Andy Irvine reunited with missing instruments worth €16,000

Andy Irvine. Picture: Gerard Bonus 

Irish folk musician Andy Irvine, who has been at the helm of legendary bands such as Planxty, is celebrating after instruments worth €16,000 which went missing last month en route from Dublin to Copenhagen were returned to him.

The 80-year-old musician, who plays the mandola, bouzouki, harmonica and hurdy-gurdy was upset when two of his instruments vanished after he flew from Dublin Airport to the Skagen Folk Festival in Denmark in late June. His prize guitar bouzouki and mandola disappeared on the journey.

Andy had travelled through Frankfurt and on to Copenhagen with his carriers being Lufthansa and Scandinavian Airlines.

To everybody who has helped me or shown concern about my missing instruments, I give my heartiest thanks. On Monday I got an email from SAS to tell me……THEY’D FOUND MY INSTRUMENTS!!! They were rushed to Dublin & delivered to my door yesterday evening!!

— Andy Irvine (@andyk_irvine) August 3, 2022

Posting on social media, Mr Irvine said that he had received an email from Scandinavian Airlines to tell him they had found his instruments.

"They were rushed to Dublin and delivered to my door yesterday evening. I can't tell you how it feels to have them back. I have a permanent smile on my face. To everybody who has helped me or shown concern about my missing instruments, I give my heartiest thanks. "

Posting on his Facebook page last month Mr Irvine, who earlier this year celebrated his milestone birthday with a celebratory gig at Vicar Street in Dublin, said: "My two Sobell instruments, a guitar-bouzouki & a mandola, probably valued in excess of €16,000, failed to arrive and have not been traced yet.

"The chaos at airports is such that they may be in Dublin, Frankfurt or Copenhagen."

Mr Irvine was in possession of the instruments for about four decades. He has been part of bands like Sweeney's Men in the mid 1960s and Planxty in the 1970s.

Following Planxty, Irvine joined fellow trad outfits Patrick Street, Mozaik, LAPD and recently Usher's Island.