Armagh musician Brian Finnegan's YAMA project draws on lifelong love of mountains, Japanese culture and family reflections

Award-winning Armagh musician Brian Finnegan says his ambitious new project YAMA has been decades in the making, drawing together a lifelong love of mountains, Japanese culture and deeply personal reflections on family, identity and loss.

The Flook frontman traces the roots of the work back to his childhood.

"Mountains and Japanese culture were present in my life long before I went to perform in Japan for the first time," he said. =

"My father Jim was a mountain or fell runner and a lover of Japanese culture and traditions, in particular Zen; it was obvious to me from an early age that the great mystery was up where the ravens flew on Slieve Binnian or Slieve Foy."

Finnegan said he grew up fascinated by the adventures of Japanese explorer Naomi Uemura and spent many of his younger years immersed in mountain culture.

"I grew up on the heroic tales of Japanese adventurer Naomi Uemura and his North Pole solo expedition and when I was old enough I started to partner my father on a fabulous annual mountain marathon in the Mournes called the Mourne Two Day. I loved the community that climbed, raced and explored the Mournes and Cooleys."

Those formative experiences continue to influence his music today.

"Being immersed in wilderness like that reflects the vast inner landscapes through which new music might visit."

His first visit to Japan in 2004 left an equally profound impression.

"When I first landed in Hokkaido, Japan in 2004, I was swept off my feet, I'd never visited a country so conducted by Mother Nature's raw beauty."

The many trips which followed helped deepen his understanding of the country and its culture.

"Subsequently the many times since that I've been fortunate enough to tour Japan, I acquired a deeper understanding of the people and their relationship to the mountains that cover as much as 70% of the country."

Although the idea for YAMA had been quietly developing for years, Finnegan said the final inspiration arrived during a visit to Kamikōchi in 2025.

"YAMA has been growing quietly all this time, then in 2025 I visited Japan on three occasions and during my last visit spent time in Kamikōchi."

"Kamikōchi (The Place Where the Gods Descended) is a sacred borderland in the Hida mountains bridging the human world and the divine realm of the Kami, powerful Shinto spirits. That visit to Kamikōchi was the spark to create YAMA."

The project also became an opportunity for international musical collaboration.

Finnegan's band Flook received a TG4 Gradam Ceoil award in 2025 and travelled to Osaka as part of Expo 2025.

"My band Flook were honoured with a TG4 Gradam Ceoil award in 2025 and along with the other winners we were invited to perform at the Expo in Osaka, Japan last September."

"The spirit of the performance was one of collaboration and we worked alongside some wonderful Japanese musicians, drummers and dancers." When composing YAMA, Finnegan knew he wanted to continue that spirit.

"When the material for YAMA began to arrive, I could hear a similar space for collaboration and in particular Shamisen, a traditional Japanese three-stringed instrument, and reached out to KiKi Tsugaru Shamisen from Tokyo."

He described performers Kanami Tadeka and Hikari Shiruji as musicians capable of crossing any stylistic boundary.

"Kanami Tadeka and Hikari Shiruji (KIKI) are two of Japan's most eminent players, think Led Zeppelin on a shamisen, and really great players from any tradition or genre have a musical intelligence that allows them to find the space and intuitively know what approach to take."

"Instrumental music also has a universal mother tongue, players connect at an emotional level rather than in the lyrical. It's been so exciting to have Kanami and Hikari on YAMA."

One of the album's most emotional moments arrived unexpectedly during a late-night drive home from Dungannon.

"Normally at the end of creating an album, I'll get a sense that there's some ingredient missing and that's usually a precursor that something more is coming. This time, not a whisper."

He had recently been reading Mahmoud Darwish's A State of Siege.

"I was reading A State Of Siege by Mahmoud Darwish and a passage within called If You Are Not Rain had really moved me. Then late one night, driving home from Dungannon this tune fell from the stars and I literally had to swerve off the road to sing it into my phone."

"I knew immediately we had to include it on YAMA but it wasn't until the following week when the tragic news came of Eithne's passing that I understood the true nature of the tune."

Reflecting on Eithne's influence, he said:

"I have spoken a lot about how Eithne's influence shaped both my life and my music."

Finnegan also shared a deeply personal reflection on the values and guidance he received during his formative years.

"We are all looking to survive, and as children, we learn which parts of us lead to connection and safety and which parts of us lead elsewhere."

"I knew I was safe in their company, always, and that their authority was based in knowledge, kindness and wisdom. That was all I needed to know that by their side was the place I wanted to be."

"They lived and taught according to their values and how could a child not want to emulate values so noble as theirs."

The project also speaks to a broader evolution in Finnegan's musical identity.

"You know, when tune writing took up home in me I was 18. I'd had the best grounding in the tradition that any youngster could ever have, but it was my life's work to go find the world and tell about it in my tunes."

Today, he sees himself as both rooted in and travelling beyond tradition.

"I'm not certain my Traditional Irish musical identity is so determined now, I'm a musical nomad, if a strong identity is built of the bricks and mortar of the tradition, mine is stitched from canvas, free to pitch in any soil I feel connected to."

The live premiere of YAMA will take place at this year's Macha Alive Festival in Armagh, which Finnegan describes as one of the most inspiring cultural events in Ireland.

"I cannot speak highly enough of Macha Alive Festival, this year in its third edition. A gathering of poets, artists, astronomers, writers and musicians unified in celebration of the Goddess Macha who gave her name to the town of Armagh."

He first attended in 2024 and immediately felt a connection with the festival.

"I had a little cameo during the first festival in 2024 and was instantly under the spell."

Looking ahead to November's performance, he said:

"I could think of no more magical a gathering or space than under the eaves of Aonach Mhacha on the evening of November 7th to premiere YAMA live with my band for the first time."

"Alongside Seán Óg Graham (Beoga) on guitar, Conor McCreanor (Foy Vance) on bass and Liam Bradley (Van Morrison) on drums we'll close the Festival and in keeping with the theme of the festival this year - 'Fire, and the shape of a dragon in water' - we'll do our best to channel that same fire."

Blending the landscapes of the Mournes and Japan, traditional Irish music and international collaboration, YAMA represents Finnegan's most personal exploration yet of place, memory and belonging.