Gnu, it's a solo within a wider performance. Like any drum solo. You're not meant to dance or sing to it particularly. It does show off JohnJoe's singular talents, but that's obviously the point. He normally employs those talents in the context of a band.

Many people who despair at the heavy and cack-handed bodhran playing in (I'm sorry, but it's true) the majority of sessions I've ever been to could look at what JohnJoe does and gain a new appreciation and respect for what the instrument is capable of. I've seen the same thing happen with Cormac Byrne of Uiscidwr when he has a bit of a freewheeling moment. When we saw JohnJoe's (now sadly demised) band Flook a few years ago, he had the whole crowd on their feet during his solo - I still remember my daughter jumping up and whooping and hollering, and she's been around mediocre bodhran playing (mine) all her life without taking a blind bit of notice of the instrument.