By: Niles Hokkanen
First, before our interview with multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire, Sarah Allen, of the award-winning Irish group, Flook, let’s talk about Irish Traditional Music or ITM.
“Before Sean O’Riada’s time there existed, as far as [Irish] traditional music was concerned, two possibilities. One was to play alone, or with another musician. The other was to play in what was called the ceilidh band where all the musicians would basically play on the same tune with the very rudimentary rhythm of the piano and/or drums. O’Riada was a classically trained musician, but he was also exposed to traditional music in West Limerick. He proposed the formation of an ideal national orchestra which would feature the instruments of the tradition [and] formed Ceoltoiri Cualann. Their nucleus sort of branched out on their own and became known as The Chieftains. Besides the ideas of O’Riada, there were other influences on Irish music too: The Clancy Brothers and their success with American instruments, like guitar and 5-string banjo, and vocal harmonies. These two influences merged when vocal and instrumental groups came together in the 1970s with bands like Planxty and The Bothy Band.” – Mick Moloney (The Mandocrucian’s Digest #14, Fall 1989)
Sarah Allen – Photo credit; Eric Legret/Eurofonik
So, there had never been a twin flute tradition in Ireland beyond a couple of flutes and/or whistles sometimes playing in unison. Flook came along in 1995 and took the U.K./European folk scene by storm, first with a three-flute front line and then with two.
Two of the original flutists were Irish out of that tradition, but the third, Sarah Allen, had been classically trained, played modern metal Boehm-system flutes, including alto, instead of the older wooden simple-system instruments preferred by most Irish players. And, she was English-Australian to boot, and had left the classical world to pursue improvisational music – jazz, reggae, ska, English country dance and what could only be described as roots rock, prior to Flook’s formation.
Plus, she had keyboard training and now played the ‘unplugged organ’ (aka accordion) and acquired a vocabulary of accompaniment and rhythm styles, which no doubt was a component in her developing a new approach to playing the lower alto flute in a propulsive manner, which was simultaneously both accompaniment and lead, and is intrinsic to the sonic identity of the group, and what, ironically, might be considered a mutant descendent of Sean O’Riada. But, exactly how she wound up there/here is …..
The Unlikely Journey of Flutist Sarah Allen
A young girl (b. 1964) takes up the flute of her own accord at an early age, and then piano a couple years later, and works diligently at it. Later, she gets accepted in a weekend program for kids with talent; all classically oriented, by the way. Passes all the various level tests given by the school system.
Goes to college, but how elite was the program and how difficult was it to enter? After several years, she comes to a moment when it occurred to her that there was more to life than playing Bach sonatas perfectly, and is lured down the path into the nefarious world of “hoochie-coochie” and “boo-gie woo-gie” music, and moves to London. But what, dear reader, was the music that led this innocent astray?
Off to London, where she runs into long-haired anarchist/socialist merry-men outlaws playing political lefty tunes in Sherwood Forest. Mesmerized, (“That looks like a real blast!”) and with chutzpah, and with fortunate training of the right hand from piano/organ lessons), and a beat-up old used squeezebox, she brazenly makes it into the band [The Happy End] as their new accordionist.
After awhile a bunch of the miscreants depart to form a new unorthodox outfit, taking Sarah along. The band [The Barely Works] looks like it might have stepped out of an R. Crumb comic-strip panel, with the possible exception of the lithe Welsh violinist who looked like a cross between Grace Slick and Darryl Hannah’s android in Bladerunner.
And, sounding like an unholy offspring of Dexys Midnight Runners and Madness (One… Step… Beyond!) mixing English Country Dance, some American hillbilly, reggae and ska, with an instrumental seven-piece lineup of banjo, tuba, trombone, drums, violin, hammered dulcimer and accordion/flute! (Vocals included.)
Despite flute being her ‘real’ instrument, for some reason she doesn’t get to play it that much in the band, while playing lots of that accordion. But, what did she do during this time period to maintain her flute chops?
After five years of playing the folk festivals in the U.K., Europe and Canada, and plenty of pub-rock clubs; and several (3) records, she and the banjo player, who this interviewer had sorely underestimated from the one BW record he previously had on his shelf, form a new stripped down four-piece [BigJig] with a drummer and a fretless bassist, who may not have quite been Dave Pegg or Colin Hodgkinson, but was still as impressive as hell and could fill in some of the holes left open from having no guitarist.
With a low-sustain banjo and either accordion or flute on top; not your usual first choices for the front line, they were more than able to make ‘no guitar in the midrange’ a moot point.
In the stripped down setting with much more open space, and now allowed to play a lot of flute, and write original material, she proceeded to absolutely rip it up, on both instruments, sometimes sounding folky, but at other times prog-rock ala Camel or Tull, and occasionally getting into a funky Ry Cooder junkyard groove. But, why didn’t they gain more fame, last longer, etcetera?
Next comes the unexpected formation, by a third party, of a three-flute band [Flook], with an addition of a guitarist shortly after. The two Irish fluters are topnotch in their genre, but having three flutes in the same register could create a sonic traffic jam. So, Sarah decides to go with a lower instrument and invent a different role more in keeping with a rhythm section instrument.
But, all those years of playing various grooves and backup patterns etcetera on the accordion – had it all migrated from the ‘accordion brain lobe’ into “her flute mind hemisphere” (according to the Ry Cooder theory of “It’s really all One-Big-Instrument”), and now inherently knew what was called for functionally? Had The accordion prepared her well? Perhaps, we shall find out.
But, as one-time Texas Governor Ann Richards said: “After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did; she just did it backwards and in high heels.” And the BigJig records prove Sarah was more than able to hold her own flute-wise with both Michael McG. and a boy named Brian!
But, as famed mockumentary film director Marti DiBurgi would say: “Enough of my yakkin’. Whaddaya say, let’s boogie – and let’s hear directly from Sarah herself!”
Note: You may notice differences in spelling of some words throughout the interview. When it is coming from Sarah, the British spelling is used, while American spelling is from Niles. (eg. metre > meter; practise > practice; programme > program; favourite > favorite, etc.). After all, it is Guitar “International”.
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Niles Hokannen: How did you get interested in playing and singing?
Sarah Allen: I was really keen to play a proper instrument. I’d got on well with the recorder at seven years old (1971) and the flute followed at eight, from that. My mother had played the flute a little and her grandfather before her, so it kind of ran in the family, I suppose. I didn’t feel I had to play the flute, but it did seem to be the obvious choice of wind instrument, not least of all because I was pretty small.
For some reason I was on a wind instrument trajectory and you can start the flute younger than you could start the clarinet or oboe.
I was always happy to practice; I didn’t have to be begged. I think I was quite dedicated. I used to practice piano in the mornings before school, and flute after school. I played piano from when I was about 10, 1974. I also learned church organ at secondary school, and practiced that in the school chapel at lunchtimes.
I learned the flute and then the piano privately with a little old lady, Mrs. Vera Brunskill. She taught at St. Albans Music School. It was an old fashioned musical education, classical and not based on any method. I did my grades, passing them all at a young age. I started on A Tune a Day for Flute (C. Paul Herfurth), and moved on from there through the ABRSM [Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music] grade exams. Interestingly, Niall Keegan, who now teaches traditional music at Limerick University, also learned the flute with Mrs Brunskill.
From around age 13, I attended the Royal College of Music [RCM] in London on a Saturday morning as a junior exhibitioner. There we had all our music classes, and I even did my music A level class there as they didn’t offer it at my regular school.
I failed my Grade eight [piano] first time, then passed it with flying colours the following year, once I had a teacher who focussed on all the good things in my playing rather than grunting and endlessly telling me what was wrong. That single fact has informed all my music teaching ever since.
I also passed my Grade six church organ! Bet I didn’t tell you that! These grades are part of the ABRSM system of classical music teaching. They’ve long been the benchmark in the classical world over here, though the Trinity exams are now also very good, and probably a little more progressive.
All my early music learning until the end of university was very classical based.
After school and RCM, I applied to universities to study music, not so much the practical type, but the theory and history of music. I don’t know why I chose this path.
I went to St. Hilda’s, (1983-86) one of the many colleges at Oxford University; and yes, hard to get into, where the music course was, of course excellent, but as far from modern as possible. It wasn’t much, if anything at all, about practical music making. It was all history and theory of music. I don’t know why I made the choice to go there. It’s ‘prestigious’, I suppose.
I was too young to see that that wasn’t really important! I wanted to do a paper in my final year on “Women In Music” in a broad sense – and they wouldn’t let me, unless I concentrated on one woman composer.
I had also wanted to study History of Jazz as another final year option, and I had to go to London as they had no one to teach it in Oxford. My history of jazz teacher was Brian Priestley [English writer, jazz pianist and arranger.]
Niles: When did you encounter solfège and sight-singing, and when do you think it should be introduced for the overall training of the player?
Sarah Allen: I don’t remember formally learning about “solfa”, though I always sang in school choirs.
My daughter learns at a brilliant music school in London, The North London Conservatoire (formerly North London Colourstrings) where they teach the Kodaly method, and they have to do two years of “kindergarden” singing in solfa, with the hand signs, before they can learn an instrument from age five.
And every week, still now, alongside her violin and piano lessons and orchestra, she has to attend a weekly musicianship class, which is mostly singing and aural based, though they did some written theory recently to get through an ABRSM grade exam. Consequently she has a great ear, as does nearly everyone in the school.
Niles: Do you think there is or was a gender bias regarding which instruments males and females get assigned in school? And is that really appropriate?
Sarah Allen: I’m not too sure about this. I think the flute tends to be quite a “girly instrument” but that’s not why I played it. Brian Finnegan and Mike McGoldrick would probably not agree with me saying that anyway! My daughter (age 13) was given the euphonium in her school brass band, because we lived quite close to the school. So it was easy for her to get it to and from school! Also she wanted to play it because she’d be able to sit down in brass band practice! She does also play violin, since age five and piano, since age eight.
