Peggy Seeger

The collector holds out the microphone. The archivists catalogue, store and supply the resulting recordings to the public. The anthologist, singer and teacher play the recordings and put the material back into circulation. Thus the microphone; "producer and consumer", is invaluable in this ongoing two-way ... (more)transmission of oral culture.

Peggy Seeger's knowledge and expertise of folklore began at home. She is singer and activist, Pete Seeger's half-sister; her mother, Ruth Crawford, was a composer and piano teacher; her father, Charles Seeger, was an ethnomusicologist and music administrator; her first life partner was the English songwriter Ewan MacColl, who wrote First Time Ever I Saw Your Face for her and with whom she recorded extensively, as collector and performer. She is known for her excellent renditions of Anglo-American folksongs and for her activist songwriting, especially in the fields of feminism and environmentalism. She spends a good portion of her year singing and lecturing throughout the United States, with one yearly tour of Great Britain and occasional tours of Australia.

The talk will be informal, laced with songs and personal anecdotes.

Bookings: (02) 6262 1271 or bookings@nla.gov.au