Well I'd heartily agree with that, Silas. The drumming, the beer, the hundreds of accordions and the maidens dressed in white are all part of the Padstow allure. And I like bands and I have lots of CDs by great Irish and Scottish bands. Ringo McDonagh is a superstar in my eyes. I go to see bands that have a bodhran player. I know very well what role percussion can play in a well thought out context. But I'm talking about sessions here. I freely admit that there may be a few good bodhran players around who, whilst they add nothing, don't actually get up anyone else's noses in sessions. But Howard is right: I haven't come across any, so I'm biased. I think you'll find that very large numbers of good musicians who play Irish music are similarly biased. I don't know what you call it when a very large number of people all have the same bias. Racism towards bodhran owners I suppose. And John, you can read English I assume. Instead of cherry-picking the bits of my posts that suit your bitter agenda, try reading the whole lot over again. We are always very nice to visiting musicians of good will. Always.