Annie and I finally managed to get over to see Daoirí Farrell play in Tenbury Wells back in April. We missed him last year — there was torrential rain, the River Teme flooded, the gig was cancelled. The two concerts before that, Covid got in the way!!
Anyway, what a great gig, thoroughly enjoyed it, and what a brilliant player and performer he is — wonderful singing, and some pretty astonishing bouzouki playing too! He had a couple of bouzoukis with him, one was a new one by Justin Rogers, a lovely-looking-and-sounding guitar/bouzouki, and an SBB prototype bouzouki I built a few years ago. It was really good to hear him putting that one through its paces. The story of the build can be read here and here.
The following morning Daoirí and his Dad popped over to the workshop for a cuppa and chat on their way down to Bath for the next gig. It was really interesting to see the prototype bouzouki again, and to see how it’s faired over the past few years. In the photo Daoirí is holding one of my more recent bozuoukis, one I built for myself last year. (Apologies for the grubby knees — I’d been in the garden digging!!).
You can read about this bouzouki here. Daoirí played the bouzouki for a while in the workshop, I was very keen to get his thoughts and feedback on the new instrument. It was also really interesting to hear the comparison between the two instruments.
Daoirí mentioned that he’d like to have a chat about a new instrument, I think he was very taken by the combination of Ziricote and European Spruce in my bouzouki. We’ve pencilled in a build slot and have started a conversation about the specification. I’m really looking forward to working with Daoirí over the next few months while we exchange ideas about the new instrument.
