The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #71513   Message #1226650
Posted By: CarolC
15-Jul-04 - 11:05 PM
Thread Name: BS: Arab victim of Palestinian terrorism
Subject: RE: BS: Arab victim of Palestinian terrorism
All kinds, Rabbi Sol. But they were mostly instrumentals I think, although I'm pretty sure I remember Madeline MacNeil singing some beautiful songs. I was playing the recorder along with about a dozen other musicians who were playing all kinds of instruments such as hammered dulcimers, lap dulcimers, fiddles, guitars, a cello, a lute, an upright bass, a flute, penny whistles, harmonicas... I'm sure I'm forgetting some. And we had some really good musicians there, including Sam Rizzetta and Ralph Gordon, both formerly of the group, Trapezoid, and Madeline, and others that most people have probably not ever heard of. This took place at O'Hurley's General Store, where I used to attend the weekly jam sessions. We held a special concert/jam session in honor of the people in town for the summit.

We used to play mostly British Isles and Appalachian folk music, with other kinds of traditional music mixed in and the odd unclassifiable piece here and there. The one that everyone, especially the Israeli diplomats liked the best though, was "Music For a Found Harmonium". I can't remember the name of the guy who wrote that piece. Anyway, we kept playing it over and over, and keep in mind that there were at least four or five hammered dulcimer players there, and every time we played it, we sped it up just a little bit.

The Israelis started stomping their feet and clapping in time to the music, and some of them were dancing in front of the huge walk-in fireplace (the building was an historic re-creation of a post and beam great-room from maybe the late 1700s to early 1800s, so it was a really beautiful setting). We kept playing faster and faster, and they clapped and stomped louder and louder, and the people danced faster and faster. It was really magical.