Niles: I never associated the flute with ‘female’ because almost all those jazz and rock sax/flute doublers that I had listened to on records were men. And a majority of the Irish flutists were guys. Only after checking out those Facebook flute forums did it seem that flute playing, at least in the classical realm, was overwhelmingly female.
What was your intended goal(s), if any, from the formal music education? Performance? Teaching? Music Therapist?
Sarah Allen: I did my grade exams, music O Level and A Levels at school, and afterwards a university music degree, securing a BA and MA Mus. I don’t know what I wanted, really. I had half a mind to enter into music publishing of some sort, or perhaps train further to be a music therapist. But, then two significant encounters around this time blew open my musical mind to a whole new world of music.
Firstly, I attended an improvising workshop with legendary free-jazz drummer, John Stevens, whose approach to music challenged everything I had previously understood.
John was a totally unique and maverick musician. He didn’t care if someone had just picked up an instrument for the first time, or had been playing for years. It was all about expressing yourself and interacting with others. He had developed a teaching method called, “Search and Reflect”, based on some very simple pieces, each time involving searching and reflecting. For me, with my otherwise advanced technique, they were often very challenging to get my head around, and also hugely satisfying.
Anyway, we hit it off, and when I moved to London later that summer, he invited me to come and train on his workshop teaching programme at Community Music, and also to perform with him in his free-jazz ensemble alongside some of his other musical collaborators, including Annie Whitehead, Dudu Pukwana. That time at Community Music was where I met many of The Happy End musicians, and made many, many musical connections with like minded people.
Secondly, around the same time as I’d met John, I watched an outdoor gig by a huge ramshackle big band called The Happy End. There were about 22 of them; they all piled out of a battered old transit van, climbed onto a makeshift stage and played glorious music that made everyone smile and dance. I wanted to join that band! They were anarchic, chaotic, political, good fun.
I spotted all that that from my viewpoint in the audience at that tiny community festival in Oxford where I first heard them. It really whetted a different part of my musical appetite, so far away from what I’d been involved in so far.
I can’t remember which came first seeing The Happy End or attending John Steven’s jazz improvisation workshop, but both things happened in the summer of 1986, and my musical vistas opened up wide in front of me.
Whether I took up the accordion before or after seeing The Happy End; I’m not sure, but I know that I wanted to play an instrument that would work in street music and the flute didn’t really seem to cut it in that regard. I found an old squeezebox and fiddled around. My first creaky old accordion was a 48 bass from a junk shop, and it served me fine for years.
The Happy End were very strict in having equal numbers of men and women in the band and it wasn’t long before they were looking for a female accordion player; lucky me, I got the call.
The Happy End seemed to embody that spirit of music made ‘by the people for the people’ and I loved being the newbie accordion player. It was so far from what I’d done before; classical orchestras, etcetera. And I did occasionally get to play some flute solos, though it was officially outside my job description!
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Niles: Do you consider yourself a “real accordion player”, or a flutist who doubles on squeezebox?
Sarah Allen: No, I’m definitely not a real accordion player, though there was a while when people thought I was and probably didn’t know I played the flute.
Niles: I asked that on the basis of accordion parts on some of the Flook tracks I had heard which were not particularly complex or busy. But, after listening the two BigJig albums, I need to reassess that. Do you say that because you’re not doing that much with the left hand on the bass chord buttons? Then I’d say then that you certainly qualify as a real right-handed accordion player!
Sarah Allen: Actually, for the record, I pretty much always do play the left hand too, but nothing complex. It generally boosts the right hand or just provides backup simple harmony.
Niles: What size and make accordion do you play?
Sarah Allen: After the junk shop 48-bass came a Hohner 72-bass. Then the current 72-bass Allodi. I’ve had this Italian accordion for a long time. I wrote the tune “Bruno” for Bruno Allodi. He used to run the lovely accordion shop, now run by his son Emilio. Family business, old fashioned and fabulous!
But, ever since, my daughter Maisy was born (2007), I have never flown to shows with my own accordion, as it was just too much to cart about, with her, and all her stuff, plus all the merchandise etcetera.
And because in the recent Flook set lists there is only one, or possibly two accordion tracks, then it never really matters what instrument I play. The only requirement is that I’m supplied by the venue or promoter, with one 72 bass or larger, and plays at least vaguely in tune! This has mostly worked fine.
I have played some very nice accordions over the years, and just a few not so good. I need the 72 bass in order to have an Eb and Ab chord in the left hand, which I need for “Road to Errogie”, one of the few remaining Flook tunes with accordion in it! I play very little accordion now. I had to makeup an accordion part at the last minute just to get it listed on Ancora!!
Niles: Who and what are some of your favorite accordion players and records?
Sarah Allen: Favourite albums with accordion include Forro: Music For Maids And Taxi Drivers, a forro compilation that was released on Globestyle as part of their Accordions that Shook the World series. I also love, Irish button accordionist, Máirtín O’Connor’s, The Road West. I always loved Phil Cunningham’s of Silly Wizard fame tunes; his fast ones, but particularly his slow airs. He writes so many beautiful tunes; and also Karen Tweed is a lovely player.
After I’d been playing for a year or so in The Happy End, Matt Fox, our (their) erstwhile leader started a new, but smaller band, The Barely Works.
Matt started and drove the band. He had such inimitable energy. He wanted to explore the traditions of English Country Dance music but adding in funk, and ska, and everything else besides. It was his baby, but with Chris (banjo) Thompson the lead singer. Matt played saxophone and other stuff. Not sure what was his main thing before dulcimer. He could get an audience’s attention fixed just on him, just by playing a triangle!
We even did Captain Beefheart’s “Tropical Hot Dog Night”! And it was quite unlike anything else on our first album, not least because Matt did the “singing”. I’m playing flute on this track, I’d quite forgotten about it actually!!
Sarah Allen: Throughout this time, I was also teaching music workshops at Community Music but as the band became busier I gave up most of that.
“If a picture is worth a thousand words, a good video is worth ten-
thousand! One Step Be-yond!”
Sarah Allen: On that Barely Works video: I wrote the song “Bread and Water” (from 18.25 on the video), or at least the chords/backing/tunes of it. Chris banjo wrote the words and vocal melody. It’s one of only a few bits of flute in the Barely Works repertoire. The accordion part on which the song is based was influenced by Brazilian forro music, which I loved.
When Matt left after the second album, then Chris was probably the driver of the band. Alison [fiddle] and I were very much equals, though it’s not obvious in way the video is shot, which was made by the trombonist’s brother. I think The Barely Works was better with Matt in it, but we carried on after he left, as we were having too much fun to stop.
Sadly Matt died of a heart attack in 2014. He was a brilliant musician and teacher of music. After he left The Barely Works, he didn’t tour professionally again, but concentrated on his teaching in South London schools, and started the amazing Kinetika Bloco youth music organization/program, which carries on his legacy today.
“Al” [Allison Jones] and I had played in a couple of all-women bands before Barely Works: Di’s New Outfit, mainly improv stuff, and Bodhrans and Binlids, playing traditional Irish tunes. She had the same musical background as me. She remains a close friend.
Niles: Which of the band’s albums do you like most?
Sarah Allen: I prefer either of the first two Barely Works albums. Matt was in both. The first one, The Big Beat, is probably my favourite..
Sarah Allen: In BigJig, which came next, I finally got to play my flute!
Niles: BigJig were great! It’s a travesty that it seems to have been relegated to a mere footnote! From 20 pieces down to seven, then down to just four; you would have had to change your playing to fill more of the space. The guitarless band presents certain challenges.
Sarah Allen: Kind of you to say so. We had a lot of fun at the time. Some great tours. Carefree days. Chris Thompson (banjo) and I wanted to carry on and do something with what was left of the spirit of The Barely Works, but with a reduced pared down line up, and plenty of flute in my case!
In BigJig, it was time for me to play my flute, so that’s what I set out to do! The lack of guitar didn’t seem to be a problem, as Chris always played rhythm banjo. After years of being more like a collective, now it was up to Chris and myself to write the stuff and deliver it. We made those two albums pretty quickly by my usual standards, and played some great tours in Italy and Germany and elsewhere. Chris hailed from a few London based bands, notably The Boothill Foot Tappers, very successful around the time of The Pogues, and afterwards, Devils in Disguise.
Niles: You were on almost all the songs on Sally Barker’s Favourite Dish CD (1996). Was this just session work, or were you part of her band at the time, after BigJig, but before Flook came together?
Sarah Allen: I’d met Sally at The Shetland Folk Festival in 1991. Soon after that, I toured with her in Germany on accordion, depping for Karen Tweed. After that, I did lots of gigs and tours with her over the years, mostly around the time of BigJig, and at the beginning of Flook too; these things overlapped. Sally sang on our second BigJig album too. Great singer! Have you heard her? She nearly won The Voice – UK [TV show] a few years back (2014), and should have in my opinion.
Niles: I’ve only seen short summaries of the formation of Flook. How well known were Brian Finnegan and Michael McGoldrick at that time? You, obviously, were coming from a completely different direction than them. What led to your mutual intersecting in that project? Was it a fortunate one-off “fluke” that panned out positively?
Sarah Allen: Brian and Mike were well regarded in their own circles, but at that time neither of them well-known more broadly. Mike was known through his playing with Toss the Feathers, a young Manchester Irish band, and he was generally very well known on the Manchester Irish scene. He won “BBC Young Folk Musician of the Year” (1995) in the same autumn that we did the first Flook tour and that certainly helped the popularity of our first Flook gigs. He also released his first solo album, Morning Rory that autumn (1995) and the early Flook sets had some overlapping material.
