Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Ashokan Farewell


Civil War Finery is the topic above, photos courtesy of Pinterest.

Ashokan Farewell is so pretty on the violin, but I'm giving it a shot on the banjo. Not my finest playing as I have a difficult time playing S-l-o-w. Not the nature of the banjo usually, but I did my best and hope you'll enjoy.
It's a song of the Civil War composed in 1982, not during the Civil War, by Jay Ungar according to my research. Some genuine songs of the Civil War years are:

  • Battle Hymn of the Republic
  • When Johnnie Comes Marching Home
  • Dixie
  • Glory, Glory Hallelujah
  • The Girl I Left Behind Me
This song is often mistaken for a real song of the time with it's beautiful haunting melody. In fact, the first time I hear it, my daughter played it at a school song competition and the judge said it was played during the signing of the treaty at the end of the war as General R. E. Lee was leaving. Apparently, he Really got into the movie by Ken Burns. 

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8 comments:

  1. not many people can do the banjo - bravo! my dad used to play too. fun instrument!

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  2. Fascinating -- thanks for sharing your research!

    Yvonne

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  3. I play in my church handbell choir, and "Ashoken Farewell" is one of our favorite pieces to play.
    ~Visiting from AtoZ

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    1. Oh I bet that sounds beautiful! May have to mention it to my church's handbell folks:) thank you for dropping by!

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  4. That's a beautiful melody. Thanks for the quick history lesson.

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