Bringing 1930s Briggs's sounds alive in 2012.

In making our second album 'Leverage' as The Duplets we decided to make an album which relished the warmth and resonance of the harp and it's pairing with the voice. The auspicious opportunity to record on two rare Briggs harps, built in Glasgow in the early 1900s, seemed so fitting with the ethos of our second album and we are extremely grateful to the Friends of Highland Music for their support in helping to make it possible. Friends of Highland Music supported us both in lending us this beautiful instrument and in their financial support of the recording. We are also very grateful to Christine Martin for the loan of the second Briggs Dalriada. Briggs was vital to the regeneration of the small harp as he turned his skills from violin making to harp making due to demand from the Clarsach Society, so we feel very pleased to have paid a small tribute to him and his work by recording these instruments while it was still possible. These instruments are very beautiful and rare, but unfortunately harps do not age well and have a tendency to warp and break due to the great pressure imposed by all the strings. That these instruments still survive is testament to his skill and integrity.
The Briggs Dalriada harps can be heard on track 12 of the album 'Leverage' by The Duplets which can be purchased from www.musicscotland.com or visit theduplets.com for more information, photos of the harps, reviews of the album and to hear their music.

Leverage has been nominated as Roots Recording of the Year at the Scottish New Music Awards. It has received extensive air play throughout the BBC radio stations as well as local and internet stations and has been described in review as:
"skilled and imaginative, the harps merging seamlessly" Norman Chalmers
The Scotsman
"rich and enduring....a feast of exquisiteness....arguably the most moving, emotive music I've heard in years." Tim Carroll - Folk Words
"fiery passion that only tangled emotions seem to evoke" Neil King - Fatea
"both play the Scottish harp, and both sing, and on both counts they excel....convey a sense of nimble joy in their execution that's quite irresistible."
David Kidman - Folk and Roots