Cheeky County Carlow musician winks perfectly during Toy Show performance
Young musician Tadhg Butler from Fenagh captured the hearts of a nation when he cheekily winked at the camera during The Late Late Toy Show
A CHEEKY musician stole the hearts of a nation when he timed a perfect wink during a performance on !
Tadhg Butler from Fenagh was playing bodhrán with a collection of other musicians on the Kingfishr song, when the camera panned across them and Tadhg executed a perfectly-time wink!
Tadhg (11) and his brother, Conall (12) were among the lucky musicians that were invited to play on the iconic RTÉ show and had spent several weekends rehearsing with other trad musicians ahead of the big night.
The two brothers, who attend the Gaelscoil in Carlow town, are accomplished musicians who compete in Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann and so were totally unfazed by playing in the RTÉ studios.
They are the sons of Pat and Melanie Butler and have two little brothers, Ruadhán (9) and Iarfhaith (7) who also play music. Trad music runs in their veins because their mother is also a musician.
Tadhg is taught to play céilí music by teacher Sinéad Tobin who is based in Craanford, County Wexford and when she heard that he was going on national television on one of RTÉ’s biggest shows, she dared him to wink at the nation as they sat at home on their sofas, enjoying . She promised him that if he did it, she would buy her entire music school some sweets. The plucky young musician wasn’t one to sit out such a dare and so accepted the challenge, timing the cheeky wink perfectly!
The marketing department of the supermarket giant, Lidl, cottoned onto it and quickly made it into a meme which was rapidly shared around the country.
“Tadhg rehearsed with the others in the studio the day before the show so he knew where the camera would be. (The wink) really gathered momentum and people were talking about it. Tadhg loves the craic and the banter. The two of them had great fun on The Toy Show, they’re still buzzing from it,” said his father, Pat.
During the performance of the Kingfishr song, the band themselves surprised the young musicians by joining them in their rendition of The whole studio band of young musicians were also promised tickets to see them in concert when they play Malahide Castle in Dublin next summer so Tadhg and Conall can catch up with the friends they made on the show!
And in the meantime, they can look forward to the sweets that their teacher promised them!
