Seeger, Pete

Pete Seeger's father, Charles Louis Seeger, was a professor at the University of California at Berkeley , composer, pacifist, and one of the founders of the left organization, The Composers Collective. He once managed to appreciate the radical potential that folk music can have. His mother, Constance de Kliver Edso, was a cellist. Parents taught at the Juilliard School . They divorced when Pete was seven years old, and later his father married his student and assistant Ruth Crawford Seager, who today is called "one of the most important modernist composers of the 20th century." Ruth largely shaped the musical tastes of the young Pete, as well as his brothers.

In his youth, Pete was an idealistic and energetic man. In 1939 he got a job in the archives of American musical folklore at the Library of Congress in Washington ^[3] . In 1940, he dropped out of school at Harvard and began performing on the radio as a performer of folk songs. At the same time, famous folklore researcher Alan Lomax introduced him to Woody Guthrie . As Lomax himself later said: “It is that evening that can be considered the beginning of the rebirth of American folk.” Woody Guthrie wrote on his guitar: " This machine kills the fascists " ^[4] . Pete Seeger, impressed by this inscription, wrote on his banjo : "This machine surrounds the hatred and makes it surrender." ^[five]

His first group, Almanac Singers, collapsed during World War II , when it became known that its participants were speaking at communist meetings. Returning to America after serving in the Pacific Fleet , Pete Seeger was faced with the collapse of two more of his projects — Songs of the People, Singing America, and Henry Wallace’s presidential campaign for the Progressive Party of the United States .

In the late 1940s and early 1950s , Pete Seeger successfully performed in the band The Weavers , many of whose songs became very popular, in particular, the song Goodnight, Irene in 1950 led the charts for 13 weeks.

The rise of the popularity of Pete Seeger in the mainstream was thwarted by the expanding McCarthy politics. The fact is that until 1949, Seager was in the Communist Party of the United States . Then he began to oppose Stalinism , but still adhered to leftist convictions. In 1952, The Weavers fell apart due to the McCarthy campaign .

In 1955, Pete Seeger was summoned to the Commission on the investigation of anti-American activities , but he refused to answer questions concerning his political views. As a result, in 1956 he was accused of contempt of the US Congress . While awaiting trial and probable imprisonment, Pete Seeger began to engage in human rights activities. He suggested to Martin Luther King to use the song “We Shall Overcome” and advised human rights activists to organize their own band “The Freedom Singers”. “The song accompanied all the liberation movements in history. The songs will once again confirm your faith in the future of humanity, ”wrote Pete Seeger. In 1961, he was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison. The conclusion lasted only 4 hours, and then Seeger was released on bail. In 1962, the appeals court reviewed the case and quashed the sentence.

Since the late 1950s and especially in the 1960s, Pete Seeger began to appear again on the stage, singing songs on a social, including anti-war, theme. From now on, he performs such famous songs as “ Where Have All the Flowers Gone? ", " If I Had a Hammer " “Turn! Turn! Turn! ” and the popular We Shall Overcome , which has become a real hymn to the black civil rights movement in the United States .

In 1961, he made his first appearance in the Soviet Union . The concert was held in the hall to them. Tchaikovsky . In 1964 - tour in the Crimea. In 1965 and in 1975, performs in the assembly hall of Moscow State University .

TV presenter Vladimir Pozner repeatedly in his memoirs Farewell to Illusions calls Pete Seeger his friend and tells how he brought the American log for his performance in the hall to them. Tchaikovsky ^[6] :

I remember his first visit to Moscow in 1961. He was to a concert in the Hall. Tchaikovsky, and among the songs that he was going to sing, there was one about a lumberjack. For her performance it was required that a huge log lay on the stage: Pete would go out, take an ax in his hands and cut the log in half while singing. Hall to them. Tchaikovsky took on his stage the most famous performers of the world and of course he had the richest props ... but the logs were not listed among him. Pete told me: “Listen, Vlad, I need a log. Representatives of the State Concern believe that I sbrendil, scene workers only shrug. ” I replied, “Pete, don't worry. You need a log — you will get it. ”

And I went in search of a log. It cannot be said that on the streets of Moscow the logs were littered in significant quantities. But in the end I found a beautiful specimen, albeit a big one. I called Brother Paul, and together we carried the log to my home. The day of the concert has come, and the Muscovites, who at that time turned out to be in the Zala district to them. Tchaikovsky, Gorky Street and Mayakovsky Square, witnessed a very strange sight: two young men walked past, dressed in tatters and carrying a log on their shoulders. Then the two entered through the service entrance to the Hall. Tchaikovsky, silently passing by the person on duty who was taken aback, went up the stairs, took the stage and laid down the log. The most interesting thing was that none of the unwitting viewers said a word, although they looked at us with amazement.

Seeger , in an interview with the New York Times in 1995 , entitled “Old Left Wing,” said:

I still consider myself a communist. Communism is not that in Russia, just like Christianity, it is not that in churches. If by some sort of history quirk such communism would have been in our country, they would have thrown me behind the bars ^[7] .

In the 2000s, Seager opposed the US participation in the war in Iraq .

