The legendary fife player Otha Turner passed away on Friday at the age of (approximately) 94. Though you may think you have never heard of him, if you saw the movie Gangs of New York, you have heard his music. Otha’s cane fife playing is the haunting music playing while preparations are being made for the big fight scenes at the very beginning and again at the very end of the film. Otha was the last living connection to the roots of a type of music that is very nearly extinct. I’ve been a huge fan of this guy for many years. Check out this link to an obituary:
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/music/article/0,1426,MCA_505_1777436,00.html