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| Pete Seeger |
The folk
music world is more interested in the heritage and building on the past then on
fashions or commercial motivations.
Folk songs
are often about social commentary of the conditions or situations people found
themselves in and in the human condition. Folk musicians write new songs in old
folk styles.
American
folk singer **Pete Seeger who died recently left a rich heritage of now classic
folk songs - such as Turn Turn Turn,
Where Have all the Flowers Gone. His
light delivery sometimes masked a clever commentary on the times. The song Little Boxes was his only chart hit
(written by Malina Reynolds) and the song commentated on our decline towards
cultural shallowness ' Little boxes all
made out of ticky, tacky and they all look just the same'
Seeger was
blacklisted in the McCarthy era and shunned by radio and tv. Like Woody Guthrie
and his song 'this land is our land',
Seeger sang about the rights of everyman. He was respected as a cult hero
in the folk worlds by musicians such as Dylan or Springsteen and by folk
musicians here in the UK.
'He was a folk commentator with a bitingly humanist touch.' Quote Times.
Seeger was 95 and had lived through 17 presidents.
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| Bob Dylan & Pete Seeger |
My journey.
I had my own journey into folk music in my early twenties when I dated a
guitarist folk singer from Ayr. He played folk
rhythms along with fiddles and banjos at Sandy Bells bar Edinburgh. It was a new world to me of live
gig playing, melodic fiddle, harmony singing and foot tapping and hand clapping
reels. It was wonderful.
Before this
I had mostly heard my music via vinyl Beatles LPs (also wonderful in a
different way) radio, theatre music with a small orchestra, singing in school
choirs, playing piano, my father singing Irish songs and some live gigs such as
Jethro Tull and Cream. My father used to
ask me to accompany him on piano while he sang.
I also
developed a love of the classic masters through playing piano. I had lessons
over several years from age 7 to 15 and I was very fortunate that my first
teacher taught me firstly the joy of playing and to use the correct touch on
the piano keys. I eventually studied and played Bach, Beethoven and Mozart
Sonatas. At first I thought Mozart’s piano music had too many notes! but after
some practice.... I realised he was rather a genius at expressing emotional
melodies.
My folk
boyfriend introduced me to traditional music such a Dick Gaughan, who I saw
live in Edinburgh,
and to his record collection that included other great guitarists - John Martyn,
Richard Thompson and more. We went to
folk festivals. I was taken in by the difference in the folk world to the other
music worlds.
Folk songs
care about the message and the story of the song and music is also considered a
shared experience.
Today there
are folk singers here (and elsewhere) who continue this tradition of singing
about the human condition – such as in Scotland Karine Polwart, Dick Gaughan, Rab Noakes,
I don't believe in socialism or hand outs - but I believe in equality.
And the folk
traditionalists are right, the 'equality' raises us all up! - not by dragging us
all down but by raising standards!
