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Folk singer Pete Seeger, who lived in Beacon NY, passed away after a brief illness at the age of 94. Seeger was known for ground-breaking songs such as, If I Had a Hammer, Where Have All the Flowers Gone, and Turn, Turn, Turn. His songs were often used at anti-Vietnam War rallies, peaceful sit-ins, and demonstrations. Seeger influenced many other performers, including Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, Dave Matthews, Rufus Wainwright, John Mellencamp, and Arlo Guthrie. In 2009, Seeger’s 90th birthday celebration was at Madison Square Garden, the concert featured many performers, including Seeger family members. It was a fundraiser for his favourite cause… cleaning up New York‘s Hudson River. In 1996, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Seeger as an “early influence”. This year, he was a Grammy Awards nominee in the Best Spoken Word category, won by Stephen Colbert. Seeger dropped out of Harvard in 1938 to travel across America by bicycle. He was original, sincere, and always true to the cause of equality and human rights. He was even once a member of the Communist Party, something that saw him blacklisted during the McCarthy era.
28 January 2014
Yelena Grigoriev
Voice of Russia World Service
http://voiceofrussia.com/radio_broadcast/245230131/260935224/
Voices from Russia 
Pete Seeger: His Leftism and the Revival of Folk Music (Link to VOR podcast)
Tags: Activism, American folk music, Capitol Hill, death, Folk music, grief, If I Had a Hammer, memorial, Music, musicians, peaceful protests, performing arts, Pete Seeger, political activism, political commentary, Protest, protesters, protests, Turn Turn Turn, United States, USA
Pete Seeger in Moscow in 1965
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You can measure impact in many ways. Sometimes, it’s in language… do people adopt your idioms or phrases? Other times, it’s economic… do your ideas generate money for yourself or others? Still, for others there are subtler ways of feeling the presence of someone in our lives and in our culture. Pete Seeger passed at the age of 94 on Monday. He leaves behind a legacy of music, social activism, and a collection of songs cultivated from years in the field. He’s credited with helping to revive the genre of folk music and to popularise it. With hits ranging from If I Had a Hammer to Turn, Turn, Turn, he brought anthems that resonate still.
Click here to save this 5:51 podcast in English… to listen to the rest, click on the link below and click on the audio link on the page
29 January 2014
Andrew Hiller
Voice of Russia World Service
http://voiceofrussia.com/us/2014_01_29/Pete-Seeger-and-the-revival-of-folk-music-2993/