Dingle musician Aoife Granville joined in the celebrations of International women's day this week by organising women from around the world to play an 'unladylike instrument'.
A flute player and teacher as well as an academic, Aoife began a quest to look at the history of women in flute playing and found to her surprise that the instrument was very rarely played by women before the 1970s. There was a perception in Irish traditional music circles that some instruments were more 'suitable' for women and that the flute was not one of them. "It wasn't considered ladylike," said Aoife, who is herself an acclaimed flute player.