Brian played with a band called Upstairs in a Tent with some of his fellow musicians from the area around where he lived. He was doing a few English dates and I was hanging out with my pal, Sally Barker. I did some occasional gigs with Sally and met Brian at that time, and we got on well.
I wrote him a tune called “Whistle On” which was on our second BigJig album, titled Bug, around that time! Meanwhile, a mutual friend of all three of us, Becky Morris, decided to organise a tour called, “Three Nations Flutes” with each of us in it apparently representing one of the three English Irish and Scotland nations.
But, there was no one Scottish! It was literally just the three flutes and my occasional trusty accordion. We loved the gigs and added Ed Boyd on the guitar at the end of that tour. He had played with Mike as had studied up at Manchester University. And we quickly changed the name to Fluke, then Flook. Fluke was a good name for us, as there were hree flutes and this was nearly the same word! Plus it was indeed a fluke that we were all playing together.
Niles: “Whistle On” was a great track and you really tore it up on high whistle. It has a folky prog-rock feel, like something from Jethro Tull’s Songs From The Wood or Ian Anderson’s solo Rupi’s Dance, with a non-ITM (Irish Traditional Music) flute articulation. I think it deserves to be revived live in Flook; you should play whistle while Brian backs you on the flute. Stage-wise it has a relevant back-story to reintroduce the tune from the very pre-beginning of the band. I think it could be a real rave-up!
Niles: On the Flook! Live! album (1996), the best tracks, imo, were “The History Man” and your accordion tune “In Another Life” .
Sarah Allen: “The History Man” is written by Andy Cutting. It is indeed a beautiful tune, like all his tunes. He is a brilliant and very gentle musician.
“In Another Life” was the only track not recorded from the live gig at Sidmouth Folk Festival. We recorded it in our sound engineers kitchen! As I said, it’s one that means a lot to me, my #1 favourite tune I’ve written. Very simple. Karen Tweed and The Poozies recorded it on their Dansoozies album; lovely job. It’s also on their compilation, Raise Your Head – A Retrospective.
Sarah Allen: The Flutopia tour came first, when Mike was still in the band. And the set of tunes “Flutopia” came from that tour, one tune to represent each participating artist, Flook being one and represented by the last tune. The “Gentle Giant” tune was written for Andras, the tall but very gentle Hungarian musician. Brian wrote it for him after the tour. “Gavottenn” is Breton; we learned it from Jean-Michel who played in Kornog.
Niles: Flatfish (1999), was the first CD by the “real” or perhaps the permanent Flook lineup (you, Brian, Ed Boyd, John, Joe, Kelly). I have a question about Flatfish album, pertaining to the amount of traditional material or reliance on those on it compared to subsequent discs.
Sarah Allen: Yes, Flatfish was our first studio album. There are seven tracks listed as traditional on Flatfish, but three of these are in one track “Flutopia”, which came from that tour of the same name so the set was not put together by us. As time went on we were drawn to tunes written by our peers on the contemporary scene, and while we love and are informed by the old tunes, we tend now to play the newer tunes rather than the older ones.
Niles: Conversational meter – When did you start feeling comfortable with “conversational meter”or what [English folk guitarist] Martin Carthy calls the “time signature of one”. The song or tune simply goes where it wants to and the instrument follows along.
Sarah Allen: I think I still struggle a little with this. My tune, “Companion Star”, from Ancora is a good example, it was hard to notate even though I had an aural idea of what I wanted it to sound like. I fiddled around with it for ages when I was notating it, to try and get it to sound like it sounded in my head! On the whole, however, my tunes are generally much more predictable rhythm-wise, following clear metres.
Niles: The phrasing of the first part of “Bruno” (Allen, Flatfish) throws me; to stay on track, I have to count it in 8 (8/4)…. but the B part is easy to count as four. “A Quiet Autumn” (Allen) which follows it is just a straight four.
Sarah Allen: I think “Bruno” is super simple, isn’t it? There is a 3 quaver upbeat and then it’s straight ahead 4/4. “A Quiet Autumn” is in 12/8, a slide, starting on the first beat of the bar.
Niles: Well, it gives me trouble. You are right about “Autumn”, I was counting the main beats…1&ah-2&ah-3&ah-4&ah like a hornpipe, rather than an even 4/4.
Meter can be a bit tricky and deceptive, just when does a waltz (3/4) start becoming a jig (6/8) as the tempo increases? When I think of ‘waltz’, tunes/songs/melodic rhythms like “Blue Danube”, “Tennessee Waltz”, “Tammy” and Vasen’s “Josefins Dopvals” come to mind, that would be associated with the waltz as a dance. But, there are other types of dances: the mazurka, polonaise, minuet, polska etcetera, which are written in 3/4, but are quite different melodically. On the Flatfish “Waltzes” medley, while the 2nd tune was a ‘waltz’, the first one was in 4, and the last one was such a quick 3/4 I can’t imagine anying waltzing to it., maybe a tarantella.
Hank Bradley, a well-known (U.S.) old-time musician, who also spent a lot of time playing Greek and Balkan music suggested, during a workshop, that taking some ethnic folk dance classes to learn the grooves via your feet would be a big help. I could also see that working for Breton, Spanish etcetera dance music, as well.
Sarah Allen: I’d have to agree that we use generic titles for whole sets quite loosely! And one person’s idea of a dance tune can be very different from another’s. A lot of Irish music is dance music, but I have not done any formal Irish dancing! I’d love to try some Hungarian folk dancing, and Swedish dancing. I’m sure it would help with the particular rhythmic patterns in each. Same goes for Breton circle dances.
Niles: Who is Flook’s odd meter proponent/aficionado, if anyone in particular? What’s the most “out there” odd meter (and tune) that you’ve recorded? Are there any meters that you collectively have tried, but abandoned?
Sarah Allen: Probably Brian, he doesn’t think in bars and bar lines. He feels where the natural pushes and pulls of a tune fall and taps his foot accordingly, and often irregularly.
In Flook, we play the occasional tune in 7 (7/8) but mostly use more straight metres, with the odd occasional extra beat. For me the hardest Flook tune to get my head around metrically was “The Tree Climber”, from Ancora. It’s written by Simon Chrisman. It would be interesting to see if he thinks of it the same as I have it notated!
Sarah Allen: There’s often no right or wrong way to notate these tunes we learn aurally. The first “Macedonian Oro” on Flatfish is in 7 time. I always heard it as the first part being 4 + 3 and the second part 3 + 4, but having taught this to a couple of students lately, I realise it can just as easily be heard as 3+4 all the way through. On our recorded version, the timing is a little loose sometimes, but perhaps this is its charm!
“Gentle Giant”, the 2nd tune in the medley, written by Finnegan, [Flatfish] is easier to follow 7/8 (2+2+3), and the bodhran really locks in the groove.
Niles: “Dub Reel” on the Flook! Live! (1996) album seems to be a prime example that “slap tongue” technique of yours. It really sounds like a muffled guitar or percussive tapping on the keys of the flute . What are some of the most obvious examples of using this on the more available CDs?
Sarah Allen: “The Dub Reel” was probably the very first iteration of my slap tongue technique! I use this technique so much in my flute playing, often more subtly, but it’s very often there. It works particularly well on the alto. It’s produced by very strong tonguing and very little note, but pushed out by a strong diaphragm. It can almost sound like a double bass. There has to be plenty of audible sharp tongue attack, but also include a ringing that is the actual note.
Other tracks where you’ll hear it:
Niles: On the “Eb Reels” (2 of the 3 trad.) [Flatfish 1999] are you playing any of the whistles on the first tune, or is that all Finnegan via overdubbing?
Sarah Allen: I was playing one of those simpler whistle lines on the recording, I think, though I do remember some discussion about it at the time! I certainly played the second whistle part live on stage.
Niles: How and when did the alto flute come to the forefront? In your previous bands, you were playing C concert flute, aside from the using the of whistle. (The lowest note on alto flute is G below middle C; C concert flute is….”C”)
Sarah Allen: As both Brian and Mike both played fast and furious and flashy, I decided that rather than try to join them I would look for another space where I could comfortably and usefully sit. I developed other parts that sat underneath the melody, or wove around it, and in time this became a kind of trademark sound of mine, using a slap tonguing technique on the alto flute, like you might do on the sax.
It’s not a hard technique, but like everything else, it takes practice to get it to sound good! I think I did it on my bamboo flute too (jigs on Flook! Live!) and regular (C) flute, but over time I played more and more alto flute. I had one already, but it was now that it really started to come into its own.
Niles: You said the “slap tongue” was similar to a saxophone technique, did you play any sax in the past?
Sarah Allen: I have never played sax, and for the record, in the past was always a little disdainful of flute players who doubled on sax, as I thought it ruined their chops. I wouldn’t be so precious these days!.
Niles: “Empty Pod” (Finnegan) [Rubai] is one of the few tracks where there are improvised solos. Some key tapping in there. I like the improvising element; why didn’t or don’t you do more of that? It demonstrates that the improv abilities are there.
Sarah Allen: Yes! The middle section here was fully improvised and was fun to play. Not sure why we don’t do more of this, because we both enjoy it!
Niles: The “Beehive” medley [Rubai], I liked the use of the harmonizing flutes in the arrangement, and the call and response in the 3rd, Jay Unger tune (“Vladimir’s Steamboat”). The first two tunes sound like could have been written by the same person, though they’re not. Or did the 2nd tune come about as Brian Finnegan expanding your tune, the first in the medley, with another section or vice versa? How much did you two or three or four, start collectively influencing each other?
Sarah Allen: The first two tunes were written quite separately actually, not related until they were put together. I think Brian and I have quite different styles, so its interesting that you think these two sound similar! We write quite separately mostly. When the tunes are co-written, then it comes from him or I having an A part and the other person taking it away and writing the B part (e.g., “Wrong Foot Forward”/”Flatfish”/”Jig For Simon”/”Foxes Rock”) elsewhere. “Peter Street” [Haven] came together very quickly in the studio. However, as we were short of one tune to complete the album. We were both present. I can’t even remember who wrote which part, but he wrote one and I the other and they fitted like magic, it’s a very simple tune!
