Our history
Shankill Road Defenders Flute Band, founded in 1957, are the oldest band in the Greater Shankill and the only band in the area that has survived from the period before the Troubles until the 21st century.
Musical teaching and performance
From its inception until the present day, SRD have aimed to bring the highest quality of musical teaching and performance to a deprived area in which educational under-achievement is endemic. Providing opportunities for local young and older people to play a broad repertoire of music, from traditional song tunes, jigs and hornpipes to hymns, military marches and popular music, in contexts both within and beyond their own community, remains central to the band’s ethos today.
Reaching new audiences
In recent years, the band has made a concerted effort to reach audiences beyond their own neighbourhood and cultural background. In addition to maintaining their core performance calendar of parades for the Loyal Orders, Royal British Legion and other bands, and undertaking musical excursions to Scotland, England, France and Belgium, they have collaborated with NGOs including Music Unites, Beyond Skin, Beat Carnival and Multi-Ethnic Sports & Culture NI and have performed with musicians from a diverse range of traditions, including Irish traditional players and performers from West Africa, Afghanistan, Eastern Europe, Colombia and Sri Lanka.
Today, SRD remain rooted in the heart of the Shankill and open to the world.