Bodhrán man Larry's going into business

Paul Hughes

A Delvin man who brought Mullingar to a halt last Tuesday with an impromptu rooftop bodhrán performance is going into business, he has revealed.

Larry Murtagh from Ballyhealy, Delvin, who has played the bodhrán since he was seven years of age, is setting up a bodhrán-making workshop in rooms above Rochfort's of Dominick Street, Mullingar.

The workshop and store will open its doors in August.

The bodhráns will be made from scratch using locally-sourced goat skin and willow branches, without staples and pins - bringing bodhrán-making back to its roots which, Larry reckons, are in the bogs of north Westmeath.

"I've had a huge reaction so far," said Larry, who became a Facebook sensation after the Westmeath Examiner posted a video of him playing the bodhrán on the canopy over Rochfort's last Tuesday.

For the full story, read next Tuesday's edition of the Westmeath Examiner.