Niles: – Was “Granny In The Attic” (Allen) [Rubai] from or a reworking of something from the Barely Works or BigJig timespan? I ask because of the trombone in there.
Sarah Allen: The trombone came about at the end of recording it, and I hadn’t made the connection to Barely Works. I’ve always loved a bit of brass though. We only once played it live with Rory McLeod on trombone, who played on the record, and he couldn’t remember what to play, but it sounded great with live trombone! This tune remains one of our most enduring live, and we always get the audience to sing the trombone part.
Niles: Yes, I saw a live YouTube of that; it’s such an effective stage “bit” – you get to fill in the missing riff, and have audience participation at the same time!
Niles: I think Rubai comes the closest of all your post-Live! albums to fitting the description of Flook as “an Irish music band”. “Blue Ball/False Proof”, “Natterjack” could pass for traditional But, the other discs, yeah, the ITM element is in there, but there is so much of the “other”,either in ethnic tunes, or in the originals that leaves the Irish description insufficient.
Sarah Allen: I’m glad you think “Blue Ball” (Allen) sounds like traditional, as I don’t generally think my tunes sound very trad at all! I always thought “Larry Get Out of the Bin” (Allen/Finnegan) sounded quite trad. I think all four albums are quite far from sounding trad, though we use traditional formats of A and B parts, and the playing of both Brian and John Joe [Kelly] on bodhran and occasional mandolin, especially. And also Ed Boyd, is rooted in their traditional music upbringing.
Sarah Allen: We are coming out of trad music source for sure. Both Brian and John Joe come very firmly from that background, winning multiple fleadhs (festivals) in their youth. Brian in particular, however, has a very exploratory approach to music, and is always up for pushing the boat out. Ed has long played Irish trad though his background is more varied, like mine. I don’t even pretend to play Irish trad. So it’s the particular combination of the four of us that makes Flook sound like Flook.
Niles: Which original tunes by you, or Finnegan, are inspired by other genres or ethnic music?
Sarah Allen: Brian’s “Asturian Way” [Haven (2005)] tune, however, was written with a nod to that culture and it’s people.
We always thought “The Bunting Fund” [Ancora], one of my tunes, sounded Asturian, though I’ve no idea why it came out like that, it wasn’t planned that way! And yes, that’s why we added the “pandereta.” [Asturian percussion] I’d suggested to Ed that it’d be nice, and at first we thought they’d be too obvious a choice of extra flavour, but then, we thought “Why not?”
Sarah Allen: Interesting that you think Mike sounds more Irish Traditional Music, as his instrumentation is much broader and can take him further away, but his own playing is perhaps more ITM than Brian’s style.
Niles: I think any tune can be pretty much superimposed over any kind of accompaniment or groove. While McGoldrick is doing that, and doing it quite well, if you were to fade everything out besides him, I think it would still sound pretty much ITM. Even the Balkan tunes,.with his articulation, ornamentation etcetera, it still has a strong Irish feel and delivery!
Flook, on the other hand, are using a more conventional folk instrumentation as a platform to launch into something else, in my opinion. The tunes, with an occasional exception, don’t sound like they might have been sourced from a Paddy Taylor, Paddy Carty or Matt Molloy album. Is my take on this a “minority report”?
Sarah Allen: Agree with what you say about Mike and his style. Brian’s style is probably more progressive. Both brilliant players.
Niles: The “Rosbeg” medley (both tunes by Finnegan) [Rubai] is one of my favorite tracks. Again, makes me wonder why Brian doesn’t play more wooden flute. Nice understated accompaniment on tune number one. “Rosbeg” (tune two) is really good; it may surprise you, but it reminds me some of the best Burt Bacharach material. [Gasps]
Sarah Allen: I love the tune “Rosbeg” too. I remember when Brian and I were learning it by the fireside in Rosbeg, a tiny village in Donegal. Brian wrote “Suaimhneas Intinne (A Quiet Mind)”, which leads into “Rosbeg” on the CD, for me. We always used to joke that he wrote it to try to make my mind quiet, because it mostly isn’t.
Niles: Well, that certainly was the effect both those tunes had on me!
Niles: “The Girls in Boisdale” (“Tortoise/Hare” medley on Haven) seems to me to be all about the countermelody. The repetitive part/instrument, even if it is the melody, becomes a background for the shifting parts; the ear wants to go where the motion is. I really like the coolness (timbre) of the alto in “The Tortoise” (Allen). Ditto for “Wrong Foot Forward.”
Sarah Allen: I don’t think we ever played “The Girls in Boisdale” live. I can’t really remember how we came up with the arrangement even. I think the whistle was playing so fast I decided to base my part around the guitar rhythms instead. It gives a nice airy space to the recording for sure, but wasn’t very driving live, so it didn’t really work as a live piece. In live gigs, to this day, we usually end the whole gig, pre-encore, with “Sleeping Tortoise” into John Joe’s bodhran solo, and then into “Pressed for Time”.
Niles: I liked the way you would go back and syncopate (delay) some of your same lines for effect on the first tune on “Mouse Jigs” [Haven]. Not having the exact same backup part every time through really keeps the piece from getting dull.
Sarah Allen: Yes, I agree that the shifting second flute part is interesting. It captures the live quality of a performance, it’s not too fixed. Maybe, I couldn’t remember what I played the first time when the second time came around!
Niles: “House of Little Lights (Finnegan)/Souter Creek” is my favorite track on the Haven record. Incidentally, I like the live Blas Cheoil TV performance a little better than the CD version. BF’s phrasing on “Lights” is just great. I particularly like the way the two flutes split into harmony in bar four of the first part of “Souter Creek”. I think it is indicative that a live performance, limited to only four instruments at a time, can equal or surpass the full studio version with the extra instrumentation, bass, etcetera.
Sarah Allen: Just re-listened to this track on CD – I love hearing the two flutes on the first tune – we never did this live either – I just played the accordion line. The essence of Flook is just the four of us each playing one line, any additional lines or parts added for a studio recording are always carefully chosen, so as not to detract from what we already have in the core conversation, so it’s interesting to hear that you like the live version better.
Ed Boyd: Hard to describe one’s own style. A mixture of strumming and finger-style, hopefully not too heavy-handed, and sympathetic to the musical moment, if all is going well.
Tuning, quite a lot of DADGAD and standard, some small variations in between the two, such as EADGBD and DADGAE.
Influences, too numerous to list, but definitely including The Beatles, John Renbourn, Ralph McTell, Arty McGlynn, Soïg Sibéril, Jacques Pellen.
Niles: I should add that it was the alto flute, like “Wrong Foot Forward” [Haven] etcetera, that really caught my attention when I started listening to the Flook records.
Niles: It is one of my favorite tracks, as well. Because it doesn’t is has a fingerpicked arpeggio-istic (is that a real word?) guitar backup, instead of the emphasized chords strums of 3+2+2 or 2+2+3 that you’d usually hear in Greek/Balkan music, I had never thought about as being in 7/8 because the flow was so smooth! I assume you wrote the first part played by alto, and Brian the second which answers back on whistle.
Sarah Allen: Correct.
Niles: Those Scandinavian tunes.How did you end up doing Ale Möller’s “Ice Cream Polska (Glass Polska)” and Esko Järvelä’s/Frigg’s (Finland) “On One Beautiful Day”? I have the both Möller’s The Horse & The Crane, he is great player, and Frigg’s first album (Frigg), so it’s interesting to hear Flook’s versions.
Sarah Allen: We are always interested in the Scandinavian bands and their tunes and rhythms. I can’t recall how or why we came across “Glass Polska,” It’s a continual subconscious hunt for the perfect tune! But, we all love the Frigg album, and “On One Beautiful Day” seemed a fitting and peaceful way to end Haven.
Niles: I love the extra low deep bass on “Foxes’ Rock” (Allen/Finnegan) [Ancora]. Very Nordic/Scandinavian sounding, imo. I would call that a march.
Sarah Allen: Brian always calls “Foxes Rock” a waltz! This track is a favourite with many people. The second tune,”Foxes Rock”, took some assembling, both in the writing and the arranging, though they were really one and the same thing in this case. Brian wrote the A part and I wrote the B part, then Brian wrote another part,and it took forever to then decide which order they should happen in. We got there in the end! There’s an alto flute line on the very last A that I particularly like, it’s growly and almost mono-tonal, well, three notes, it’s also a right-hand little finger workout!!
Niles: Really? I perceive the meter as a slow 6/8. To me, it feels like an old march, something that would be perfect behind a scene in Braveheart. “Brian Boru” is usually written as 6/8, and it is almost always called a march! And it is old old old.
Sarah Allen: [Laughs] I will send you my scribbled dots to this one! I wrote it in three! “Foxes’ Rock”, by the way, is a geographical location, deep in the Cooley Mountains, a fell runner’s dream location!
Niles: “Ellie Goes West” (Finnegan) [Ancora], Great tune. I’ve seen the live Flook youtubes of this one. The new studio arrangement with the strings works great. At times I get it mixed up with his tune “Starrs” on his Ravishing Genius Of Bones CD; that also had strings. He really does write some beautiful tunes.
Sarah Allen: Yes, everyone loves this tune. Just after we recorded the basic track, Brian announced he thought he had a better slow tune that he’d rather go on the album. He was shouted down for all sorts of reasons, not least of all, no one knew the alternate tune!. Patsy Reid’s strings [cello, viola, violin] on this track are so beautiful. When Ed first heard them in the studio she recorded them remotely and sent the files, Ed said he was moved to tears.
