A celebration of Seeger

Long Time Passing

Kronos Quartet & Friends

Celebrate Pete Seeger

Meklit Hadero (vocalist); Kronos Quartet

Smithsonian Folkways SFW 40240

is a suitably strongwith Canadian Inuk ‘throat singer’ Tanya Tagaq. Seeger’s tireless social activism, song collecting and songwriting spanned half a century that ended with his passing in 2014. These luminous reworkings of 15 songs he discovered or wrote, by San Francisco’s most adventurous string quartet, underline the fact that their relevance lives on well after his life ended. Perhaps most pertinent and prescient is ‘Garbage’, which could be heard as a warning about the looming catastrophe of marine pollution by plastic particulates. Kronos’s two violinists make convincing stand-ins for folk fiddles on the organised labour anthem ‘Which Side Are You On?’, and elsewhere they emulate Seeger’s clawhammer banjo style. Few won’t have heard ‘If I Had A Hammer?’, ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone?’ or ‘We Shall Overcome.’ Seeger was a peacenik and eco-warrior many years before his time. His championing of grassroots activism and the collective power of how many small voices can effect change, and fight the unwelcome changes that irresponsibly wield power and capital, remains very reassuring and inspiring. His work is still truly worth celebrating. ★★★★★