SONGS OF OUR FATHERS

Andy Statman & David Grisman

Two of the America’s most creative mandolin players, David Grisman and Andy Statman, explore their shared heritage with this moving collection of traditional Jewish music, Songs of Our Fathers. Powerful and passionate, this instrumental masterpiece is guaranteed to take acoustic music lovers to places they have never been before. "These songs are very simple but they contain great depth," says Statman, also a world-class clarinetist and an orthodox Jew. "The more heart a player has, the deeper he can go. If you listen with heart, you'll get there too."

The music on Songs of Our Fathers ranges from liturgical melodies written hundreds of years ago to uplifting dance music played at weddings and religious celebrations. Much of the music is influenced by the Jewish instrumental folk music of Eastern Europe known as Klezmer. This music has its own flair, reflecting the extraordinary talents of the musicians who participated in the project — the legendary Hal Blaine on drums and percussion, the incomparable Edgar Meyer on arco bass, Zachariah Spellman on tuba and David Grisman Quintet members Enrique Coria (guitar) and Jim Kerwin (bass).

Songs of Our Fathers includes a beautiful, 36-page pdf booklet of writings and photographs that capture the time and the place of the music, providing historical documentation of Jewish life before World War II in Eastern Europe, where so much of this music comes from. The booklet also includes a brief history of Jewish music in general and details about each of the melodies.