The Mammals have been on tour in the UK getting warmed up for their big show at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival tomorrow, Friday 18th January. The band’s female vocalist, Ruthy Ungar is, of course, the daughter of well-respected musician and composer Jay Ungar who’s tune, Ashokan Farewell, is known and played around the world and has become something of an anthem. In the run-up to their appearance in Glasgow, the band have just released this video of them (with friends) performing the popular instrumental. The five-piece, from the Hudson Valley area of New York, ended 2018 on a high when it was announced that the track Sunshiner, from their latest album of the same title, had been nominated as a Best Song of 2018 in the International Folk Music Awards.
Commenting on the video and the tune, Ruthy said:
“Today we are honoured to release a new video of my Dad’s tune Ashokan Farewell. This was filmed and recorded live at Clubhouse Studios in early December with The Mammals “nonet” or nine-piece ensemble: Ruth Ungar Merenda (fiddle), Mike Merenda (guitar), Charlie Rose (pedal steel), Will Bryant (accordion), Ken Maiuri (organ), Jacob Silver (upright bass), Brandon Morrison (electric bass), Konrad Meissner (snare), Lee Falco (drum)
“For those of you who don’t know the tune, it’s been around since 1982 when it fell into Jay’s fiddle in the tenuous moments between end of summer and beginning of fall. That post-Ashokan emotion is familiar to many who have attended the summer music camps, or to anyone who has had to re-enter the “real world” after a joyful summer experience of any sort. You know, basically Sunday Morning Coming Down and Manic Monday rolled into one.
“It is familiar to most from Ken Burns’ 1992 PBS Civil War series and is partly responsible for the Ashokan Centre’s 385 acres being preserved for generations to come.
“Hundreds of people have held my hand, looked into my eyes, and told me their story of Ashokan Farewell. It is played at weddings and funerals, at recitals and dances, by symphonies and street musicians, by young and old. This “Scottish lament by a Jewish guy from the Bronx” has somehow reached every continent, nearly every fiddle, and so many hearts.
“Mike and I love playing the tune best with Jay and Molly, but we’ve realised that when people request it – we should play it! Thank you to all who participated.
“We’re looking forward to sharing the tune with the audience at St Luke’s in Glasgow this Friday (18th) at Celtic Connections festival.”
Tickets for the Celtic Connections event which also features stable mate May Erlewine on the same bill, are available from the Celtic Connections website here: https://www.celticconnections.com/events/Pages/event.aspx?event=1/the-mammals-and-may-erlewine
Photo Credit: Vanessa Van Burek