Music / folkemusik

The Smithsonian Folkways collection


Reviews (2)


All about jazz

d. 20. Apr. 2019

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Jakob Baekgaard

d. 20. Apr. 2019

"Seeger, one of the towering figures of American folk music, believed in songs as tools that could transform society bit by bit, but he also subscribed to the social aspect of songs. The songs he played were written by the people and for the people, folk music in the truest sense of the word ... The box set tells Pete Seeger's story in song across six discs and 137 tracks, 20 previously unreleased. It is accompanied by a richly-illustrated 200-page book with an essay by Robert Santelli, a well-written musical biography by Jeff Place and track-by-track notes. The only thing that is missing is the lyrics. For someone who valued the words of the music so much, it seems strange not to have the lyrics to the songs Seeger sang, but presumably they can be found on the internet".


No depression

d. 30. Apr. 2019

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Grant Britt

d. 30. Apr. 2019

"Its first disc introduces the uninitiated to Seeger's career, bouncing across all the songs one could conceivably call his "greatest hits." ... The second disc digs a little deeper into recordings he made for Folkways in the 1940s and '50s, meaning there is far more from The Almanac Singers and The Weavers ... The other four discs tour the kinds of songs at which Seeger was so proficient: environmental songs, peace songs, civil rights songs, labor songs, and songs from the rest of the world beyond the United States. Though Seeger is best known for his delivery of protest songs and the way that he casually boiled down the complexities of war, peace, and social equity to digestible, understandable tidbits ...".