The Fiddler's Coming to Northampton

My newest tune is out today, and it's a bit of a love letter to my neighbors. "The Fiddler's Coming to Northampton" is a freylekhs bulgar written in honor of Valley Light Opera's Fiddler on the Roof, which opens at the Academy of Music on November 5. You can hear it and buy it on Bandcamp.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/im2sMtyzvb8

Why this show

Valley Light Opera has been staging full productions in the Valley since 1975, mostly Gilbert and Sullivan, and this is the first time the company has taken on Fiddler. They've partnered with the Yiddish Book Center for the dances and the history of shtetl life, which is exactly the kind of care that makes a community production worth crossing the river for. When I heard about it, I couldn't resist writing something for the occasion.

Freylekhs and bulgar

The freylekhs is the joyful circle dance of klezmer, the music that kept the weddings of Eastern European Jewish towns spinning until dawn. The bulgar gives it that driving, off-kilter bounce, the uneven three-three-two feel that pulls everyone off their chairs and into the line. Put them together and you have the sound of a wedding that has no intention of ending early.

The song imagines that same fiddler stepping off the roof of Anatevka and landing on Main Street, bow first, bringing the whole town along for the dance. The fiddle leads the way, the rhythm never sits still, and by the last chorus you're meant to be clapping, stomping, or at least tapping a foot under the table.

The words

I'll admit the lyrics got away from me a little, in the best way. There's a milkman who's been milking the role since '04, a wedding scene that may outlast your last three birthdays combined, and a bridge warning you that if anyone other than the real Academy box office sells you a ticket, you might end up with a seat on the actual roof. It's windy up there, and there are no bathrooms. The chorus does the practical work:

Come on down to the Academy of Music, Northampton town!
November fifth and sixth at seven-thirty (evening gown optional, roof optional too)!
Seventh and eighth at two o'clock, bring a sandwich, the talk starts at one!

That talk is real, by the way. The two weekend matinees have a pre-show talk with the Yiddish Book Center at 1:00.

Go see it

Valley Light Opera's Fiddler on the Roof plays the Academy of Music in Northampton on November 5 and 6 at 7:30 pm and November 7 and 8 at 2:00 pm. Get tickets from the Academy of Music itself.

I wrote, played, recorded and mixed this one myself. Each purchase on Bandcamp supports an independent musician in western Massachusetts, and I hope it gets a few more people into those seats. L'chaim.