1/5/2024 0 Comments Pete seeger wimowehI'm going up on the mountaintop, plant me a patch of cane. (Song performance 1 of 5: "Oh! Liza, Poor Gal" by Pete Seeger): It's a mountain banjo tune called Oh! Liza, Poor Gal. I fell in love with it, especially the long-necked banjos.Īs a matter of fact, let me ask you to play one of the first tunes I learned back in those days. He took me down to a square dance festival down in North Carolina.įor the first time in my life, I found there was music in my country that you never heard on the radio, and you didn't hear on the juke boxes, and in theaters. PETE SEEGER: I was about 16 years old back in 1935, and my father was a professor of musicology. But I don't get into an argument about the definition.ĪLAN: How did you first actually get interested in folk music? If I'm in London, why I'll drink the beer there, and if I'm in New York I'll drink the beer there. You mean that warm, sour stuff? Bring me some beer. Now you put a glass of London beer in front of a New Yorker, and he'll spit it out. Now you put a glass of New York beer in front of a Londoner and he spits it out. It's like two people arguing abut the definition of beer. So gradually they said well let's call it folk music.īut as I say, no two people agree on the term. These songs and music didn't fit into any neat category of art music nor popular music nor jazz. But the funny thing was, there were literally thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who loved old time fiddling, ballads, banjo tunes, blues played on the guitar, spirituals and gospel hymns. ![]() In the United States, many people said you can't have folk music in the United States because you don't have any peasant class. So the peasantry had their music, and it was about a hundred years ago given the name "Folk music". The kings and queens had musicians in the castles, and that developed into symphony orchestras and what we call "Classical music" now.īut folks out in the country couldn't afford to pay for anybody else to make music. You see, way back in the old days, say in Europe of the Middle Ages, you had an aristocracy, and they could afford to pay for musicians. PETE SEEGER (GUEST): I think you have to accept the fact that hardly any two people, not even the experts, agree on a definition. Seeger, the obvious first question is, just how do you define folk music? Seeger's recordings, and we'll be talking with him about his life, his songs, and folk music in general. ![]() Now your host for Folk Music Worldwide, Alan Wasser.ĪLAN WASSER (HOST): We're privileged to have in our studios today the man who Alan Lomax calls "the best all-around folk performer," Mr. Showcasing the top performers and authorities in the field. A program devoted to the best in folk music throughout the world. MEL BERNAM (ANNOUNCER): Here is Radio New York Folk Music Worldwide.
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