Release Date: 2/14/2020 Catalog # 202002 UPC: 855925004493

Continuing history evolution, this album looks at the Templars. Where they travelled. The People and Places they saw. The Battles they fought. 

This album like prior releases uses a myriad of midi and real instruments throughout a network of musicians across several areas and cities.  The ideas are many and are intertwined influences of orchestrated jazz, classical, new age and rock.  As a combined group not one composer is greater than another, hence this is a group collaboration and credited as such under the name “LONGSHORE”.

1. Siege of Ascalon – in 1153 the capture of the Egyptian fortress by the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.

2. Acre and Saladin – a port city where several battles took place between 1189-1191.  It was a major setback for Saladin’s ambition to destroy the Crusader States, as Richard, the Lionheart was part of the Third Crusade who defeated Saladin.

3. Bedouin Ghosts – previous nomadic Arab desert dwellers who roam the lands.

4. The Hajj – a fundamental practice by Muslims, to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca at least one time in their lives.

5. Nicea to Antioch – marching through the Seljuk lands that controlled these cities, The First Crusade captured Nicea in June 1097 then in June 1098 captured Antioch.

6. Muslims and Christians – both religions have lived together and have died fighting each other in the same areas for centuries dating back before the First Crusade.

7. Judean Desert – it lies East of Jerusalem and descends to the Dead Sea. It’s also where the ancient fortress of Masada is and where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

8. Jerusalem – sits on a plateau between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. Has been settled since the 4th millennium BCE.

9. Jaffa – an ancient port, conquered by many, including Hebrews, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Christians, Ottomans and Muslims.   

10. Law of the Prophets - can be described by those who wrote Old Testament, New Testament and the Quran.

11. Safad in Galilee – was the home of Jews who practiced Kabbalah.  It is considered a strong tradition in mystical Judaism.

12. Dome of the Rock – one of the oldest works of Islamic architecture.  It is at the center of the Temple Mount and the site of the Temple of Solomon.