Sarah Allen: That one is a tune that came quite quickly to me. It was more of a dream than a song. The timings are perhaps a bit like a song, they are how I heard them, rather than fitting them to a metre. I did simplify them a bit though in final writing. I either write the tunes with flute or accordion in hand, but I notate as I go along, or in this case afterwards
Niles: “Lalabee” [Ancora] – Very cinematic! Moving, but never schmaltzy.
Sarah Allen: I haven’t met Matthias Loibner, the Austrian hurdy gurdy player, but Brian met him and played that [Loibner] tune before we learned it. I love this tune, it is the only tune that was recorded in a session we did the year before. We binned the rest, but this version of this tune seemed to have an extra something on the 2018 version.
Niles: I have to say that I think the Ancora medleys are really well put together and the tunes complement each other. “Jig For Simon” (Allen/Finnegan) reminds me of some Jethro Tull type thing like “Kelpie”, there’s that bluesy tag line in there.
Sarah Allen: Some of the medleys come together easier than others. The final track to come together was “Bunting > Ocean”. We were one track down. The two tunes are so different. The jig had been part of another set but the full set didn’t work. We salvaged that jig and tried “Ocean Child” (Finnegan) on the end of it. Two completely different tunes in odd opposing keys, held together by an ostinato riff; no idea why it works, but it seems to work okay! “Turquoise Girl” (medley) set is also made up of wildly different tunes, but again seems to hang together fine! First tune in the set, “Turquoise Girl”, is one of mine.
Niles: “Sharig” (Finnegan) ” [Ancora] – Another march? Was it written with that tune type in mind? The two following tunes are the most ITM sounding things on the album. I like the occasional 3/4 phrasing in the lead line.
Sarah Allen: These are definitely jigs! Three jigs, all quite straight ahead albeit that the first tune could be interpreted in different ways depending where you hear the one. Will send my dots.
Niles: Maybe it’s the syncopation of the guitar stabs, or the character of the melody, but the first tune really feels more like a march to me. Which doesn’t keep it from being in 6/8. Too much listening to Swedish and Norwegian music, maybe? Or a case of “Toe-may-toe” versus “Toe-mah-toe”? Tune #2 – 100% jig.
Niles: “Omos Sheamos” [Ancora], another march. That tune type is too often neglected by bands.
Sarah Allen: Loved this tune from the minute I heard it. Zoe Conway writes great tunes. This one is, indeed, a march.
Niles: Do you have a favorite Flook album?
Sarah Allen: You know, until Ancora (2019) came along, Rubai (2002) was my favourite Flook album. I’m not sure which I prefer now. For now, Ancora wins, but in the future looking back I don’t know! I think Rubai and Haven (2005) are similar, but for me, Rubai was made with more love and unity.
Ancora had a lot to live up to and for that reason it was hard for us. But, it is different from the three preceding albums in how it was made. We did the live sessions, same as previous times, but the building up of the sets after the initial sessions was more piecemeal. And in the live sessions, we hadn’t gigged very much of the material, so we were less clear about what would emerge and survive. Some sets emerged very late in the whole process!
Niles: You used the phrase ‘building up the sets’: Does that mean you recorded the tunes individually and then strung them into sets later in the control booth?
Sarah Allen: We knew which tunes went together, but on occasion the tunes were recorded separately and then joined. In these cases, we were clear how they would be joined up, but it was easier to record in say two halves. “Companion Star” and “Coral Star” are a good example. Also “Lalabee” and “Jig for Simon.”
Niles: Finnegan has really got a very vocal sound and phrasing. Sometimes, almost pleading. Maybe because he tongues a lot more than the usual Irish legato player, and thus has more control of the internal dynamics? I think he phrases more like a fiddle player, Dave Swarbrick, Liz Caroll, or a saxophonist.
Sarah Allen: Yes, Brian plays in a very vocal like style in slow tunes, like he is singing. And very percussive in the fast tunes.
*****
And so, the men – and woman – of Flook, went forth and wandered near and far, and further still – from Ireland to Moscow, Hokkaido to Sardinia. And Spring turned into Summer, Summer became Fall. More years passed and still they traveled to Denmark, Sweden. And, hösten blev vintern, vilket blev våren, och våren förvandlades till sommar. And back in England, turned back into “summer” again.
And as one year turned into the next year, and so on and so on, they were called upon again and again to perform, and the call was heeded. To the southwest of America, from Tucson, Arizona, to Tucumcari, Tehachapi to Tonapah. To the Great Ocean Road in Australia, and by then they’d probably ridden in every kind of rig that’s ever been made!
And so it transpired, along with making the with three CDs, previously mentioned, for 13 years until one day in December of 2008; they announced the amicable breaking of the Fellowship of The Flook. And so, they went their separate ways, to go forth and multiply and/or search for their own form of the Grail.
The Interim Flook Retirement Years 2009 – 2013
* The Mighty Finnegan recorded a wonderful solo album in 2010 called The Ravishing Genius Of Bones.He formed a trio, which grew into a quartet with the addition of fiddler Aidan O’Rouke, which was renamed KAN, and under that moniker, another brilliant “record” (Sleeper) ensued. Brian of Armagh also spent many weeks and months touring in Russia with the notorious “BG” – Boris Grebenshchnikov, the “Grandfather of Russian Rock.”
* John Joe the Drum (and occasional mandolin/tenor banjo player) went on to play with Paul Brady, Michael McGoldrick, and Indian tabla drum master, Zakir Hussein.
* Edmund, the one-time oboist turned guitarslinger (and cittern too) joined the Irish group Lunasa in 2011 with whom he is still a member, even while playing in the ‘reunited’ Flook and others, including Irish songstress Cara Dillon and The Michael McGoldrick Group.
* and speaking of McGoldrick the Sinister… (not a bad fellow really, just a lefty who plays left-handed flute like many Irishmen before him) – He had departed from Flook in 1997 and had joined the Scottish band, Capercaille, and also recorded a number of both solo traditional and progressive (Wired andFused) albums.
* And what of Sarah, the Half-Australian Pied Piper, originally from Devon via St. Albans?
Sarah Allen: Maisy wasn’t quite two when we toured in Japan, which was our final trip before we stopped. At that age it was clear that she couldn’t be just left in a corner to sleep, and also would need entertaining after a long drive, rather than being ignored while I got on with the musical job in hand.
So, the break from the touring and the business side of Flook came as a welcome respite. Taking care of a toddler was a big enough job in itself without the road!
Niles: So, she kicked back for awhile, but Canola – Irish goddess of music, inspiration and dreams, never seems to relinquish her grip on those she has smiled upon, and you, yes you! …. in the back there… No, it was not the ghost of Jimi Hendrix! Smartass!
Sarah Allen: Did I mention The Waterboys at all? Played with them in 2010-11.
Niles: No, I don’t think so, but I did read some mentions of The Waterboys in some of those Flook articles, but on Wikipedia, it seems like 50 people have been in that band at one time or another. Had no idea which album or albums you played on.
The old stuff, to my recollection, had more of a Lindisfarne-ish [band], folky feel. The only Waterboys LP I have is Fisherman’s Blues, which goes way, way back.
Sarah Allen: Yes, many musicians have passed through The Waterboys. The only constants are Mike Scott himself and fiddler, Steve Wickham. His current line-up has been quite consistent though for the past few years, and are great.
I played on his An Appointment With Mr. Yeats album, and the touring thereof. There were two big flute solos in the main set: “Wandering Aengus” and also the “Faery’s Last Dance”.
I also played piano, a 4 note ostinato, on “White Birds”, loved that, it felt very cool.
And we did play “Stolen Child” from Fisherman’s Blues in the encore of this show; I loved that flute bit.
I always loved Fisherman’s Blues so it was a thrill and honour to play with them. Mike is a very hard task master. He is abundantly prolific, and I have loved the albums he has made since my time with them.
We’d never really planned for Flook to end but it was clear we needed a break. As we said in a message to our fans at the time:
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.
We played another Flook show as early as March 2010, in Belfast on St Patrick’s Day, in the middle of my run of Waterboys gigs at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. I think we knew then that we’d definitely do more, but the time had to be right. We did odd gigs over the following years and each time the old magic and voltage was as strong as ever.
Gradually we accepted more of the gig requests that had never stopped coming our way. We had decided that we’d try not to be too influenced by the money, but would rather choose to play the gigs that appealed to us, either due to their location or the people offering them.
We loved our gigs in Italy and Japan and many places in between. We only played occasional gigs and we tried to make each one really special and not in any way work-a-day. We still try to operate like that now, there’s no intention to become a touring machine. And part of the motivation to re-group was the understanding that we had much left to say as a band, a certain responsibility to our loyal fans, old and new, to create Flook music of the present, rich in both past and future. So, that’s when we finally buckled down and started the long process of making “ANCORA”.
And now we come to the part of the interview which the “flutists”, or “flautists”, or whatever they are calling themselves these days – “flute players” (happy now?) – are interested in. All that flute playing tech talk and such…. (but at least we are spared a discussion about the ultimate pads!)
Niles: Classical players seem to obsessive over precise 12TET intonation. (Boehm vs. simple system scale intonations) How much intonational difference/drift is there between your alto and Finnegan’s whistles/ flute, and does is it even matter since you tend to be in different octaves and not doing a lot of close harmony? And it’s not a classical ensemble.
Sarah Allen: There is generally a lot of tuning up on stage in a Flook show. We used to tune to Brian’s whistles, but many of them now are tunable, so we tend now to try to tune to 440. Ed tunes to his tuner and I tune to him, as I’m stood beside him. You do see a lot of photos of myself and Brian facing each other and in these instances we’re usually trying to tune. Even though we’re often an octave plus apart, we still need to be in tune.
Niles: Is there much instrumental multi-tracking by band members is on the Flook albums, as opposed to added guest instrumentation? How many flutes or whistles are on some of the tracks? I often hear two, maybe three whistles (i.e., “Ocean Child”) , on some tracks on the records.
