Folk stories at Cromarty Stables as Pete Seeger retrospective celebrates 100 years since US music and activism legend's birth
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A RETROSPECTIVE of the life and music of American folk music legend Pete Seeger is set for Cromarty this weekend – with a four-stringed twist.
Presented by Jimmy Ross and Finlay Allison, Which Side Are You On: The Life and Times of Pete Seeger will offer a tribute to the influential musician and activist on Saturday night.
With the music performed entirely on ukuleles, Jimmy and Finlay will take The Stables through the history of Pete Seeger on this, the 100th year since his birth.
The show looks at his civil rights activism, his persecution during McCarthyism, and the important role he played in the growth of the folk and protest movement in Scotland.
And it was that influence in Scottish folk that first introduced Jimmy to his work. “Well, when I was a teenager in the 60s I got into listening to folk music and playing folk music,” he explained. “Because you didn’t have the internet obviously so access to the material wasn’t great so you found it these magazines called Sing Out!, an American publication, monthly folk song magazine – and Pete Seeger was the editor of it.
“And it had articles in it and lots of songs, which was like gold dust, you know? He had songs from all across the world – they weren’t just American songs, there was Scottish songs, Irish songs, there were Jewish songs, South African apartheid songs, that kind of thing.
“Throughout the years he’s been involved in campaigns and producing songs and bringing the new generations – he promoted Bob Dylan, although they had their sort of celebrated bust-up over electric folk music and Dylan’s going off into rock!
“But there was also all the people – Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen – that he influenced.”
Jimmy Ross and Finlay Allison bring Which Side Are You On: The Life and Times of Pete Seeger to The Stables, Cromarty on Saturday night. Doors open at 8pm and tickets cost £13 (£11 concession, £5 under-16s). Go to www.cromartyartstrust.org.uk
