Call of the Cossacks

Call of the Cossacks is part of the series of `travelogue´ features by Peter Graham, following in the footsteps of Cry of the Celts and Windows of the World. The Cossacks were a nomadic people whose ethnic makeup included Ukrainians, Tartars, Poles and Jews. A similarly wide range of Eastern European folk music features in this work, from Gypsy to Klezmer.

Movement 1, Procession of the Tartars is cast in the old-style band `patrol´ and adapts a Klezmer folk song Fun Tashlach. The second movement, Doyle's Lament, is an original melody featuring solo alto saxophone while the final movement, Cossack Wedding Dance, is deep in Fiddler on the Roof territory - a potpourri of Klezmer, Gypsy and Cossack styles. Each movement can be programmed separately.