Ashokan Farewell

I feel woefully inadequate to discuss Ashokan Farewell compared to many facebook friends who are so familiar with it, but I felt I must archive it simply because it is so beautiful. Composed in 1982, it was used by Ken Burns in his miniseries "The Civil War."

My long time friend Rod Edens quotes Jay Ungar, the composer, "I composed Ashokan Farewell in 1982 shortly after our Fiddle and Dance Camps had come to an end for the season. I was feeling a great sense of loss and longing for the music, the dancing, and the community of people that had developed at Ashokan that summer. Ashokan Farewell is written in the style of a Scottish lament."

Rod goes on to say, "Jay and Molly appeared in concert at the Carolina Theater, in I believe the late 90s. My impression was that Jay was an expressive fiddler, but the program did not allow Molly to show her talent." My fb friend Jude Nagurney Camwell said, "I have fond memories of hearing Jay and Molly playing this tune live in a small venue with wonderful acoustics in Oswego, NY. Beautiful." Fb friend Len Hart produced the video.