So how did two Scottish and two German musicians end up playing music together? A session on the vibrant traditional music scene and a shared passion and love for traditional music was where it all started. Over several years as friends, and with that continued love and passion for the music, we have nurtured and developed a unique and exciting musical relationship. The result is the 2Duos...
Although we had crossed paths along the road over several years, we met properly in June 2006 at Wimborne Folk festival in Dorset, England. Gudrun and Juergen were playing with their band "Cara" and Claire and Aaron with theirs, "Secret Orders". All the musicians stayed in the same hotel, the bar of which became the scene for nightly sessions, sing-arounds and parties. Over three days, the tunes, songs and beer flowed and a connection between us grew. When we parted, we said goodbye to good friends.
In autumn 2006, Claire and Aaron embarked on a duo tour of Germany and spent three offdays at Gudrun and Juergen's house, enjoying good food and music until the wee small hours. We started off with our common ground, the Irish session repertoire, but soon realised a mutual love for traditional music from all over Europe. The nights would be laced with tunes and songs from Germany (mostly songs and tunes from Juergen's and Gudruns duo album "Deitsch - Königskinder"), Scotland, Asturias, Galicia, Brittany and Scandinavia. When we parted, we resolved to take the 2Duos on the road together...
In April 2008 we travelled around Germany for three weeks. We had such a glorious time together that we decided to form a permanent group and commit our music to CD. We went into the studio in the time between the gigs, and recorded some of the material that we were performing at the concerts. We wanted the tracks to reflect our onstage sound and capture the great joy we have in working together to reach the same goal. Tracks 5, 8, 9, 10 and 12 were a result of those sessions and were recorded live together on April 20th and 21st, 2008. We scheduled the second half of recording for November 2008 and began the process of "cyber-rehearsal", sending and receiving ideas on MP3 between our homes in Edinburgh, Scotland and Neuhausen, Germany.
We met between November 10th and 13th and brought our ideas together, arranging, rehearsing and recording - live where possible - the remaining tracks of the album. Throughout our material we have always tried to focus on the group sound and atmosphere of each tune and song, never on the virtuosity of a single performance. On a foundation of the traditions from Scotland, Ireland and Germany, The 2Duos has become one band and a common musical language has emerged between us.
May this fruitful collaboration continue for a long time - Until The Cows Come Home!
"This year our festival audience was treated to a spectacular headlining band ‘2Duos’ whose superb musicianship, wonderful tunes & songs and great stage presence made them one of the hits of the weekend. An inspired combination!" - Wimborne Folk Festival
Well done, das war ein großartiges Konzert! Aaron's & Jürgen's power on Bouzouki and Guitar is plain remarkable, Clare and Gudrun give an unknown force to all the jigs, reels and songs they sing.
Hat sehr viel Spaß gemacht mit Euch ! ! ! Ich freu mich schon auf das nächste Mal!
'an fett'n Gruass' aus einem bayrischen Teil des Folk-Rock-Roots Universums.
IRXN bedankt sich sakrisch für die Freundschaft in diesem Universum! Viel 'IRXN' (Kraft!) auf Eurem musikalischen Wolfspfad an die Gestade der Welt. Guter Sound hier - richtig feine Musik!!!
ich bin mal wieder vorbeigekommen, um euren schönen Liedern zu lauschen. Jedes mal aufs Neue bin ich begeistert davon und hoffe, euch bald mal auch mit dieser Gruppe im Konzert zu erleben.
Vielen Dank für die Freundschaft auf myspace. Ich bin von Eurer Musik begeistert. Alles Gute für Euch und weiterhin viel Erfolg. Viele Grüße aus Markneukirchen, Jörg http://www.joerg-wunderlich.de
Ihr Lieben, vielen Dank fürs Aufnehmen in euren Freundeskreis. Schöne Lieder spielt ihr, mit wunderschöner Geige. Aber auch der Gesang gefällt mir gut. Viel Spaß beim musizieren.
