Sunflower simply try to make beautiful music. We aim to provide listening pleasure to as many people as possible, regardless their political, religious etc. preference.

ince October 1999, Ed ten Hoedt (Gothic harp) and Margôt Limburg (guitar) play together as Sunflower. The music they bring is a combination of traditional Celtic tunes, more recent, mainly Irish songs and original pieces. All their material is played instrumentally, i.e. without vocals.

The relaxing atmosphere that Sunflower radiates attracts a lot of people. Besides dinners, the launch of art-exhibitions and the likes, Eddie and Margôt regularly perform at different kinds of events. Sunflower released three cd's so far; 'New Life' (1999), 'Gentle' (2002) and Clear' (2006)

Prior to Sunflower, Eddie has been a bass- and guitarplayer in several line-ups, varying from rock- and bluesbands to Irish folkgroups. In 1993 he started playing with Harris Moore from Northern Lights as a guitarplayer. Around this time, purely by coincidence, Eddie was offered his first Gothic harp. As Symbiosis he performed for the first time as a harper, playimg with his friend Ben on guitar. The first cd, Initials, was released in 1996. They played all over Europe, mainly as streetmusicians, but soon they were asked to perform at various occasions. In January 1998, the cd Essence was released.

As Ed started working with his girlfriend Margôt, the present formula was born. The cd New Life was the official start of Sunflower. More original pieces and a better concept are the most noticeable characteristics. In the beginning of 2000 Sunflower played in Australia for two months. In more than one way, this was a fruitful period. When their son Max was born, Eddie temporarely performed with old time friend Alan McLachlan. Alan, is the only guestmusician who played on each cd so far. He also produced the cd Essence. Regularly, he sits in for Margôt. In 2002 we released Gentle. A logical sequence to 'New Life', featuring a few remarkable guestmusicians, amongst which Pien Tieman on concertharp and Agnes van der Neut on flute (who was due any moment during the recordings!).

In May 2005 our second son Koen (a Dutch name, pronounced 'Koon') was born. You can see more of him in our photogalery.

On our last cd, called Clear, that was released in May 2006, we have recorded no extra instruments, as some people requested since a long time. It was 'back to the basics' this time; just harp and acoustic guitar! On 3 out of the 17 melodies on this cd, Alan plays that guitar.
On the cd you'll find (amongst others) 'Granddaddy's humming', written for us by Gentle-fiddle player Berry Idema. Furthermore, there are eight original compositions from Ed and a Japanese piece called Furusato. Anne Idsinga has made the wonderful artwork for 'Clear'.

In the meantime, Eddie has started another duo with harpplayer Marieke Lesparre. Parenthood and musicianship are sometimes difficult to combine, which was the oroginal reason for this. Parsley released their first cd in 2008.