Learning the 5-string Appalachian-style went slowly at first, but later would become his trademark. In 1936, at age 16, he heard the five-string banjo for the first time at the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in Asheville, North Carolina. He played the tenor banjo from age of 13 to 16. Pete attended the Avon Old Farms Boarding School in Connecticut. He'd harmonize with his brother on Christmas carols, school and camp songs, and he learned the pop songs of the day.
From his book, The Incompleat Folk Singer, we learn that he got a ukelele at age eight and, with a friend, performed sea chanteys for the rest of his school. They were music teachers at the prestigious Julliard school in New York City. Pete was born in 1919 to Charles and Constance Seeger. Most of our readers already know the facts but let's recount. How did this come to be? What were the elements that forged this man with such a fierce, unyielding backbone? To feel their power as a collective mass. For the title of this article, we chose "All Together Now" because it epitomizes the core of Pete's ambition: To get people singing together. Whatever associations Pete chose, they were always directed at social justice, and later, environmental preservation. Those who lack the courage to demand that our leadership live up to these principles need to question their own patriotism. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He has held our government accountable to these words found in the Declaration of Independence: His actions have always been directed toward the fulfilment of this nation's promise. One of them might be: "The Essence of a True Patriot." Those who fear Pete would like to paint him as a Communist traitor, given his few years of Communist Party membership and his left-leaning populism.
There are a number of possible alternatives to the title chosen for this article. But before the night is over, he will teach them songs of defiance and protest. Partake in its own power by singing together.
His ability to bring these facts to light makes some people nervous.Īlong with the sound of his ringing banjo, he will invite the audience to Many episodes of our nation's mistreatment of Afro-Americans and Native Americans have been swept under the rug. Pete's knowledge of the historical role of music and its power is vast and he is generous in sprinkling enlightenment between the songs he sings. Whoever attends a Seeger concert will come away with a challenge to the blind acceptance of faith in both government and its whitewashed, selective version of history. Those who dislike being challenged on their notions about power and history fear him. They will always fear the honesty he represents. (Pete would place the government's fear in the past tense and only "some"īig business, he says). The United States government is afraid of him. Anyone who challenges great numbers of people to fight against the shallow mind control of pop culture is a dangerous man. Any man who will not be corralled by conventional thought and provokes others to think outside the box is dangerous to established power.
0 kommentar(er)
