Lankum is a 4 piece band that formed in Dublin, Ireland in the early 2000s. The group was originally called Lynched, a reference to the founding brothers’ last name, Lynch. Ian and Daragh Lynch started playing acoustic-guitar driven folk punk together before eventually shifting musical interest towards the traditional Irish folk music scene around Dublin. They eventually met Radie Peat and Cormac MacDiarmada at music sessions and invited them to join the band shortly thereafter. They changed names on October 19, 2016 to Lankum, a reference to the ballad “False Lankum” by Irish Traveller John Reilly Jr.

The band plays a mix of traditional folk tunes from the Irish and other cultural traditions along with original compositions, which largely deal with contemporary Irish political and socioeconomic issues.

The 4 members of Lankum, all of whom sing, are:

Daragh Lynch – acoustic guitar

Ian Lynch – Uilleann pipes, concertina

Radie Peat – concertina, harmonium, Russian accordion

Cormac MacDiarmada – fiddle

In addition to traditional folk instrumentation, the group is marked by vocal harmonizations between the 4 members.