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One is Mappamundi, which means "Map of the World" and which plays popular wedding music of Western and Eastern Europe, Jewish traditions (klezmer, yiddish, hebrew, israeli, sephardic, songs in Ladino) and American swing tunes for dancing and a little bit of Hispanic music as well. The other is the Pratie Heads, a duo specializing in music of the British Isles (Celtic, Irish, Scottish, English) and early America - but recently branching out into many other traditions as well!   |
Another good tune for preludes or possibly a Jewish wedding recessional – fun der khupa means “leaving the chuppah.” “Freylekh” is a kind of dance (the word in Yiddish means “happy”). I personally would prefer to do this tune with a band, but a lot of recessionista brides, budget conscious, are preferring soloists for their ceremonies. You could play this on any solo instrument: cello, violin, etc. Freylekh fun der khupaMy daughter’s hiring a solo cellist for her wedding ceremony and I wanted to give her some tunes to choose from. This klezmer tune is usually done with a full ensemble, here it’s just solo viola. You can hear a few more of us playing it (including accordion) at this previous post: Araber Tanz played by Mappamundi. Araber TanzWe’ve played for a lot of contradances and I think jigs and reels make wonderful happy recessionals as the bride and groom leave for the reception. Dubuque (contradance reel)Here’s a bridesmaids’ request: “Fentalarick,” an English country dance from the 18th century. Can you tell it was utterly freezing out there? This is live from our concert last week in Pittsboro. Pipe on the Hob, Out on the Ocean, Bank of TurfI first heard this tune when we (Mappamundi) were doing a show with Jay and Molly at the Hard Rock Cafe in Myrtle Beach, SC. Molly taught me how to do the Cajun two-step in the parking lot. This is one of the few tunes we managed to record at a recent wedding. The bride requested this English Country Dance (also known as a Playford Country Dance) as her processional – she’d heard it on the BBC miniseries “Sense and Sensibility,” or was it “Pride and Prejudice,” I can’t remember. In the 18th century when this melody was named, a “Maggot” just meant something fanciful or out of the ordinary. When people dance to these, they have to choose a waltz step or a pivot (or polka) step depending on whether the next bar is a 2/4 bar or a 3/4 bar. Trouble is, you don’t know in advance, which makes for hilarity. For dancing, we’d play this a lot slower. This dance form has been around since the middle ages. Here’s more information on zwiefachers… Alte KhateI can’t believe it took until now for a bride to request that we play this tune at her wedding. We should have been playing it since 1982, when Jay wrote it and it was featured in the Ken Burns Civil War series on public television. This is a rehearsal tape. Ashokan FarewellMaybe my enthusiasm for instant gratification is getting out of hand. Bob and I (the Pratie Heads) did a series of wine-tastings at Whole Foods featuring music of various countries. We had barely played this tune through the whole way twice before I switched on the zoom to record it! Here you have it, raw from rehearsal… it’s a great tune… Tra Veglia |
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I play fiddle, concertina, piano, viola, and sometimes viola with two bands in central North Carolina, near RDU and the Research Triangle (actually closer to Chapel Hill and Hillsborough than Durham, but anyway, central). You can see these two wedding ensembles at our site