It's been many years since I saw that wonderful documentary on the American Civil War. I remember at the time this simple mournful tune causing me to have shivers up my spine. Thanks to George Weir I've rediscovered it, and even found the words and harmonica tabs for it - so very haunting.
Ashokan Farewell was written in the style of a Scottish lament. I sometimes introduce it as, "a Scottish lament written by a Jewish guy from the Bronx." I lived in the Bronx until the age of sixteen.
Filmmaker Ken Burns heard the album in 1984 and was immediately taken by Ashokan Farewell. He soon asked to use it in his upcoming PBS series The Civil War. The original Fiddle Fever recording is heard at the opening of the film, and this and other versions are heard twenty five times for a surprising total of 59 minutes and 33 seconds of the eleven hour series. Molly and I, along with members of Fiddle Fever and pianist Jacqueline Schwab played much of the 19th century music heard throughout the soundtrack. Ashokan Farewell is the only contemporary tune that was used.
– Jay Ungar
I stole the following comments from Youtube. To my way of thinking it says it all - I keep going back to listen.
Moving... profoundly moving! No glittery silver skin-tight pants, no strobe lights and smoke. The utter starkness of the stage, the simple lighting scheme, and the demeanor of the musicians, all combine to make this performance incredibly touching. I can't stop watching it. Thanks DocandtheLady for sharing your talents.
Moving is the right word - I think that music really helped make that series one of my favourite documentaries. The scots influence is no accident. I saw a documentary some time back, (wish I could remember what it was called), that discussed American C & W music and stated its basic folk roots lay in Scottish music rather than Irish or any other folk source; hardly surprising since when so many highlanders were replaced by sheep in the 17th century on they mostly emmigrated to the Southern States, whereas the Irish went north. The famous Rebel Yell you see referred to in historical reports of the battles was said to be essentially the old Highland clan fighting yells. Wee Ali
ust have come across your rendition of Ashokan Farewell Hughie , well played !. It also sounds great on the flute !0This is one of my favourite slow airs and as you know was composed by the American fiddler Jay Unger and used as the music for Ken Burns' great documentary ' The American Civil War
. This is a wonderful documentary conisting of archival photgraphs and extracts from
the actual letters written by the soldiers who fought in this tragic civil war in which 3
million americans tried to kill each other and over 600 000 perished . I have the boxed
set and highly recommend it . This tune fits into the film .perfectly ..
There are several versions of the tune available on utube including one played by Jay and Aly Bain and friends , from The Transatlantic Sessions which is considered to be the best ever version . Another version which I like can be found at " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This is accompanied by photographs of Abe Lincoln which add to the effect of the music .
.A Steven Spielberg film about Lincoln starring Daniel Day Lewis is due to be issued this
year and I hope will be worth watching ..