In 2007, because of the song “The Big Joe Blues”, a scandal occurred - Seeger called Stalin “a tough figure”, and the media demanded to call him a tyrant and dictator. Pete Seager then said:

I, of course, apologize for calling Stalin a “tough doer” and not a cruel dictator. Of course, I'm not talking about a lot. I am not talking about slavery. I am not saying that white Americans should apologize for taking the land from the Indians and enslaving the Africans. Europe could apologize for the conquests she led throughout the world. Mongolia could have apologized for Genghis Khan . But I still think it is better to look forward. ^[eight]

In 2009 , when Shigeru was 90 years old, a jubilee concert in his honor took place in Madison Square Garden , New York. It was attended by such musicians as Bruce Springsteen , Joan Baez , Dave Matthews , Eddie Vedder and Emmylou Harris . “He looks like a grandfather in a flannel shirt and a strange hat. But this is such a grandfather who will kick your ass, ”Springsteen introduced his teacher. Seager's song " This Land Is Your Land " closed the gala concert. “When I shook hands with Obama ,” Pete recalled, “he said that he had listened to my notes since he was four years old. My records Baraku put his mother. Also, in 2009, Pete Seeger and Joan Baez went on a tour. A new meeting of Pete and Joan took place in the cozy fireplace room of the Beacon Sloop Club yacht club in the suburbs of New York . Seeger was telling stories from the life of a seasoned folk-rocker, pretending to be deaf, but then he took a banjo in his hands and forced the audience to learn new songs with him. Baez did not lag behind and remembered how she had managed to speak before Martin Luther King's speech. Before his eyes, she nervously sang the gospel standard "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and almost burned with shame. “King stood rooted to the spot,” Baez recalled with tears. “But then he said:“ It seems to me that I heard the angel singing. Sing another song, Joan "." However, Pete and Joan live not only in the past. “During my tour, I noticeably perked up,” says Baez. “Obama’s victory inspired me, and I kept saying,“ Yes, we did it! ”.” “Can you imagine, she told me that there is no need to protest anymore,” laughs Seeger. - No, my dear. Everything is just beginning with you! ” ^[9] .

In October 2011, Pete Seeger took part in the march to " Capture Wall Street ". Seeger was known as an active conservationist. So, in 2013, he asked Vladimir Putin to release the captain of the Greenpeace- owned Arctic Ocean Sunrise Peter Wilcox , who was arrested in Russia in connection with the penetration of the Prirazlomnaya oil platform . “I’m one of the thousands who believe that you have to let go of Captain Peter Willcox so that he can explain why they were trying to get on the oil platform,” said Seager in a letter ^[10] . Peter Wilcox has known Peter Seeger since childhood. The captain of the Arctic Sunrise told Greenpeace how Seeger learned from his father to steer the boat ^[11] . In 1966, Seager founded an environmental organization to protect the Hudson River . Three years later, the Clearwater was built, which plied the Hudson and on which Wilcox worked as a captain ^[12] .

Pete's wife, Toshi Seager, passed away on July 9, 2013. ^[13] The marriage between them was concluded in 1943 . Together, the couple raised three children.

On January 28, 2014, Pete Seeger died in a dream at the age of 94 at about 21:30 at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York , where he lived in recent years ^{[14] [15]} . According to grandson Seager Kitama Cahill-Jackson, the performer has been in the hospital for the last six days. Members of his family were nearby. “Ten days ago he was chopping wood,” recalls Cahill-Jackson ^[16] . One of the first people to report the death of Seeger was his friend and political ally, Tom Morello , leader of the Rage Against the Machine group.

Guardian correspondent Dorian Linsky in an obituary on the death of Pete Seeger notes that:

He remained an activist until the end of his life and supported many public campaigns. He extended a helping hand to a huge number of musicians from around the world. Even at an advanced age, he continued to sing songs, in particular, at Obama's inauguration and before members of the Occupy Wall Street movement. And let his voice in his old age be trembling, the whole history of the American Left from the times of Roosevelt's New Course sounded in it. Until the end of his days, he believed that retirement was a manifestation of degrading selfishness. ^[17]

Seeger has repeatedly won the Grammy Award. In particular, in 1993, the American Academy of Recordings awarded him an honorary award for his contribution to the development of music. In 1997, Seager received a Grammy for the album "Pete", in 2009 - for the record "At 89". In addition, in 2011, the recording of “Tomorrow's Children - Pete Seeger with the Rivertown Kids and Friends” was recognized by the Academy as the best music album for children ^[14] .

• V. Pisigin. Message by Pete Seeger. Essays on Anglo-American music 50-60-ies of the XX century. V. 2, ch. 5 - M., 2003.
• V. Pisigin. Meeting with Pete Seeger. Essays on Anglo-American music 50-60-ies of the XX century. V. 4, ch. 3 - M., 2005.

• Soviet discography of Pete Seeger
• Pete Seeger's Dangerous Songs
• How banjo stopped hate
• “If I have a hammer, if I have a song”: Pete Seeger. Interview
• The author of the anti-war anthem, the famous US folk singer and left-wing activist Pete Seeger died
• Pete Seeger dies: veteran music and protest
• And here it is not. Pete Seager dies
• Goodbye River Singer
• G. Osipov. The keeper of the storehouse
• Thanks, Pete Seeger! Tatyana and Sergey Nikitin
• He taught to overcome. Pete Seeger
• Pete Seeger and Peggy. Concert of the year 2011.