Sarah Allen: Yes, we do quite often multi-track our flute and whistle tracks. Sometimes we do it in the build-up sections between tunes, “Ocean Child” is a good example, and in the breakdown sections in tunes;”Toward the Sun/The Quickenbeam”. I had fun adding extra flute harmony bits to enhance the harmony in, for example: “The Tree Climber”, “Rounding Malin Head”, “Foxes Rock”. Brian similarly loves to add new parts above and below the main melodies.
Niles: C Flute – I am assuming that Alto is now the primary instrument for you, in Flook. How much C-concert flute is on the recordings and gigs? And what determines your choice to use the higher instrument?
Sarah Allen: These days I barely get to play C flute in Flook. On stage, I literally only play it on the first tune from “Road to Errogie” set. That’s just about the only accordion set too. If we lost that set, I’d have a much lighter luggage load, the accordion – not the C flute!. But it’s a great set, so we may not lose it anytime soon! I can’t actually recall if I played any C flute on Ancora at all. I think not.
There was barely none on the previous albums either, just “The Gentle Giant” and A “Quiet Autumn” from Flatfish, and the “Errogie” set from Haven. So, with no direct intention, I do seem to have become an alto flute player. It’s because of how the alto sits with Brian’s higher flutes and whistles. If I play C flute then the two parts are often too close and the overall soundscape is less effective.
Niles: Alto flute, by reason of the reconfigured keywork to eliminate what would be long and awkward finger stretches, has by necessity, platform or closed hole keys. But, on C-concert flute, there is either the option of (French style) open hole or (German) closed-hole keys? Which type did you play?
Sarah Allen: My C-flute is open hole. I bought a second hand and early model, open hole Muramatsu flute from my then teacher when I was 16. I kept and played that same flute until a couple of years ago. My current C flute is Miyazawa BR Type 1RE .45 14K R, bought second hand two or three years ago. I don’t know what any of that means or if you need that much detail. My Alto flute, btw, is a Trevor James with a Mike Allen headjoint.
Open holed flutes are good for two things, firstly they force a good hand position, which makes playing fast passages ultimately easier. Secondly, many people think that a better sound is possible on an open-holed flute; more air able to escape when the key is up, hence, a more open sound? I’ve never been entirely sure if this second point is true, but I like to believe it.
Niles: Use of the alto as a part of the rhythm section: Do you emulate the parts/approaches/functions of other instruments; rock/blues guitar figures or bass lines, Piano/accordion stuff transferred over, etcetera? And/or have you drawn from classical flute duo/trio arrangements/ scores for ideas or lines?
Sarah Allen: My alto flute parts are woven around the tunes, sometimes playing along, sometimes playing harmonies, sometimes a mixture of the two (e.g., “Wrong Foot Forward”), sometimes playing more of a “bass” part (e.g., “Pressed for Time”).
But, once I’m happy enough with what I plan to play, then I always have a very keen ear for what John, Joe, and Ed are playing, and I catch some of John and Joe’s rhythms with my slap tongue (e.g., “Blue Ball”), and also their rhythmic pushes and pulls (e.g., “Toward the Sun” second ‘A’). I don’t think I transfer accordion stuff, nor do I pay much heed to classical flute duo or trio arrangements, though my classical training undoubtedly informs the way I think about harmonies.
Here are a few arranging techniques for two flutes, citing some tune examples:
*** Doubling the medley (octave below) often on tunes I write -“Beehive/Turquoise Girl/Bunting Fun/Granny in the Attic” set;
*** also harmony – my harmonies tend to weave in and out of the tune. 3rds usually avoided.
*** Intertwining/dovetailing lines – “Gentle Giant / Coral Castle”
*** Reducing the melody to fewer skeleton pitches – “The Quickenbeam”
*** Riffs have more of a rhythm percussive function – “Pressed for Time/Apollo Bay Reel”
*** Countermelodies – 2nd part of “Wrong Foot Forward”
Niles: How much does Finnegan select a whistle keyed to a particular pitch to coincide with the key(s) of the tunes? Or does he have one or two particular keyed whistles that he uses most of the time? You, on the other hand, have to be pretty fluent in any key, rather than having an Eb flute etcetera and play out of easier scale fingerings. Is that fair?
Sarah Allen: Good question. -Brian rarely uses a D whistle, either high or low. He thinks in the few keys possible on a six- holed flute, and chooses a whistle/flute he thinks best suited to the timbre that he hopes to achieve. He always used to favour his G sharp flute and his Eb whistle. You will hear this a lot on Flatfish It made my life pretty tricky, that’s for sure, but yes, I have to be able to play in any key.
On Rubai and Haven, a lot of the sets use his A whistle, and this is perfect for my alto flute, so I must have had more influence then! He would still always prefer his high Eb to his high D. In fact, he never plays high D whistle! His low flute is in Bb and he I think he played a low Eb flute on “The Crystal Year.” I just fit in while trying to subtly influence the choice of key. On my tunes, Brian usually plays A whistle, as that matches my alto and if I wrote the tune, then I get to choose.
Niles: Is there a dominant arranger in Flook?
Sarah Allen: Brian is the main curator of tunes, though we all have to like them before they get put into the sets. Beyond that, I’d say we all ‘look after’ our own parts. As I said above, my parts are informed, first by the melody, and then sometimes adjusted to reflect Ed’s chords or Ed and/or John Joe’s rhythmic pushes/pulls/stabs, as they develop over time. We are not known for rehearsals, it’s true to say we’ve barely done any in over 25 years of playing together.
Getting new sets onto the stage usually relies as a starting point on me having learned the tunes. Brian will have brought them to us, and Ed and JJ just work it out as they go along. We play them in sound checks until we feel they’re ready to try on stage for real. The sets can then often evolve over time. With Ancora, however, we had to create some of sets from scratch as we hadn’t gigged many of them, just “Rubik/Sharig/Lalabee”, but even here we mostly built them together as we went along.
Niles: Can you shed any light on why Finnegan seems to prefer the whistles over the transverse flutes?
Sarah Allen: I’ll ask him!
Brian Finnegan: I am slightly more at home playing dance tunes on the whistle because there is a certain bite and sharp edge to the whistle that helps me punctuate at top speed. It’s also pretty physical to play in an instrumental band and the whistle doesn’t demand the same breath control as the flute. But, the flip side is that I’m more inclined to choose the flute when I’m not playing dance tunes, there’s a soulfulness in a wooden flute that is impossible to replicate on a low whistle.
I play quite a bit of flute on Flook albums, and I’ll endeavour to remember those moments for you now.
* On Flatfish I play flute on: “Calico”. “Gentle Giant”, “Sligo Reel”, “Happy Jigs”, “Bruno”, and “Flutopia”
* On Rubai: “Pod”, “Glass”, “Rosbeg”, “Larry”
* On Haven: ‘Souter Creek’ and ‘On One Beautiful Day’
* On Ancora “Crystal Year”, “Coral Castle”, “Lalabee’ and ‘Omos Sheamuis’
Niles: Do you sing/hum harmony (or drones) through the flute to the lines you are playing? Sometimes non-language vocalizations can really beef up an arrangement adding that “extra instrument”.
Sarah Allen: I used to sing along to my flute lines while playing The Barely Works – “Bread and Water”, etcetera, but haven’t used this in Flook, and if I did I would normally aim for octave or unison rather than harmony!
Niles: Did you learn counterpoint and/or how to write two-part inventions and fugues in school? If so, did you apply any of the ideas to your support (flute) parts?
Sarah Allen: At Oxford University I had to write counterpoint in the style of Bach, string quartets in the style of Mozart or Poulenc and lots more. I’m not aware that the techniques used/learned here have ever been utilised since, but I guess that an advanced understanding of harmony probably does inform my approach to my own parts, even if only in some subtle way. I certainly never knowingly think quite as technically as that in my working out my flute parts.
Niles: Classically trained musicians have loads of technical facility: 200+ years of working out ways to get around on the instrument! What are some of the classical exercises or methods that you would recommend for building technique for players of any style and any variety of flute/whistle?
Sarah Allen: I spent a long time trying to forget what I’d learned in order to play more freely! I have Moyse’s De La Sonorite here, and I used to be required to work through it, but haven’t looked at it for very many years. However, I do like a strong sound, and recommend the playing of long notes from low G down to low C (or D) and similarly from top D up the highest notes in order the strengthen the tone of the flute.
I like an edgy sound, and this needs to be worked on. I go down or up in semitones, each time repeating the note I’ve reached before slurring up or down, while always referring back to the starting note often to see if the strength of tone is being maintained as the notes get lower or higher. Also, I think scales are quite boring to practice, but being able to play up and down fluently in various keys is actually quite useful, though these days I quite like to play scales in thirds and also to make up patterns that move up and down scales, but are not straight scales. It’s all about how to make ‘boring’ exercises a bit more fun and creative.
Niles: Favorite classical composers, works? Top Five favorite albums or pieces of music you like to play? And tangentially, do you have a big LP/CD collection, or have you gone to a streaming service which seems to have everything?
Sarah Allen: I don’t listen to much classical music these days, but pieces I love include: Bach Suites for Solo Cello, “Dvorak: String Serenade”, “Shostakovich: Piano Trios Nos 1 and 2”, “Steve Reich: Tehillim”.
I don’t so often listen to CDs these days, more likely to download MP3s, and now I am able to listen to Spotify, though I have very mixed feeling about doing so. No favourite classical flute players either.
Niles: You’ve had your feet in multiple camps – formal/classical, jazz, folk – all of which have different priorities of what/how they train you for, and in what order of the techniques get presented in their relative pedagogical systems. Would you care to speak about the pros/cons of these as they relate/compare to each other and to the “versatile” player.
