As you’re undoubtedly aware,  FLOOK officially decided to call it a day in late 2008.
After much arm twisting however, they’ve agreed to play a one off concert, as part of the biggest event ever to hit the island of Ireland – the Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge (13-16 August 2009).
 
As the Gateway to the Tall Ships, Custom House Square in Belfast will play host to a veritable feast of fantastic folk, trad, roots and world music over the four day period, culminating in what is turning out to be possibly the most exciting evening of traditional music this year.
 
The ‘Titanic World Ceilidh’ runs from 8pm-12midnight on Sunday 16th August and features Brian Finnegan, Sarah Allen, Ed Boyd and John Joe Kelly (aka FLOOK!) PLUS very special guests.
 
Eager not to miss the chance to film this unique event, BBC Blas Ceoil will be hosting the evening and also presenting a variety of ‘special guests’. Contractually we can’t give you the details of who all those people are just yet – but if folk, roots and traditional music are your cup of tea, we guarantee you won’t find a more exciting line up this year!
 
Tickets are priced at a recession busting £12 each and are available from http://www.gotobelfast.com/tall_ships_belfast_2009/entertainment.aspx
 
For further details, visit;
 
http://www.gatewaytothetallships.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/gatewaytothetallships
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10270213450#/pages/Belfast-United-Kingdom/Gateway-to-the-Tall-Ships/91811072972?v=wall&viewas=516065185
 
Also appearing at ‘The Energy Saving Trust Gateway to the Tall Ships’ are:

Four Men and a Dog, Lau, The Battlefield Band, Orchesta Cache – and many, many more!
 

December 17th 2008

After 13 plus years, hundreds of gigs, millions of miles
travelled 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.

Huge thanks to every single one of you for your support and love,
we'll certainly miss making music as Flook, but the light, notes and
memories shine on in our hearts. We'll keep you informed of any
important info in the future, for now our love and best wishes for
2009 and beyond.

Sarah, Brian, Ed & John Joe

We are gearing up now for our UK Autumn tour, which kicks off in London this coming Sunday, October 19th. We'll be onstage at Hammersmith at 3pm, but please book in advance to be sure to get in, and come early to be sure to get a seat.

We're looking forward to playing in Bristol again, for the first time in three years.
We've heard great things about this venue, so please come down to The Croft if you live anywhere close.

Following swiftly on the back of our UK dates, we head to Japan - always a highlight of our touring year - can't wait!

We are delighted to be a part of Folkworks 20th Anniversary Concert which takes place at The Sage Gateshead on November 9th, and then we have a rare concert in France, near Paris, the following weekend.

Our Irish tour is still being finalised, but will take place all over the country from Friday November 21st. Confirmed dates are listed below and more will be added shortly here and to our website.

DATES FOR THE DIARY

Sunday 19th October
UK
Hammersmith Irish Cultural Centre
Doors Open/Bar Opens 1.15pm
Support on 2.15pm
Flook onstage 3pm
http://www.irishculturalcentre.co.uk/

Monday 20th October
UK
Colchester
Colchester Folk Club @ Colchester Art Centre
http://www.colchesterartscentre.com/

Tuesday 21st October
UK
Cambridge
The Junction
Box office: 01223 511511
http://www.junction.co.uk

Wednesday 22nd October
UK
Bristol
The Croft, Bristol
http://www.the-croft.com/
0117 9874144

Thursday 23rd October
UK
Basingstoke
The Forge at The Anvil
http://www.theanvil.org.uk/

Friday 24th October
UK
Windsor
The Firestation Arts Centre
http://www.firestationartscentre.com/

Saturday 25th October
UK
Bournemouth
Centre Stage, Queen's Road,
http://www.bournemouthfolkclub.com/
01425 475226

Sunday 26th October
UK
South Petherton
David Hall
http://www.thedavidhall.org.uk/catalogue/

