ABSTRACT
The Scottish and Irish appear to have adopted the jews-harp more readily than the rest of England and wales, with the exception of Northumberland. Jews-harps or locations named after the instrument appear in many trials, the Proceedings of the Old Bailey alone with 42 cases between 1729 and 1850. Workshops have been regularly run at folk festivals and there is a growing interest in learning more about the instrument. Since the revival, jews-harp competitions have been held at various festivals from the early 1970s, the first c. 1971 at Kinross with Fife folk singer John Watt as the judge and Lindsay Porteous the winner. Mass media in Britain have pretty much ignored the jews-harp. Angus Lawrie was a regular artist on the radio in the 1950s and 1960s, while television appearances have occurred in Scotland on a few occasions. The music halls inspired several songs and monologues extant that mention jews-harps.
