Ashokan Farewell – Fritto Misto

Hi Everyone,

Here’s another video from Fritto Misto, Ashokan Farewell. It’s one of my favorite melodies to play. I think you will agree that it is a beautiful tune.

A lot of people presume Ashokan Farewell is a Civil War song, because it was used as the theme song for the Civil War series on PBS. But what most people don’t realize is that a fiddler named Jay Ungar wrote the song in 1982, as he was leaving Ashokan in Upstate New York, where he held his summer music camps. It’s about 2-and-a-half hours North of New York City, out in the countryside. It was written by Jay in 1982 at the end of the summer music camp season, as he was heading back to his home.

I got to play it a few years back at Ashokan, with Jay. He played melody and I played harmony. It was definitely one of those bucket-list moments.

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Thanks,

Vi

Here’s what Jay Ungar has to say about Ashokan Farewell.