#102 Rónán Ó Snodaigh- Bodhrán Master and founding member of the band Kíla!
Born in Dublin 1970 Rónán Ó Snodaigh, one of six brothers, was brought up in an Irish speaking home. His mother is an artist and writer and his father a writer and publisher in the Irish language, Rónán was immersed in an atmosphere of culture and creativity from early days. He started writing poetry in his teens, selling his work on the streets of Dublin’s city centre where he also started his musical career, busking with a collective of young musicians including Glen Hansard, Mic Christopher and Paddy Casey. Kíla started to take form from this busking fraternity with Rónán on bodhran and vocals. They quickly earned wider recognition for their unique blend of traditional Irish, rock and an ability to absorb just about any other musical culture into their writing pot.
Shoutout to Matthew Bell at Rebellion Drums, for helping us understand what you need to know to pick out a Bodhran. You can get all sorts of other information at the website: CONTEMPORARY BODHRAN. Contemporary Bodhrán is an educational website for folks interested in learning the Bodhrán online, and that individual online lessons are also available with Matt Bell. Def, swing on over there and check it out!
And a Bodhran Tipper.
The Grammy Awards will be on Sunday February 10th and you can see the nominees for all the awards that came out earlier this week. If you’re interested in the Standup for Drummers by Fred Armisen, it is on Netflix now.
The iconic recording for this week is “Santa Claus, Go Straight to the Ghetto” by the James Brown Orchestra off of the “A Soulful Christmas” album.
Some holiday gift idea/suggestions for this week (with a hint toward electronics)
A new iPad, iPad iKlip, a bluetooth page turner for the music on your iPad, software for your tablet like: For Score, Logic Remote, Protools Remote, MPC apps, Sibelius, Finale, Logic Pro, Protools, Alesis sample pad pro, Roland SPD-SX, Roland SPD-One pads, Yamaha DTX pad, The Handsonic, Nord pad, Sunhouse triggers, & the Yamaha EAD. Headphones, Abelton, and Akai MPC or Microphones as well as some stick bundles or new cowbells.
Music news for this week……
How to stay motivated, efficient and sane when music is not your full time gig (and ways to start making it become your full time career). Your phone is 7 times dirtier than your toilet, and how to clean said phone. Buju Banton is released from prison after 7 years, but Ty Dolla sign could go to jail for 15 years. Both were for drug charges. The rapiest Christmas carol ever is getting banned from more radio stations. Other critical metrics to check if you are tracking an artist’s success, especially on streaming services.
The song leading into the interview was “Do Ghra” by Ronan
Here’s an example of two different Cèilidh bands. Example one is drumkit, guitar, fiddle and pipes, while example two is guitar, fiddle and squeeze box. To learn more about those type of bands, check out this LINK.
Damien Quinn was one of the first people Ronan sought out on the Bodhran and he can be seen in THIS VIDEO.
Ronan uses a multitude of different implements on the Bodhran. Here’s an example of him using a brush in his left hand as well as the standard dampening techniques……
Ronan mentions a couple of Bodhran makers he has come across in Ireland. Seamus O’Kane in the north and Paraic McNeela in Dublin. The German fellow Ronan mentions is Christian Hedwitschak.
Another drum in the countryside of Ireland is the Lambeg Drum, used for communication among other things. They are made LIKE THIS, and are played with canes and SOUND LIKE THIS.
Zorro, was born William Lamport of Ireland. You can read more about the details of his story by clicking HERE.
Here is an example (video) of the Bodhran being played in a duo situation with the Uilleann pipes. That ensemble can be expanded with adding the squeeze box (Concertina) and the Bouzouki. You can hear a bit of that by checking out this video HERE.
One of the bands that Ronan toured with that helped him solidify music as a professional career was Dead Can Dance. He was also a founding member of the band Kila.
Mud is the movie with Matthew McConaughey that inspired Ronan to keep wild wolf hair in his stickbag.
You can follow Ronan on his Website, Facebook & Twitter.
The song leading out of the interview is “Grand Hotel” from the Live in Dublin album by the band Kila.
