Read more about the history of Ashokan Farewell in this Wikipedia article. The music accompanied the reading of a poignant letter by Major Sullivan Ballou and was even played on country radio and also accompanied the United States’ entry in Operation Desert Storm. Ken Burns, who produced The Civil War mini-series in 1990 heard the tune and utilized it twenty-five times in the series for a total of an hour’s worth of playing. The melody was meant to express the “sense of loss and longing” as the camp sessions finished their course and participants parted. Jay Ungar wrote it in 1982, playing the fiddle with his wife, Molly Mason, on piano, and using it to end each session of their family-run Ashokan Music and Dance camp in New York. Ashokan Farewell’s beauty can be expressed in clawhammer and picking, too.Īshokan Farewell is often thought to be old-time, but it’s fairly contemporary. I’m of the school of thought that allows banjos to play whatever music the player wishes to play. Several songs and tunes on banjo evoke a surprise from the listener who assumes the music was not intended for banjo, but actually sound nice.
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