Flook is an Anglo-Irish band playing traditional-style instrumental music, much of it penned by the band themselves. Their music is typified by extremely fast, sometimes percussive, flute and whistle atop complex guitar and bodhrán rhythms. Flook is made up of Brian Finnegan, Sarah Allen, Ed Boyd and John Joe Kelly.

History

The band was formed in 1995, originally by Becky Morris, with three flute-playing friends

Sarah Allen Sarah Allen is a Canadian actress. She studied acting at the National Theatre School of Canada and graduated in 2002. ''Being Human'' Allen is perhaps best known for playing vampire Rebecca Flynt on SyFy's '' Being Human''. For the role, ...

, Brian Finnegan and

Michael McGoldrick Michael McGoldrick (born 26 November 1971, in Manchester, England) is a folk musician who plays Irish flute, uilleann pipes, low whistle and bodhran. He also plays other instruments such as acoustic guitar, cittern, and mandolin. Bands McGo ...

, (who left in 1997 to join

Capercaillie ''Tetrao'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Taxonomy The genus ''Tetrao'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ...

). The band was briefly known as Three Nations Flutes. Flook's 10th anniversary tour included a concert at the Purcell Room (on 7 November 2005) as part of a week of "Folk in the Fall" on London's

South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial district in central London, next to the River Thames opposite the City of Westminster. It forms a narrow strip of riverside land within the London Borough of Lambeth (where it adjoins Alber ...

and another at the new

Sage Gateshead Sage Gateshead is a concert venue and musical education centre in Gateshead on the south side of the River Tyne in North East England. Opened in 2004 and occupied by North Music Trust it is part of the Gateshead Quays development which incl ...

concert hall on the south bank of the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...

on 10 November 2005. Their third studio album, ''

Haven Haven or The Haven may refer to: * Harbor or haven, a sheltered body of water where ships can be docked Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Haven (Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter), from the novel series * Haven (comics), from the ''X-Men ...

'', was released in October 2005. In December 2008 the band sent a Christmas message saying they were disbanding. "We wanted to wish you a very Happy Christmas and also to share some news with you," said a band press release. "After 13-plus years, hundreds of gigs, millions of miles traveled together and countless brilliant times, we've decided to call it a day. It might be forever or a prolonged pause, who knows, but we're all still great friends and will always remain so. This might sound like a cliché but it is deeply truthful." The group reformed briefly for an appearance on the BBC Northern Ireland programme, ''Blas Ceoil'' and came back together again in 2013. They restarted to perform live regularly, touring the world with rapturous feedbacks: they brought their distinguishable sound in great venues such as the

Kings Place Kings Place is a building in London’s Kings Cross area, providing music and visual arts venues combined with seven floors of office space. It has housed the editorial offices of ''The Guardian'' newspaper since December 2008 and is the for ...

in London, the "Soma Festival" in Belfast, the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and ope ...

in Moscow and the "Star Pine's cafe" in Tokyo. On Friday 12 January 2018, the group posted a photo of themselves, with the caption "It’s a new year and we’re in Bath (United Kingdom) rehearsing new tunes", reported by Lynette Fay on BBC Radio Ulster's Folk Club on 14 January 2018, who described the band as "iconic, ground-breaking, progressive and all-round brilliant". Flook's most recent album, "Ancora", was released on April 12 2019.

Folk Radio UK Folk Radio UK, is an online Independent Music Journal covering a broad range of Folk music, Global music, Independent music, American Primitive Guitar, Drone Music and other alternative offerings. Established in 2004 by Alex Gallacher. the websi ...

praised the album, writing "expectations more than fully met – simply a brilliant album". Bright Young Folk wrote that "«Ancora» is the highest peak of their more than twenty year old career."

Band members

plays

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, alto flute and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

. She has also been a member of the

Barely Works Bareilly () is a city in Bareilly district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is among the largest metropolises in Western Uttar Pradesh and is the centre of the Bareilly division as well as the historical region of Rohilkhand. The city l ...

, Bigjig, The Happy End Big Band and The Waterboys. * Brian Finnegan plays wooden

s, low whistle and tin whistle. He has been a member of Upstairs in a Tent (originally Gan Ainm), Maalstroom,

Aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

an
KAN
* Ed Boyd plays guitars and bouzouki. He became a permanent member of

Lunasa Lughnasadh or Lughnasa ( , ) is a Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest season. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. In Modern Irish it is called , in gd, Lùnastal, and in gv, ...

in 2012. He is a former member of

Red Ciel Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

. * John Joe Kelly plays bodhrán and

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

. He has also worked with Altan and Paul Brady and is a session musician. * Damien O'Kane joined the band temporarily in 2008, playing

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

and tenor guitar as well as singing. *

, plays wooden

, low whistle, uilleann pipes and tin whistle, left Flook in 1997 to join

Discography

;Albums *''Flook! Live!'' (1996) Small CD 9405 *'' ''Flatfish'''' (1999) Flatfish Records 002CD *'' Rubai'' (2002) Flatfish Records 004CD * ''Haven'' (2005) Flatfish Records 005CD *''Ancora'' (2019) Flatfish Records 006CD ;Contributing artist *'' The Rough Guide to Irish Music'' (1996)

Performances (selection)

* Celtic Connections, Glasgow * Bath Folk Festival,

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Wickham Festival Wickham Festival is a four-day music event that takes place in the village of Wickham, Hampshire, England. Wickham hosts live music and comedy across four stages, as well as food stalls, craft stalls, real ale and cider bars and children's ente ...

, Wickham *

Irish Folk & Celtic Music The Balver Höhle (German for Balve Cave) is the biggest cave used as a cultural venue in Europe. It is located in Balve, Germany. History The Balve Cave was mentioned in the Thidrekssaga. It has been used by the local ''Schützenfest'' (marks ...

, Balve *

, London *

, Moscow * Soma Festival, Belfast *

Sidmouth Folk Festival There has been a folk festival in the coastal town of Sidmouth in South West England in the first week of August every year since 1955, attracting tens of thousands of visitors to over 700 diverse events. Sidmouth Folk Festival offers a wide r ...

, Sidmouth * Star Pine's Cafe, Tokyo * Cambridge Folk Festival, Cambridge *Irish night,

Pagazzano Pagazzano (Bergamasque: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about east of Milan and about south of Bergamo. As of 31 December 2018, it had a population of 2,097 and an area of ...

References

External links

FlookInterview by FolkRadio.co.uk, Sept 2006Interview with Sarah Allen, 2021
{{Authority control Celtic music groups British world music groups Musical groups established in 1995