Saturday 1st November
JAPAN
Tokyo Kichijoji Star Pine's Cafe

Sunday 2nd November
JAPAN
Tokyo Musashiono Swing Hall

Monday 3rd November
JAPAN
Nagoya Imaike Tokuzo

Tuesday 4th November
JAPAN
Komoro Shiratori Eisetsukan

All Japan details at: http://www.mplant.com/flook/tourinfo08.html

Sunday 9th November
UK
The Sage Gateshead
Folkworks 20th Anniversary Gala Concert, with The New Rope String Band & Alistair's Anderson's Clog on the Tyne – plus special guests, including Kathryn Tickell.
A whole glorious day of events celebrating 20 years since the formation of Folkworks - including workshops, an afternoon concert & free concourse performances & ceilidhs. Box Office 0191 443 4661
http://www.thesagegateshead.org/

Saturday 15th November
FRANCE
Le Mee-sur-Seine
Le Mas, 800 Avenue de l'Europe, 77350 , FRANCE.
Doors 20h30
http://www.le-mee-sur-seine.fr/LeMee_0809BD.pdf

Friday 21st November
IRELAND
Belfast
The Errigle Inn,
312-320 Ormeau Rd, Belfast
Tel 028 90641410
http://www.errigle.com

Saturday November 22nd
IRELAND
Portstewart, Co.Derry
Venue TBC

Sunday November 23rd
IRELAND
Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim
The Glens Centre,
Tel: 00353 719855833
http://www.theglenscentre.com

Monday November 24th
IRELAND
Castlebar, Co. Mayo
The Linenhall Centre
Tel 00353 949023733
http://www.thelinenhall.com

Tuesday November 25th
IRELAND
Cork
The Pavillion, Carey's Lane, Huguenot Quarter
Tel 00353 214276230
http://www.pavilioncork.com

Wednesday November 26th
IRELAND
TBC

Thursday November 27th
IRELAND
The Pat Kenny Show Live 9am, RTE1, Donnybrook, Dublin 4

Friday November 28th
IRELAND
Naul
The Seamus Ennis Centre
Fingal, Co. Dublin
Tel 00353 18020898
http://www.seamusenniscentre.com

Saturday 29th November
UK
Citadel Arts Centre
Waterloo Street
St Helens, Merseyside
Box office: 01744 735436
http://www.citadel.org.uk/

Sunday 30th November
UK
Keswick, Cumbria
Theatre by the Lake
http://theatrebythelake.co.uk/
___________________________________________________________________________________________________


MAIL ORDER


Haven (CD) 2005
In the pantheon of Irish/English folk groups they don't come much more revered than Flook.
Irish Post, November 2005

Haven swings with a blazing intensity that captures their kinetic live performances.
The Observer, November 2005

The flute/guitar/bodhran combo keep racking up the superlatives.
Breathtaking tunes with the unmistakable Flook feelgood signature.
BBC, November 2005

BUY NOW: http://www.baka.co.uk/shop/pages/albums/haven.htm
OR IF YOU ARE BASED IN USA OR CANADA: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E42MOO


Rubai (CD) (http://www.flook.co.uk/rubai.html) 2002
Rubai was nominated as Best Album in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2003

an extraordinarily good record
fRoots

head and shoulders above the rest... Magnificent.
The Irish Times

one of the essential albums of 2002
Songlines

BUY NOW: http://www.baka.co.uk/shop/pages/albums/rubai.htm
OR IF YOU ARE BASED IN USA OR CANADA: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00008V5TW


Flatfish (CD) 1999
Flatfish is, quite simply, one of the most stunning contemporary
Celtic albums you'll hear this or any other year.
Songlines

No frills, no studio gloss, just simple unadorned pleasure from start
to finish
The Rough Guide to Irish Music

a cornucopia of sublime musicianship. Rating: * * * * *
The Scotsman

BUY NOW: http://www.baka.co.uk/shop/pages/albums/flatfish.htm


Also available (by post only):
Brian Finnegan Mad for Trad Tin Whistle Tutorial (CD-ROM) - £28

If you can pay by sterling cheque, and would rather order any of these
titles, or albums from previous bands we have played in, by post,
then you can print out an order form from this link:
http://www.flook.co.uk/ordercd.htm

And don't forget, you can now download Flook MP3s,
either individual tracks or complete albums, from
Tradtunes http://www.tradtunes.com
Haven, Rubai, Flatfish and Flook! Live! all available.

