Pete Seeger: The Power of Song

so it's been a minute. i've written many a blog entry in my head but haven't had a moment to do the typing. if anybody was checking, i apologize for the absence and yes, i have missed you.

what i really want to write about here is a documentary i saw, Pete Seeger: The Power of Song. (review here.) I went to see it with two camp friends. (i've written about growing up at a communist jewish summer camp, right?) we sat in the back and sang along. i hadn't realized how many pete seeger songs i knew. when i list my musical influences, the folk music kind of gets slighted. because "goodnight irene" and "this little light of mine" are songs i sang, but never listened to on my own time. (though i did listen to some phil ochs in high school, and always join mitchell, though she delves into mutiple genres.) and let's be real, they're not the hippest of tunes. i mean, folk music has got a reputation for hokiness; an outdated, nostalgic, overly-earnest music of my parents' generation...

but i want to testify! i want to remember. there was a time when music was part of a movement, and everyone sang along. (perhaps this is the main difference between seeger's generation of folk/protest music and hip hop, my generation's take on populous music-- it's as much about people singing together.)

Pete Seeger, is a moralistic, hard-working figure. he quit the music group The Weavers when they wanted to sing in a tv commercial; he was black-listed off of tv for years; he and his wife built their own home in the woods; he was largely responsible for the cleaning up of the hudson river, he was largely responsible for popularizing "we shall overcome" during the civil rights movement; he still stands by the side of the road with his fingers in a peace sign and a banner urging the u.s. to get out of iraq; he still performs for kids in classrooms... this is not just about Pete Seeger, this is about musician as activist and community member. i feel a constant tension to let these things coexist in my own life. how inspiring to see folks who do this.

though Seeger is portrayed largely in the movie as almost inhumanly moralistic, it also points out (and i take great note of) the complications of having a white, male leader-- let's not turn him into an unerring hero. the film shows how his wife, Toshi, has had to make numerous sacrifices to raise their family and to support her husband's vision of their life. (and by the way, they have a huge, beautiful, multi-racial family, filled with new young musicians! this movie strangely makes me want to settle down in the hudson valley and start a family. yikes!) and to this end, i was also appreciative to see images of other important musical activists, especially Paul Robeson and Bernice Johnson-Reagon. (check out this amazing footage of Johnson-Reagon on Seeger's show.) Seeger is an amazing living figure, but he is also part of a tradition and a community that we musicians must study, honor, and learn from.