EPISODE 5
Pete Seeger plays banjo, sings False from True and relates. Thus begins the fifth part of the podcast with the musical legend. Pete Seeger talks about being blacklisted in USA, about activism, about the dangers of popularity and winning prizes.
Suggested introduction for Radio Mars: (speaker)
You are listening to Weekend with Pete, a portrait of the American folksinger, musician, environmental and human rights activist Pete Seeger. In 1999, the Swiss journalist Jean-Claude Kuner travelled to Beacon in USA to interview Pete Seeger. It took a whole weekend. The almost 80 year-old Pete Seeger played, sang and talked for hours, took Jean-Claude to an environmental project and to one of his then rare concerts.
These tapes lay almost untouched for 25 years until I met Jean-Claude. I was hunting for something to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our own local folk og roots festival in Tønder in 2024. Pete Seeger played at Tønder Festival in 1990.
Since I have made podcasts for Tønder Festival and present concerts at the festival, I suggested to Jean-Claude that we collaborate on Weekend with Pete, five chapters giving a close-up of the legend Pete Seeger.
Pete Seeger died at the age of 94 in 2014, but here he is, alive and kicking in 1999, shortly before his 80th birthday.
Produced by Jean-Claude Kuner & Claus Vittus for Tønder Festival on the occasion of the festival's 50th anniversary.