Our country is misgoverned largely because of the media.
You can't blame it all on the politicians.
You can't blame it all on the politicians.
"...at the age of twenty-two, Alan was installed by his father as Acting Curator of Folk Songs for the Library of Congress. Alan Lomax is the person who I think should be given major credit for what has been called the "Folk Song Revival." My father participated with him because my father was a musicologist and urged trained musicians to learn about "the vernacular." If you lived in the city, the vernacular was jazz. If you lived in the country, it was country music. If you were an ethnic group, be it Spanish or Jewish, it was the music of your personal background, the musical equivalent of the language you spoke. My father urged Alan not to repeat the mistakes of the European folklorists who, a century ago, had collected these peasant songs and then arranged them for part choir and accompanied them on piano, and then told the young people of their country, "Don't change a note, this is our sacred heritage." Father said, whether it's a fiddle tune or a gospel song, learn it right off the record from the people who grew up with it. Don't just learn it from a piece of paper.
My mother wanted me to learn how to read music. She'd given fiddles to my two older brothers, but they'd rebelled. I came along and my father said, "Oh, let Peter enjoy himself." What she did was leave musical instruments all around the house."
Happy Birthday Pete Seeger
