Prevailing theory (source: “Uncovering the History of the Banjo with Rhiannon Giddens: From African Roots to American Music”) is that the bodhran came to Ireland from tambourines. Just as the American tambourine spawned the banjo, so too did the Ireland tambourine spawn a new instrument. (This is an oversimplification, of course, it wasn’t JUST the tambourine).

If someone told me I was going to watch and listen to an eight-minute bodhran solo, I would not have believed them. I had no idea this instrument could be played like this. Fascinating.