Remember War’s “The World is a Ghetto”? Lee Oskar’s harmonica deepened the haunted desperation of that 1972 track by the R&B-rock band War. Even when the multi-ethnic band behind other hits such as “Low Rider” and “Summer” remained active, Oskar set forth on a solo career. His latest solo album is an ambitious reflection on the Holocaust, Never Forget, a topic with which he has a direct connection. Born in Denmark, Oskar is the son of a Holocaust survivor.
Some of the music on this largely instrumental cycle recalls past work in the African American musical tradition with its hint of front porch blues. However, many of the compositions travel back to ancestral homelands and assume a more somber tone as Oskar solos ahead of a small orchestra of strings, woodwinds and brass. Loss, hope and reflection and permeate the melodies that suggest the lost world of Eastern European Jewry. Never Forget is handsomely packaged with original paintings by Oskar.
