Philadelphia Inquirer
April 4, 1978
It Was Pete Seeger and the Rare Moment by Edgar Koshatka
(This is a review of a concert on April 2, 1978 at Philadelphia's Academy of Music)
.The term folksinger is applied to strummers and crooners of all types and stripes today, but it is perhaps more apt for Pete Seeger than for any other performer. Seeger appeared at a benefit at the Academy of Music on Sunday for Sing Out magazine.
A folksinger for more than three decades, Seeger offers what may be the world’s most extensive repertoire of protest songs, work songs, modem ballads and traditional material from Britain, Europe and Africa. His performances involve the audience as much as his own artistry, for he is the long-crowned master of the "sing-along" — and his concerts are models of audience participation.
Seeger is, perhaps, the most humanitarian and society-conscious performer of modern times, and he was a model for the protest singers of a later day, notably Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.
A Seeger concert is a spontaneous affair, for he takes requests, sings lullabies to crying babies in the audience and spins tales and never stops reminding his listeners that there is work to be done.
A highlight of Sunday’s proceedings was the supporting performance of Andres Jimenez, an overpowering Puerto Rican singer with a somewhat out of tune guitar. Jimenez deals with the poor conditions in his native country. Highly evocative and rhythmic, his rich cantabile and emotional Spanish lyrics are almost spellbinding at times.
The end of the concert, when Seeger, Jimenez and the audience joined together with handclaps and harmonies, proved to be the kind of rare moment, the warm, universal communication that symbolizes what Seeger and Sing Out magazine have been about for the past thirty years.