It might seem rather strange that there is a bones player living in Israel (Western Galilee to be more specific) who plays Irish music, but that‘s the bare bones of it.
I first encountered bones in Ireland while I was participating in a bodhran class in the South Sligo School of Irish Music and Dance in County Sligo. During the midmorning coffee break I met Cathy Jordan, the singer and bodhran and bones player of Dervish. Cathy showed me how to hold bones and demonstrated her two handed techniques, including a flashy demonstration of four bones in each hand. I was immediately fascinated and decided then and there that I had to learn how to do this.
I purchased my first set of bones (real ones) in Galway. Then I took a ferry out to Inis Mor, a small island in Galway Bay, where I walked up and down the beach for a day and a half and eventually got out my first triplet. The rest, I imagine, is similar to all the rest of you. I spent several years only playing jigs (6/8), and then suddenly the reels (4/4) fell into place. A bit about the bones scene here in Israel. As far as I know, I am the only member of the Rhythm Bones Society in Israel, but I am not the only player. Uri Myles, an extremely versatile musician, who among other things plays flutes, accordion, Uilleann and Scottish bagpipes, tin whistles and bodhran with his band, The Celtic Camel Project. Braca Ben-Avraham