Greetings from warm and sunny Suffolk, and the Folk East Festival near Little Glemham.  We are settled into our marquee in the Instrument village, tucked between Tim’s Violins on one side and Blackdown Nyckelharpas on the other.  It’s fun being with other instrument makers for a change, and John gets to play around accompanying whoever is trying out another instrument somewhere near by.

Last night the festival opened in the Moot Hall with Mat Bayfield and Friends – several folk duos who each played and then came together in various combinations.  Among the players was Kelly Bayfield, who received a 14 inch BODdrum for her birthday last June, and was clearly having fun playing it on stage for some of the numbers.

Although we have heard our Talking Bodhrán, with the centre spot head, miked up for performance many times, this was our first time hearing the hydraulic head miked up, and we were really pleased to hear how the mellower sound carried through the PA.  All credit to the sound crew who did a great job of balancing the sound and keeping the volume at sensible levels.

Kelly and Mat surprised us by calling out and drawing attention to the BOD drum, and as Kelly described her drum to the audience, we were utterly enchanted by her novel way of pointing out that it keeps its tune in all conditions:  “Really nice not to have to take a hairdryer to a floppy skin before I go on stage!”  Thank you Kelly!