They met at a folk music festival in England in June 2006 at the time of the summer solstice. Claire Mann and Aaron Jones came from Scotland. Gudrun Walther and Juergen Treyz came from Germany. The two duos enjoyed playing together so much that they began performing together as 2Duos, touring Germany, America, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom and recording an album, Until the Cows Come Home. In June 2011, they decided to “give the child a proper name!” and settled on Litha, an Anglo-Saxon word for Midsummer, that magical time of lights, festivals, and music when they first discovered each other. Litha features Gudrun on fiddle, diatonic accordion, and vocals, Claire on flute, fiddle, whistle, and vocals, Juergen on guitars and vocals, and Aaron on guitar, bouzouki, and vocals. Their music covers traditional and contemporary German and Celtic folk, as well as their own original compositions. “The girls’ voices work beautifully in harmony and the musicianship is topnotch. The traditional tracks show the kinship between the nations and the self-penned stuff displays a continuity and sensitivity,” says Maverick Magazine. The band’s music “proves there are no barriers. And if there are, well you can just dance right on over them.”

Gudrun has won two Irish Music Awards with her band Cara, Best New Irish Artist in 2009 and Top Group in 2010. The German magazine Folker calls her “certainly the best fiddler on scene.” Claire has taught for many years at Newcastle University and at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. She is a four-time All-Ireland Champion on multiple instruments. “Her sheer musicality – the beautiful feel in her playing – is what really sets her apart,” says the Australian radio program, The Planet. Juergen has recorded more than 50 albums in Germany, as well as composing, arranging, and playing for many German radio programs, theatrical productions, and TV shows. He has won the German Critics Award several times. Aaron plays with Old Blind Dogs, winner of the Scots Trad Music Award for Band of the Year in 2004 and 2007. Aaron himself won the Scots Trad Music Award for Instrumentalist of the Year in 2005.

For an evening of sterling musicianship and lovely harmonies, not to mention a touch of Midsummer magic, catch Litha at the Freight.

Visit Litha's website