Friday, May 29, 2009

Mdube


Pete Seeger came to Joe's Pub last night to sit in on a few songs with the South African band, Sharon Katz and the Peace Train, as they tried to raise money for a school in South Africa.

Seeger's singing voice is mostly gone, but the audience backed him up by knowing most all the words and as Living Legends go, he was quick-witted, sweet and humble. Although he didn't sing Wimoweh, he introduced it by explaining how he came to hear it (through Alan Lomax) and redo it--"We had a minor hit with it" he understated with a wry chuckle. The introduction was pure Seeger--a rambling and fascinating tale of the intersection between music and injustice and the role race and privilege played in a simple one-word song about a lion.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I wouldn't say "Seeger's singing voice is mostly gone," but that the true voice, the voice that got everyone joining in, came from a composite of his hands, welcoming face, lithe mannerisms, sense of possibility, which have always stood out as his voice, his physical voice, as rich as it was, just one dimension.

Hopeful doesn't quite catch the feeling of the evening but seems as close as one can get.

6:13 PM  

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