BOBBY GARDINER'S CAMEL BOOKED FOR WILLIE CLANCY ACCORDION CLASSES

A camel rode by accordion and melodeon maestro Bobby Gardiner has been booked to teach the instrument at this year's Willie Clancy Summer School, marking the first time a wild animal has been employed to teach Irish music.

The camel made an appearance in a video at this year's Gradam Ceoil Awards and while it was Bobby who was receiving the Gradam Saol, it was the camel who has quickly become a traditional music sensation and was immediately booked for the festival in June.

Festival organised couldn't hide their delight at becoming the first festival to obtain the camel's services and hope that the animal can bring some of Bobby's inimitable style to the summer school.

"We're delighted to be the first festival in the world to book a wild animal to teach Irish music or any music for that matter. We're confident that given the camel's past experience touring with Bobby that it picked up some of his fantastic drive and technique."

"I know a lot of people might question the decision and say that 'What does a wild animal know about traditional music, especially one that isn't native to Ireland', but we think the camel is more than capable of holding its own. If anyone has any doubts we'll just point to the camel's popularity! He's gone viral!"

The camel has received numerous offers of performing and has been booked to open a number of cultural centres around the country. It is also set to make an appearance at Dublin Zoo.

Clips of the camel being ridden by Bobby Gardiner have had over a million hits on YouTube within just a few short hours. The appearance of the camel certainly provided a new element to the traditional music awards being held in Cork for the first time in a number of years.

There also reports of imitators riding into sessions on various animal with insiders telling us that Michael Flatley was seen atop a rhino, Mairtin O'Connor on a giraffe and Frankie Gavin on a lion.

The Drone attempted to interview the camel however it decided to spit at our reporter instead. Typical box player!