Sarah Allen: Well, I gained a strong grounding and technique from classical music lessons. From jazz I understood I had freedom to choose to forget some of those rules, and most importantly, I learned for the first time to be myself. ‘Folk music’ came as a culmination of the journey for me, allowing me to be grounded in tradition while creating my own music and honing my voice.
Niles: Similar question about favorite jazz artists. Any you emulated?
Sarah Allen: Roland Kirk, yes I used to try to emulate him a bit, all the singing into the flute stuff on “Blacknuss”; Miles Davis; Bill Evans. Jan Garbarek. I have a few favourite jazz standards, but don’t try to play on them these days, “I Can’t Get Started”, “All of Me”.
Niles: And Folk and Rock….
Sarah Allen: Favourite folk artists in no particular order include Martin Hayes, Karine Polwart and her longtime collaborator Inge Thompson, Lau, The Gloaming, Martin Hayes, Kris Drever, Mairtin O Connor, Jean-Michel Veillon, Liz Carroll, Eddi Reader, Sufjan Stevens, Väsen.
Other favourite artists in no particular order, and from across decades include: Some of these maybe in folk and vice versa? Tracey Thorn, David Kitt, Damien Rice, Devon Sproule, Elbow, Ani di Franco, Rory Mcleod, Anais Mitchell, The Waterboys.
Niles: Do you improvise or write tunes vocally, without the flute or accordion in hand? Do you write much original stuff and what’s your process, if there is one?
Sarah Allen: I generally start from a fragment of a melody or even sometimes a riff, which I then try to develop. I write on the flute now, though I used to write tunes on the accordion too. I write by ear, but jot down the notes frequently, as the ideas come to me – though these continually change as I go along. I write the melody only, though may have a rough idea in my head of the harmony, and of harmonic shifts that I know or hope will occur.
When using the alto, I usually write out tunes in transposed “fingered version” not “pitch version”, Alto flute transposed up a 4th as if the same fingerings were being played on a C concert flute. This works if Brian is playing an “A” whistle, which matches the alto flute fingering, though I’m not always so lucky with that!
But, this is the fingering that will sit most easily with whistle and flute players. If Brian is playing a different whistle, I would notate my version in my fingering for myself, but sometimes write out the tune in the simple whistle fingering that whistle players would use. Sometimes, but not often, I’d also write down the melody at the pitch it actually sounds.
Niles: Do you do any yoga, martial arts, dance or sports that has had an effect on your flute playing and breath capacity and control? Or for mental perceptual-shift into “the zone”/altered brainwave state? And of course, the “One-legged stance” Yoga or a nod to Jethro Tull?
Sarah Allen: I used to do a fair bit of yoga, and I do often stand on my right leg when playing flute. Having my left leg up seems to provide a good counter balance, particularly when playing the long alto flute. Not only a counterbalance, it also serves to focus my mind.
If both my feet are firmly planted on the floor it is usually a sign that I’m feeling uneasy in some way. If my left leg is up, then I am calm and in the zone. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, when I try to do a tree pose standing on my left leg in yoga, I do not have the same balance or strength to maintain the pose, as when I stand on my right leg. I have never seen the need to practice the former more. I imagine my yoga teachers must wonder why I am so much better on one side than the other though.
Niles: But, I’d bet you can’t hold the pose with an accordion larger than a 24-bass!
Sarah Allen: Perhaps I should try! I do often throw the accordion, bellows outstretched, up the air at the end of a set.
Niles: Do you keep your eyes open, or do you close them in order to shut off visual stimulus and add more “RAM” to the sonic ‘program’ in your brain?
Sarah Allen: Yes, open. Brian is much more likely to have his eyes closed. Sometimes, if I really need to concentrate hard, then I close my eyes or fix them on a static point in front of me, but more often I have them fixed intently on Brian, so I can follow his every breath and move more closely.
Niles: Alto headjoint. Did your size, heigh, arm spread have any impact on the ergonomics and choice of playing alto flute with a straight headjoint?
Sarah Allen: I never thought about it. My first alto, that I didn’t choose, was straight head, so I have never considered a curved one.
Niles: You have played whistle, but did you or do you ever play Irish simple system flute? If so, are there things* (* e.g., Bending/pitch shading, finger vibrato, etcetera) that you can do on Irish flute that you wish you could get on a Boehm-system instrument?
Sarah Allen: I have a few Patrick Olwell bamboo flutes. I can’t get the same clear sound on them as I can get on a silver flute and I don’t really equate the two systems or wish for anything on one that I can’t get on the other. You can’t do all the same ornaments on the silver flute, and I don’t try to! And, I’ve never tried those Nordic overtone flutes.
Niles: For a non-classical flute player, folk, blues, rock; jazz demands would be different, I think, what realistically is the range one should be able to play? Do you really need for the amount of practicing required, control of 4th octave, or even the top of the 3rd octave (above ‘g3) if you’re not playing concertos? (referring to C flute fingering) . Maybe “get-by-with” is a more apt term. And, how much of the alto register/range do you normally utilize?
Sarah Allen: Although I used to double on piccolo when I played in orchestras! I have morphed into a low flute player over time and that’s where I like to play. I like the punch and power and richness of the lower octaves on both flutes. I don’t think the alto flute is really worth playing if you plan to go above top D (2 ledger lines up) , and I’d preferably stay much lower than that.
I don’t like playing up high on the C flute either these days. I much prefer the bottom octave, although I’m perfectly capable of playing most of the possible high notes. I’d say to be able to reach top G (4 ledger lines) is plenty high enough for anyone!
Niles: Do you think it is better to specialize on one instrument or group of closely related instruments, or to be a “jack-of-all trades”? Arguments can be made for either option.
Sarah Allen: Perhaps in classical music the level of “perfection” required rules out being able to manage that on more than one instrument, however, in music in general there are plenty of multi-instrumentalists I hugely admire. It must be a hang-over from my classical start that I have never appreciated flute/sax doubling – certainly it would wreck a proper flute embouchure and make getting a good tone harder.
Niles: This probably more for my personal interest, as an alto would probably be the final instrument I would acquire. What do you look for or want in an alto flute? Among the lower end (under $2200) models, what makers do you like? I know you play a Trevor James. What do you think of the DiZhao altos?
Sarah Allen: I play a Trevor James with a Mike Allen head joint. TJ is modelled on a Sankyo which falls into the more expensive bracket, and seems to do the job very well. I am looking for a big sound and plenty of scope for attack. I don’t know the DiZhao. I used to play a Monnig, but it was big and clunky.
Niles: Have you adapted, or tried to adapt, Scottish piping ornaments to flute? I will do some blips and bleeps to low D from the G, A and B notes. Or from A, B, and c/c# down to the low E. I won’t say it is authentic Highland ornamentation, but more of my impression of it.
Sarah Allen: Brian loves piping tunes and has adapted his whistle playing to incorporate the ornaments, in his own unique style. I generally don’t use much cutting or tapping in my playing.
Niles: Something I noticed from watching the YouTubes, technique wise; the dangling left-hand pinky. Which must drive the classicals crazy! Or is it just irrelevant in the keys you guys play in?
Sarah Allen: Dangling the left hand pinky? I thought I knew all the frowned upon flute techniques, but never heard anything referencing that! Is it meant to be closer to the G sharp key?
Niles: I must be viewing it from string-player’s point of view. When I have a flute in hand, my fingers are almost never more than 3/8″-1/2″ above the keys – from years of training to keep fingers as close to the strings as possible for economy of motion and fluidity. Watching someone like Telecaster-master, Jerry Donahue, on is like trying to focus on a snake moving through the grass, or the heatwaves coming from the road.
Niles: There are many twin or more fiddle traditions (Texas swing, Scandinavian, Cajun, Bluegrass,) but I’m not aware of many parallels in the flute universe.
Sarah Allen: Can’t think of any either…
Niles: I noticed recently, from rooting around on YouTube, that some of the younger Swedish players are adapting the Swedish twin fiddle approach for two flutes. And it does sound good; it seems like a natural and inevitable evolution to me.
Are there any reasons you can think of reasons for the paucity of the twin flute lineup in bands. The Sam Most/Herbie Mann Quintet were somewhat of an aberration, and their attraction was dueling flute solos.
Sarah Allen: There’s always a danger that two or three flutes will sound too ‘twee’ – something we must avoid at all costs! Aly Bain told us early on in Flook that it had “all been done before”. He was referring to Matt Molloy, Seamus Tansey and Cathal McConnell. I’m not sure if they recorded together, or just sometimes did a three flute thing together.
Niles: But none of them were thinking like a “happy ender”!
Do you do teach kids in the school system? Privately? Or non-profit arts org? Any particular ‘method’/system/approach?
Sarah Allen: I have taught flute peripatetically in schools in the past. Nowadays my flute students all come to me privately. My teaching is informed by the methods by which I learned (i.e., classical technique), but with a healthy dose of jazz/improvisation/folk thrown in wherever possible.
Most importantly it has to fun, so if anyone is bored, I just try to mix it up a bit and find what makes them tick. I’m trying to instill a love of music in my pupils, for them to feel the joy that you get from playing music. I try not to critique them too much, but focus on what they are doing that is good. They have to feel good about it to play well, and one leads to the other.
I failed my Grade 8 (piano) first time, then passed it with flying colours the following year once I had a teacher who told me how good I was. That single fact has informed all my music teaching ever since.
I have huge admiration for the way my daughter is taught in her Kodaly based music school. I think I’ve talked about this before somewhere? Sitting in her violin lessons for the past eight years has definitely taught me a lot, and refined the ideas and methods I use.
Niles: When you are teaching at multi-day music camps, what topics do you cover? Level? Flute(s), or accordions, or all-instruments, improvisation?
Sarah Allen: We’d usually teach a simple tune and then look at what can be done with it in terms of harmony, simple ornaments, arrangement etcetera. I’m always interested in working out simple accompaniments to the melody. I like to work with mixed ability and find something useful for everyone to do.
