Today I received my bouzouki.

I ordered it many months go from Freshwater folk instruments, and it seemed like it would never come. When it did, there were some problems, which I have yet to sort out with Dave Freshwater, but it is a beautiful thing.

I have wanted a bouzouki for ages… I love the sound they make. For the uninitiated, a bouzouki is a guitar sized Mandolin- 4 strings, each doubled, with a fret board around the length of a guitar fretboard. It makes a sound that, once heard, is very different to guitars, and opens up all sorts of other tonal possibilities. It was originally a Greek instrument, restrung and adapted into Irish folk music by people like Donal Lunny.

One of my favourite bands, ‘A Show of Hands’ use them a lot, and I love the driving energy the closely grouped strings give to fast folk.

For the purists, my instrument is tuned to G D A D, which gives lots of ‘drone’ strings, and lots of lovely open chord sounds. It has been hand made from solid woods, and has a Fishman pick up system.

And it makes me happy to sit in the fading light and fiddle around with the strange familiarity of such a beautiful new instrument.

But, gnawing away at me is this word…. idolatry.

For musicians (not sure if that really includes me, but stay with me…) instruments easily become objects of drooling worship. A good guitar does not make a bad guitarist good, but it certainly makes him/her a whole lot cooler.

Did I NEED a bouzouki? Of course not.

Does owning one improve the quality of my life, or enable me to serve others more effectively? Not really.

So, Lord forgive this man and the grasping teenager within.

And let me learn again that what I have, you gave me, so that I in turn, may be a blessing to others.

But thanks

For bouzouki’s