Wayfaring Artist

It's too bad that it isn't respectable to show one's enthusiasm for Pete Seeger; because he is a remarkably honest and original folk artist. He has done more than anyone to popularize (in the truest sense of a word that doesn't mean 'commercialize') folk music in this country, and his concerts are invariably exciting.

Last Sunday afternoon Seeger sang in Boston to an audience composed mainly of school children. Needless to say, he went through his familiar introductions; but although this might have been the ten thousandth time that he was explaining how "On Top of Old Smoky" was recorded in the Ozarks in the '30's, he still managed to instill in the youngsters his dedication to the idea that folk music is folk music.

"Make music your," he told the children; "discover what you like, what you feel happy singing, and sing it." He then offered a wide selection of children's songs, plus a few numbers that he has made his own. ("Wimoweh," naturally, and "The Bells of Rimini.")

A lady nabbed him during the intermission and explained that she had just begun guitar lessons and wanted to know how much practicing it would take until she could play "without looking." So Seeger offered his audience some advice on playing the guitar: "See how you strum; just keep the beat with your thumb, and it's as easy as walking. Of course it takes you two years to learn how to walk, too."

There are two good reasons for not enjoying Seeger's music, and both of them are pretty bad. Some people (who might simply be undergoing an antibody reaction to having heard the Weavers at Carnegie Hall several million times), feel that only Earl Scruggs and men like Pete Steele represent "authentic" folk music. Seeger's music is perhaps a little too much in the context of our times for them.

It is true that he has changed the Ozark flavor of "Old Smoky" and removed its twang. But it is not only the artist's prerogative to sing for the here and now; it is his job. If the simplicity and straightforwardness of style catches some off balance, perhaps they would be better off considering the intricate skill of his arrangements, which bring out the simple lines of the songs. One must not forget that men like Scruggs and Hopkins are also "interpreting," and not just repeating. Seeger, in "making music his" has helped make it meaningful.

The question of an artist's politics is always a difficult one, but in this case it must be considered because many shy away from an artist who has been assessed as a leftist. There seem, however, to be two types of leftists seeking recognition in our non-leftist society. The first seeks to comment on the society along inoffensive, or at least familiarly offensive lines (witness Mort Sahl, or more significantly, George Bernard Shaw). The other type, which includes men like Seeger and Charlie Chaplin, issue more fundamental challenges to our present values.

If this is offensive, we must bear in mind that it is both the price and the benefit of a democratic culture. It is the sting and the pleasure of a society in which art is allowed the function of social commentary. And as a performer, Mr. Seeger has an adroit way of putting an audience at ease about his politics. "I used to send my children to sleep by singing them lullabies," he said jokingly, "but when they reached the age of three, they discovered that lullabies were parents' propaganda."

Later on in the afternoon he waxed a bit more serious, but still made his point comfortably in introducing the theme of the International Battalion, Freiheit." "This is a song about men," he explained, "who fought against Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco a few years before it was fashionable to do so."

It is ridiculous to ignore Seeger's politics, because his art is an expression of his total outlook; but there is no harm in assessing his politics and enjoying his music. Even when he is performing before an audience of children, he speaks and sings with a lyricism that is difficult to outgrow.