The American Revolution

The American Revolution, a six-part television documentary mini-series directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, recently debuted on PBS. One of the documentary’s main themes is the international scope of the insurrection mounted by 13 of Great Britain’s North American colonies, which subsequently led to the establishment of the United States. Following this notion, soundtrack producer Johnny Gandelsman assembled 23 tracks reflecting the diverse patchwork of American culture at the time, including contemporaneous works and pieces composed expressly for the documentary. The selections range from a Native American lullaby and a Baroque English ayre to music from America’s enslaved population performed by luminaries including Jake Blount, Nora Brown, Stephanie Coleman, Hanneke Cassel, Jennifer Kreisberg, Mathias Kunzli, Dana Lyn, Kyle Sana, Brooklyn Rider, Rhiannon Giddens and Yo-Yo Ma. Among the standout cuts are ‘The Tales of Galtymore,’ a wrenchingly delicate lament by the harpist Maeve Gilchrist, and two songs by bassist and oud master Shanir Blumenkranz, ‘New Lands’ and ‘Over the Water to Charlie’, which weave together strands of Native American, North African and Scottish/Celtic music.