Niles: You once posted the question on the Flook Facebook page: “What would be good music camp subject matter?” and I put in the suggestion of “Flute as a part of the rhythm section”. Have you done any workshops on this subject?
Sarah Allen: No, but this would be fun to do! Next time I will listen harder to what people ask for!
Niles: What is the Camden Music Trust and what is your involvement with it?
Sarah Allen: I’m not only a trustee of the trust, but I also sometimes teach flute, when needed, in the schools for Camden Music Service. And my daughter attends their holiday courses. She’s now a member of their flagship orchestra, Camden Youth Orchestra. There are ensembles for every level of player and they are hugely enjoyable for all the kids who take part, culminating in a biannual concert at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall. every second March.
Camden is the London borough in which I live, and we’re really lucky to have such an excellent music service providing much of the music content in the local schools. The service was run until last year by a very inspirational man, Pete West, who believed very strongly that everyone deserves and benefits from a musical education.
It was Pete who set up the Camden Music Trust, at a time when the funding for non-core school subjects was in danger of being cut. In Camden, almost 32% of children live below the poverty line, and Camden Music Trust fundraises to help ensure that the musical opportunities on offer are available to all.
Niles: Has the band considered putting out a Flook Tunebook? You could include some of the alto accompaniment lines and harmonies that demonstrate some of your arrangements. And some DADGAD guitar tabs too. With the COVID-19 situation putting the damper on playing out and touring, it might be something to do in the interim.
Sarah Allen: Yes! Always thinking of it, never quite managed to get it out!
Flook
Niles: Do you like the spotlight, or are you more comfortable off to the side of it?
Sarah Allen: I’ve never been a soloist. I’m a team player through and through. For me, music is a conversation, communicated by careful listening and watching and responding. I love instrumental music because then the conversation is more equal, as opposed to playing with a lead singer when the spot light is more often on them.
I like to think that every part of a conversation is as important as every other part, that everyone’s voice is necessity for the whole and should be equally valued for what it brings to the whole.
Niles: Burn-out; Have you experienced periods of music burn-out? When and what were the circumstances? If so, What revived you and brought you out of the burn-out funk?
Sarah Allen: Not really, but when we took a break from Flook at the end of 2008 there were lots of good reasons why this was necessary. Touring with a soon-to-be-two-year-old had its particular challenges for me for sure, but there were other tensions too after 13 years of pretty full-on touring and we definitely felt that a break would alleviate this. It definitely did! We all missed it a lot and whenever we came together to do the occasional gig the old magic was back and undiminished.
Niles: Regrets? Are you satisfied, in retrospect with your choice of musical instrument(s) that you play? Or if you could go back in time, would you select differently? Is there an instrument, including voice, that now you wish that you would have pursued instead, or more?
Sarah Allen: No! I came to flute almost by accident, but I’ve never wished I played something else. The accordion was, however, a choice and even though I don’t play it much these days, I love it when I do.
Niles: I’m sure you know that saying: “It takes 21 years to make a piper”: “Seven years of learning, seven years of practicing, and seven of years playing.” Do you agree with it, since you’ve put in more than your 21? I don’t think it can/will make sense until you have; I know I really only became happy with my own playing about 20 years in. I could play well and get around on the instrument before that, but it seems that it takes that long for a strong individual essence to emerge. When did you reach that point of playing “like you”?
Sarah Allen: Interestingly, trying to answer all these questions has got me listening back to stuff I played on over the years and had forgotten about. I’m pretty pleased with how some of my older stuff sounds! I certainly think it takes a while of just playing a lot to find a particular voice.
That probably started to happen for me in summer 1986, and I’m not sure when it peaked! I started playing flute in 1972. I think I was maybe happiest musically around the time of Rubai (2002), but all those middle Flook years felt comfortable and challenging at the same time, which is probably what we’re aiming for.
Niles: Have you done much session work? and for whom? Or do the sax doublers tend to get the flute calls. Is there really much call for the alto, or flute in general?
Sarah Allen: I’ve not done much session work. I think the world of session players is a different one to that of a live gigging musician. Over the years I’ve done sessions for Oysterband, Peggy Seeger, Mary Black, Phil Cunningham, Bombay Bicycle Club, Sally Barker and others; mostly folky, so the sax doublers wouldn’t be in the way for these!
There’s not too much call for alto flute, though my good friend Kate St. John, whom I first met in The Waterboys, does great arrangements for flute, alto flute and oboe, cor anglais, which she plays, often sitting on top of a string quartet, for example, so I’ve done a fair few sessions for her.
Niles: What about doing a “solo” album of material of originals and covers, broader and more varied than Flook in nature?
Sara Allen: No!
Niles: Music Biz DIY (Do It Yourself) – Flook has received attention for their DIY decisions to maintain their independence in the “biz” – self financing of their recordings, released on their own label, promotion, merchandise fulfillment, booking, bookkeeping and accounting etcetera.
Let’s talk about this, but from a somewhat different angle. There are always pros & cons, tradeoffs etc. with all decisions as to which path to take, either in the short or long term. Just as there are some people who should never be allowed to try to do their own auto repairs, there are musicians for whom DIY business could be a complete disaster!
Sarah Allen: Flook are proudly independent! It’s possible we may have got further if we’d handed over some aspects of our autonomy to others, but I would doubt that very much. At the very start our good friend Becky Morris (whose idea it was to start the band) organised our concerts, and there were 2 or 3 other booking agents who worked with us since, but none could possibly approach the task with the love and dedication to the cause that we could ourselves.
I think it’s fair to say that Flook lucked out in that I’m very organised, or at least used to be! I never learned how to do any of the biz stuff from seminars or classes, but from being immersed in it for many years it seemed like second nature and I was well positioned to communicate with venues etc.
Aside from the booking of travel and occasional hotels, a big job in itself that Ed does really well, then it’s me who handles every single aspect of the behind the scenes side of Flook, from booking the gigs, to every aspect required to release the albums, except the music itself, and everything in between.
I’m sure my flute playing has probably suffered through this. I also book gigs for other musicians. But, at least it means that everything is done and done efficiently and on time. Crucially, however, I try to have everything all in place in advance of a tour, and would never to be like to be seen as any sort of tour manager. I just want to be part of the gang when we’re out on the road!
Sarah’s Instruments
72 bass Allodi piano Accordion.
C Flute – Miyazawa BR Type 1RE .45 14K R
Alto Flute – Trevor James with a Mike Allen headjoint.
Bamboo flute – by Patrick Olwell
Whistles – Colin Goldie whistles
Main Flook Discography
The Happy End – Turn Things Upside Down (1990)
The Barely Works – The Big Beat (1990)
The Barely Works – Don’t Mind Walking (1991)
The Barely Works – Glow (1992)
The Barely Works – The Best Of The Barely Workds (1995)
BigJig – Feet To The Floor (1994)
BigJig – Bug (1995)
Flook – Flook! Live! (1997)
Flook – Flatfish (1999)
Flook – Rubai (2002)
Flook – Haven (2005)
Flook – Ancora (2019)
Sarah Allen on other recordings:
1992 – Sally Barker & The Rhythm, Beating the Drum, CD, Hypertension HYCD 200 124
1992 – Aly Bain & Friends, The Shetland Sessions Volume 2, CD
Lismor Recordings LCOM 7022 (UK,)
1993 – The Oyster Band, Holy Bandits, CD, Cooking Vinyl COOKCD058
1995 – Oysterband, The Shouting End of Life, CD, Cooking Vinyl COOKCD091
1996 – Sally Barker, Favourite Dish, CD, Hypertension HYCD 296 165
1996 – Show of Hands, Live at the Royal Albert Hall, CD, Hands On Music HMCD01
1998 – Sally Barker & Keith Richard Buck, Passion and the Countess, CD, Rideout RDEPR0
1998 – No Spring Chickens (Peggy Seeger) – Almost Commercially Viable
2003 – Sally Barker, Maid in England, CD, Old Dog PUP2
2004 – Susan McKeown – Sweet Liberty, (w/Flook 1 track)
2005 – Belinda O’Hooley, Music Is My Silence, CD, RabbleRouser RR001
2006 – Reg Meuross, Still, CD, Offspring OFFCD00111
2010 – The Waterboys – An Appointment with Mr. Yeats (Proper, UK)
2010 – Suntrap, Unravelling, CD, Fellside FECD234
2013 – Jack Omer, The Music of Joanna
2015 – Kinobe, Café del Mar, Vol. 21
2017 – Jim Lauderdale, London Southern
2018 – Emanuela Hunter, A Girl Like You
About Niles Hokkanen: Niles is a genre-bending mandolin/electric mandolin player (everything from Celtic, old-time, bluegrass, Cajun, Nordic folk into rockabilly/western swing/honky-tonk, blues and even power-trio rock) known for his numerous mandolin-instruction 
method books available through Elderly Instruments.
He published/edited The Mandocrucian’s Digest (a mando player’s mag) from 1986-1997, and has written for numerous music magazines including Acoustic Musician, Fiddler, Acoustic Guitar, Strings, Dirty Linen, Sing Out!, Frets and back in the ’70s, the rock tabloid Zoo World.
Niles has recorded with Cajun fiddler Michael Doucet, dulcimer virtuoso Jerry Rockwell, and bluegrass mandolinist Larry Rice (and his brothers).
His mandolin CD, On Fire & Ready!, ran the spectrum of folk and roots music with an all-star cast of players. In addition to the mandolin-family instruments, Niles incorporated both organ bass-pedals and foot percussion into his playing, and also began playing left-handed in order to refine his teaching methods for beginning students. In recent years, he has focused more on playing the flute.
Mandocrucian | Free Listening on SoundCloud
copyright 2020 Niles Hokkanen
NEW FLOOK BONUS VIDEO!