All Flook albums are now available from iTunes UK

http://www.flook.co.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/2flutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcOT2s-2A0Q

This one is a world premiere, both of the song itself (as performed by Flook at least) and also of Flook performing a song with Damien O Kane. One run through in the sound check and this is it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP7GH_tLQds

We wanted to let you know about this tribute night for Paul as he was a good friend of ours.

All Ireland bodhran champion,World bodhran champion and 7 times Ulster champion, Paul Phillips, died suddenly of a heart attack on the 16th September 2007 at 47 years of age. He was well known in various corners of the world, having played and taught bodhran in Ireland, Germany, Denmark, the U.S. and even Timbuktu. He played with local bands, Darragh Folk and ReelyJiggin, and during his musical career, shared the stage with the biggest of names in Irish music such as Lunasa and Mary Bergin... and also us.

There is a tribute night for him, starting at 8pm on 9th February at:

Great Hall, Downshire, Ardglass Road, Downpatrick

featuring:
The Rooney Family,
Brendan Monaghan,
Patricia Daly,
Darragh Folk and friends.

All bands are playing for free and all profits are going to his family.

For more details check out:
www.myspace.com/drummingforever Paul's memorial site
www.darraghfolk.co.uk Darragh Folk's website
www.myspace.com/darraghfolk Darragh Folk's myspace page
www.myspace.com/reelyjiggin Reely Jiggin's myspace page

If you live in the area, please try to get along to what promises to be a great night of music and celebration.

Sarah, Ed, Brian and John Joe

Dear MySpace friends!

Here some photos from our show at Quimper, courtesy of our friend Lieve. Aren't they great?!

See you soon!

The Baltimore Fiddle Fair is delighted to present a truly remarkable line-up of 5 'heavyweights' from the contemporary traditional scene - each one widely regarded as being amongst the most exciting and innovative musicians working today - in a tour down along the west and south coast billed as the 'Fiddle Fair Showcase'.

Altan members Ciaran Tourish and Dermot Byrne join with flute genius Michael McGoldrick, guitar virtuoso John Doyle, and bodhrán magician John Joe Kelly in a truly inspired musical concoction for a very special series of concerts in Donegal, Galway, Clare and Cork.

For nearly two decades, The Baltimore Fiddle Fair has been synonymous with first class traditional music, continually finding new ways to delightfully surprise its growing audience. Many make the long trek to beautiful Baltimore every May and find it very hard to leave, whilst many more have heard about it but haven't quite been able to get down there - yet! For the latter, The Fiddle Fair is coming to town.

This very special 'Trad Supergroup' will play their first ever 'official' shows at 4 specially selected venues in the last week of August

Monday 27th Ionad Cois Locha - Dunlwey Co. Donegal
Tuesday 28th Black Box Theatre - Galway
Wednesday 29th Glór - Ennis
Thursday 30th The Opera House - Cork

For more information visit www.fiddlefair.com

For Press Information, contact: Declan McCarthy phone (Ireland): 86 375 3380 email: declan@fiddlefair.com


The Baltimore Fiddle Fair - Small Festival, Big Reputation



The Baltimore Fiddle Fair
7 - 11 May 2008
Baltimore, Co. Cork, Ireland
www.fiddlefair.com

We played our first proper gig of 2007 this weekend, at Armagh's Edward Bunting Harp Festival. Maisy loved meeting her Flook uncles and they enjoyed meeting their new travelling companion. See the photo here: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=52223849&albumID=0&imageID=8842439

Very quick message to let any Londoners know that tickets for our London show at the Spitz on Tuesday June 26th are now on sale via WeGotTickets:
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/17852

We don't play in London very often, so best to book tickets early to be sure to get in...