One of the highlights of this month’s Shrewsbury Folk Festival is the UK premiere of a new show that sees Scottish folk trio Talisk team up with Irish dancers the Gardiner Brothers. An energetic dance and music mashup, Unleashed is a collaboration which has been more than 10 years in the making - as Talisk leader Mohsen Amini and Michael and Matthew Gardiner explained to What’s On...

At first glance, Irish dancing phenomenon the Gardiner Brothers (one billion social-media views and counting) and Scottish folk band Talisk seem unlikely bedfellows...

The former are international sensations, having won more than 40 Irish dancing titles - including five world titles - and performed as principal dancers with Riverdance; the latter are a relatively modest instrumental folk trio, albeit with a growing following (15 million streams and counting) and reputation that means they regularly sell out shows across the globe.

The acts have now joined forces for Unleashed, a unique standalone extravaganza that showcases the best of both their worlds. The collaboration, according to Michael Gardiner, came about in the wake of a mutual admiration and then a friendship that has developed over the past 12 years.

“We were definitely fans of Talisk long before we ever worked together,” he explains. “We first came across them on Spotify. We’re huge fans of traditional Irish and Celtic music, and what immediately stood out to us was how they were pushing the boundaries of what that could be. Very quickly they became our favourite ‘trad’ band, to listen to and dance to.

“Initially we connected through social media and then through various events and performances - over time that turned into a friendship.”

Mohsen (‘Mos’) Amini, Talisk’s co-founder and concertina player, who was named Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio Two Folk Awards in 2018, says the idea of a joint project was “in the works for a long time” but the stars refused to align, not least as their friends’ career skyrocketed.

“The Gardiner Brothers would ask to use our music for their videos, and then, as they got bigger, we started asking them to use our music,” he laughs.

Michael agrees that the burgeoning careers of both acts delayed the inevitable collaboration, but thinks it’s ultimately been for the better.

“Looking back, it almost feels like we were on a path towards creating something together, but both groups needed time to build what we were doing individually first. Once we had established our own identities, it felt like the right moment to bring everything together.”

Initial seeds were sown in 2024, when Talisk invited the brothers and other dancers to join them on stage at Glasgow’s legendary Barrowlands Ballroom as part of Celtic Connections, the city’s annual folk, roots and world music festival.

“It was the biggest gig we’ve ever put on,” says Mos, “so we thought we’d just go all out, throw the kitchen sink at it and get dancers involved. We asked if they fancied putting together a couple of dances and coming on stage for it, and it went unbelievably well.

“We were sitting down in the festival club having a couple of drinks afterwards and just looked at each other and were like ‘This is going to be something, isn’t it?’”

That something is Unleashed, a full-length, high-octane show that fuses the music of Talisk with the Gardiner Brothers’ bold take on traditional Irish dance. Completely bespoke, the production “draws on everything we’ve all been developing individually over the last 10 to 15 years”, according to Michael Gardiner.

“One of the biggest creative challenges was staying true to what people love about both acts,” he suggests. “Talisk have always written and performed their own original music, and maintaining that authenticity was incredibly important to them. On the other hand, a huge part of what the Gardiner Brothers have become known for is dancing to modern pop music and finding creative ways to bring that music to life through dance.

“The challenge was finding a way to honour both of those things without compromising either, and I think we’ve found the perfect recipe.”

Thinking of the dancers when writing music has been a new challenge for Mos and fellow Talisk members Benedict Morris (violin) and Charlie Galloway (guitar) - but a discipline he says they’ve embraced.

“It’s not like you have to think completely differently,” he says. “Just like music, dancing has ebbs and flows as well - it’s not full pelt all the time, so you can have fast [numbers] as well as slow ones.”
The Gardiner Brothers wax lyrical about the “incredible music” the band have created for the show, which takes the dancers’ favoured pop styling and gives it a Talisk makeover.

“There are moments where audiences will definitely recognise influences from modern pop songs and familiar melodies, but everything has been completely reimagined through Talisk’s lens. It still sounds unmistakably like Talisk.”

The collaborative nature of putting the show together is something Mos says has expanded his own ideas about the creative process: “When you do this, you think, ‘Okay, now there’s five points of view as opposed to three.’ Everybody is very much respected and at the top of their art form, so it’s not like you’re catering to someone who just wants to have their voice heard. You’re catering to minds that know something that you might not.”

And if everyone carries equal weight, then the same goes for the performance. The lively movements of the Gardiner Brothers might inescapably be the focal point, but rather than hiding behind the dancers, the musicians are on raised platforms to accentuate their roles in the action - after all, Talisk fans attending the shows want to see Talisk.

“From the very beginning, this wasn’t a case of Talisk creating the music and us simply adding dance afterwards,” agree the Gardiners, quick to acknowledge the natural on-stage chemistry between the five performers.

“Every aspect of the production has been developed together. The music, the choreography, the lighting, the staging, the pacing of the show, even the way we interact with one another on stage has all been part of a collaborative creative process.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to make those interactions stronger. Every rehearsal seems to bring a new idea, a better transition, or a more interesting way for the music and movement to connect. The show is still evolving, which is one of the things that makes it so exciting for us.”

One evolution unlikely to take place is the dancers and musicians swapping roles - Mos won’t be handing over his concertina to throw some shapes any time soon.

“They leave the music to us and we leave the dancing to them,” he smiles, before acknowledging an unlikely coincidence that has led to the protagonists all playing the same instrument on stage: “During rehearsals we found out that we all play the whistle but no one ever talks about it - everyone played it in their closet! So there’s one number where four of us will play the whistle, but that’s as near to a crossover as we get.”

It’s just the sort of thing that goes down well at a folk festival, and while Unleashed clearly has professional production values - the show is set to tour US arenas again next year - the headline set should also go down well with a Shrewsbury audience primed for a knees-up.

“As performers, there are certain events that become bucket-list moments,” says Michael, “and this definitely feels like one of them. We know the adrenaline is going to be through the roof when we walk and dance out on that stage.

“What excites us most is the audience. Folk festival audiences are incredibly passionate about live music and performance, and that’s exactly the kind of environment where a show like Unleashed thrives. The energy between the performers and the crowd becomes part of the experience.”

Shrewsbury Folk Festival takes place at the DMOS West Mid Showground from Friday 28 to Monday 31 August, with the UK premiere of Talisk x Gardiner Brothers: Unleashed taking place on the Severn Stage on Friday the 28th.

For further information and to purchase tickets, visit shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk

By Steve Adams