Pennsylvania Faux Songs - AM163 | Musica

Johan de Meij:
When I was asked to compose a new work for the 190^th anniversary of the legendary Allentown Band, America’s oldest community band, I didn’t hesitate: it was a no-brainer. What an honor to write for a musical group founded in 1828. I gave conductor Ronald Demkee an enthusiastic: Yes! My first idea was composing an instrumental suite based on Pennsylvania folk songs. Demkee agreed, and I began researching the musical heritage of The Keystone State. But after three weeks of looking under every musical rock, I was coming up with nothing: I came to the disappointing conclusion that there were no adequately inspiring melodies to attribute solely to the state. After wringing my hands for quite a bit, I phoned Demkee with a preposterous proposal: “Pennsylvania should have its own folk songs. What if I made them up myself?” Spontaneous laughter erupted on the other side of the line. Yet Demkee gave me the green light. It resulted in a suite of five songs—all of which could have come from Pennsylvanian denizens long time ago:

On the Banks of the Susquehanna River
The Gettysburg March
The Girl from Allegheny
The Punxsutawney Groundhog Waltz
The Allentown Jig