bodhran

American  

[baw-rahn] / ˈbɔ rɑn /

Or bodhrán

noun

1. a handheld, shallow Irish drum with a single goatskin head, played with a stick.

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bodhrán British  

/ baʊˈrɑːn, ˈboːrɑːn /

noun

1. a shallow one-sided drum popular in Irish and Scottish folk music

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Etymology

Origin of bodhran

1965–70; Irish Gaelic bodhrán, from Middle Irish bodrán, from bodar “deafening, deaf”

Example Sentences

This is an album which, including bonus tracks, features rapping and singing; club music and orchestras; a tin whistle and a bodhran, hallmarks of Irish folk; and a song partly in the Ghanaian dialect Twi.

From New York Times • Mar. 6, 2017

A nearby human would throb like a bodhran as subsonic waves bounced around her chest.

From The Guardian • Jan. 19, 2017

He also busied himself with a few songs he knows on the tin whistle and thumped the bodhran on occasion.

From New York Times • Jan. 17, 2017

Flautist Jean-Michel Veillon represents the Breton strand of Celtic culture, and John Joe Kelly is a maestro of the bodhran, the traditional Irish frame drum.

From Washington Post • Mar. 12, 2015

The lush harmonies, intricate acoustic arrangements — fiddle, guitar, banjo, bodhran, whistles and more — make this far from standard fare.

From Washington Times • Nov. 24, 2014