"Brother's Keeper" is a knockout of a film, for anyone interested in a
fiddler's soundtrack, American culture, documentaries, or all of the above.
 
I think Joel has it right--that this discussion ends up as a matter of of
temperament or taste, and so is either not arguable at all or endlessly
arguable.  Which doesn't mean it isn't a good thing to try.  Dan Mozell
described Burns' film as a contemporary commentary on history (apologies if
I'm quoting inexactly from memory), an important distinction since so much
of what KB included (not only AF and Shelby Foote and the other
commentators, but also the use of recognizable media voices reading the
letters and diaries, the way the camera gazes at the images) isn't purely
historical material, but an attempt to create a sympathetic connection
between the viewer and the history.  This seems fine to me, an effective
approach to popular history.    But "effective" is something I measure
personally--I found the film moving and interesting, the film got my kids
involved in Civil War history; "Ashokan Farewell" was one of the first tunes
two of them wanted to learn.
 
Maybe its saying the obvious, but behind a lot of the interestingly
controversial discussions on this list, there's the question of how fiddlers
see their relationship to tradition, and I'd be interested in hearing how
people on the list define this.  I know that for me, an interest in fiddling
is connected to my affection for the landscape and history of the place I
live (upstate NY), especially as I imagine it to have been in the 19th and
early 20th century.  To some extent that's based on historical knowledge of
the place and the period; to some extent it is sentimental or
nostalgic--that is, a vision of the place in which what seems valuable or
pleasing about that time isn't much affected by what I know I wouldn't like
if I somehow ended up there (life expectancy, race relations, all the things
that weren't at all good about the good old days).  But when I drive to
work, out of the development, then past the old crossroads towns, the inn
and the grange in Grooms Corners, the music that's in my head or on the car
stereo helps create a sense of immediacy about the past that makes me feel
like I'm living in more than just the present.
 
Jordan Smith
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Fiddle Players' Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Warren Armstrong
> Sent: Saturday, July 17, 1999 8:25 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list FIDDLE-L
> Subject: Jay Ungars tunes
>>
> New subject: We've only talked about the Civil War - but Jay and Molly
> have contributed tunes to other films.  Two come to mind - the one on
> Thomas Jefferson and the spooky "Brother's Keeper".  There are some
> fine, easy to learn, tunes from that film on the "Waltzing with you" CD.
>
>
 
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