Meet Yirdy Machar


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Yirdy Machar

He lives in a wooden cottage under a large oak tree at the edge of a forest on the island of Sealland in Denmark. His passions include singing, playing music, giving workshops on bones and bodhran, and teaching the fine art of calligraphy.

This is Yirdy Machar in a nutshell: Traditional Celtic musician, award-winning bone player, international stage trouper...

Traditional Celtic Music and Beyond
Yirdy has performed with many bands in Denmark including Yirdy's Pipes and Drums, Foxhunters, The McSherry's, McEwans Export, Folk in a Rune, MacMortensens Trio, Paddy's Pint, Three's a Crowd, and Buttons and Bones (a duo with accordion player Anders Trabjerg which led to the formation of THE B BAND).

Besides MacBones and the B Band, Yirdy also plays with a new group called BoneZone which he describes as "basically traditional music, mostly Irish and Scottish, with a swing and a few added flavours." He is also a passive member of The Heather Pipes and Drums, of Copenhagen, with whom he has played side, tenor and bass drums as well as serving as Drum Major.

While Yirdy's main love is bones, he also plays bodhran, spoons, "a few tunes on the melodeon" (button-box accordion), and tin whistle.

Bone Champion
Yirdy visited the United States in 2002 where he won first place in the National Traditional Country Music Association (NTCMA) Bones and Spoons contest. It was here that Yirdy adopted the name 'MacBones' in homage to his late father, who was affectionately known as 'Big Mac.'

International Entertainer
Besides playing with various combinations of Scottish, Irish, English, Danish, and Swedish musicians and folk groups around Scandinavia, this well travelled Scottish-born multi-instrumentalist has performed at myriad venues including pubs, clubs, concerts, cabarets, old-time music halls, radio & television broadcasts, variety shows, folk nights, and festivals around the world. A consummate entertainer, Yirdy is equally at home in the roll of master of ceremonies, stand-up comic, singer, musician, actor, storyteller, or clown.

A veteran of the touring circuit, he has shared the stage as a guest performer with notable musicians and groups including Eleanor Shanlley, Phil Cunningham & Aly Bain, The Dubliners, Wolfstone, Dervish, and most recently, Give Way.