I don't encounter many bodhran players (Bodhranists? Bodhraners?) here where I dwell, but the bodhran of the early 1960s was a set of bongos. Inexpensive, and those with no talent (Or sense of rhythm. Or musical taste. Or taste of any kind) thought they were a way of participating in the music making without having to learn anything.

So I'm singing my regular gig in a coffeehouse one evening, and this guy with a brand new set of bongos is trying to bonk and bang along with everything I'm singing. I'm beginning to seethe a bit, but he is a paying customer. Then someone asks me to do "Greensleeves."

I do about three carefully selected verses out of the multitude available, and utilizing my classical guitar skills, I accompany it as if I were playing the lute. I figure, "Okay, this guy will probably leave me alone on this one."

Wrong!

I launch into it and he tries to accompany with the only rhythm he seems to know. Calypso.

The owner of the coffeehouse came out of the kitchen, picked up the guy's check, and quietly asked him to take his bongos and leave.

People should be required to get a license and have a background check before they're allowed to buy bongos or a bodhran.

Don Firth