with brass tacks and glue. The skins are then treated in hydrated lime and secret ingredients and soaked for seven to 10 days in a solution of lime sulphide to soften them and remove the hair. Sometimes the skins are buried in manure before being stretched for three days on a wooden frame.
“Between de-hairing and de-fleshing the skin you can never use any strong chemical as the skin would look good but the sound would be terrible,” Kearns said. The drums are hand-painted with family crests, Celtic designs or initials, while remains are not discarded but made into miniature bodhrans to cater for the growing gift market.
Kearns has become so closely associated with the bodhran that he was once featured on a postage stamp. A number of Hollywood stars have also lined up to purchase bodhrans from him or have visited his craft shop while holidaying in the area.
Three bodhrans were ordered for the stars of the Hollywood blockbuster Charlie's Angels with customary initials and former Disney chairman Michael Eisner has paid a number of visits.
The bodhran's fame has even spread to Wall Street, where dealers were once greeted with the unlikely sight of New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso brandishing one of Kearns' creations during the opening bell.
Corporate demand from the U.S. has boosted sales over the last few years, and these days Kearns turns over in excess of a million euros ($1.1 million) of business a year. “There's a certain statement if an American has a bodhran in their office. It's like saying we are Irish,” Kearns said, explaining part of its appeal.
The information highway has helped shore up business during the lean winter months when the number of tourists setting out on the hour-long journey across rugged terrain from Galway City slows to a trickle.
"People used to wait two or three months for their bodhrans, but now they're hitting the e-mail button and they want to apply for shipping details within two hours,” Kearns smiled.
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For more details about Roundstone Music, call 011-353-95-35808, fax 011-353-95-35980, in the U.S. call toll free at 1-800-864-2918, or e-mail: badran@iol.ie. For a full listing of all Roundstone music and crafts, visit: www.bodhran.com.
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