Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley are an international

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

duo playing

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

(Jennifer) and

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

(Hazel). They are twin sisters, born 16 August 1974, who grew up in

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. They started to play when given instruments on their 8th birthday and soon joined the Orkney Strathspey and Reel Society in

Kirkwall Kirkwall (, , or ; ) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland. First mentioned in the ''Orkneyinga saga'', it is today the location of the headquarters of the Orkney Islands Council and a transport hub wi ...

. In their early teens they were playing, often with their older sister Emma on accordion, at local concerts and ceilidhs around Orkney. There they were spotted by Orkney's only recording studio who launched them into ''Dancing Fingers'', their first album, recorded between the ages of 13 and 16 years (i.e. between 1987 and 1990) and released in 1991 when they were 16 years old. The success of this album moved them into the UK folk circuit, but this proved arduous (

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

in back-to-back gigs), and eventually they moved to Edinburgh after launching their second album, ''The Watch Stone'', in 1994. In Edinburgh they became part of the city's folk scene and fronted a six-piece band called

Seelyhoo Seelyhoo were a Scottish folk band based in Edinburgh, with band members originally from Orkney and the Isle of Lewis. Seelyhoo were fronted by songwriter, vocalist and tin whistle player Fiona Mackenzie. Their music has been described as bel ...

, which recorded two albums. Playing at

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings a ...

in 1995, they were spotted by a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

music scout who invited them to play at the

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

Folk Festival, which prompted the twins to organise a three-month "world tour" in 1997. At about that time Jennifer won the UK's premier accolade for new folk talent (

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Young Tradition Award The BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award is an annual competition for young folk musicians in the United Kingdom. It was first awarded in 1988 as the Young Tradition Award, taking its present name in 1998. Recent winners of the award include Maddie Mor ...

) which helped boost the tour and their international reputation. Working without a manager, they organised a second world tour in 1999 and issued a third album ''Huldreland'' (in the

Folk Roots ''fRoots'' (pronounced "eff-Roots", originally ''Folk Roots'') was a specialist music magazine published in the UK between 1979 and 2019. It specialised in folk and world music, and featured regular compilation downloadable albums, with occas ...

top ten of 1998). Four transatlantic trips in 1999 cemented their place on the international folk scene. In 2001 they issued an album ''Skyran''. In 2005 they returned to Orkney and acquired premises in

where they launched ''The Reel'', a music/social centre offering an instrument/music shop, lessons to aspiring musicians, and a coffee shop where sessions could often be heard. ''The Reel'' was shut down in November 2020 having been closed since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Discography

Jennifer & Hazel Wrigley

* ''Dancing Fingers'' (1991) – Attic Records ATCD026 * ''The Watch Stone'' (1994) – Attic Records ATCD038 * ''Huldreland'' (1997) –

Greentrax Records Greentrax Recordings are a Scottish record label that specialises in Scottish traditional music. History The label was founded in 1986 by former police inspector Ian Green, who played the bagpipes and was responsible for arranging folk music a ...

CDTRAX148 * ''Mither o' the Sea'' (1999) – Greentrax Records CDTRAX182 * ''Skyran'' (2001) – GeoSound Records GSCD01 * ''Idiom'' (2011) – GeoSound Records GSCD02

Collaborations and compilations

* The Wrigley Sisters with David Campbell – ''Orkney After Sunset: Tales and Tunes'' (2000) – Attic Records ATCD057 * Orkney Folk Festival – ''The Millennium Concert'' (2000) – Mariner Music MMCD0001 * ''The Orkney Sessions from The Reel'' (2005) – Attic Records ATCD070 * ''Orkney Folk: traditional music from the islands'' (2007) – Orkney Folk Festival 25th year – Orkney Folk Festival Records OFFCD025 * ''Gems from the Attic: Spanning 25 years of recordings from Attic Records'' (2007) – Attic Records ATCD072

Seelyhoo

* ''The First Caul'' (1995) – Greentrax Records CDTRAX102 * ''Leetera'' (1998) – Greentrax Records CDTRAX160

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wrigley, Jennifer and Hazel People from Orkney Scottish folk music groups Scottish twins Twin musical duos