No Song is Safe From Us

No Song Is Safe From Us - The NYFOS Blog
 |  Andrew Munn

The question, “what should music do?” seems to always be in the air. And artists, critics, theorists and music lovers constantly provide new answers. Music should comfort. Music should challenge the powerful. Music should be beautiful. Music should bring people together. Truisms. Often we wrap our answers around our ideas around what we see as most needed in the world. These days I am interested more in what music does.




 |  Andrew Munn

Folk songs written by West Virginians born in the 1920s. Progressive, utopian even, they are visions of an American future. George Crumb, pioneer of sound and music, has become a prolific setter of American folk songs in the last few decades. From the songs he has set and the industrial-mystical hollow and full soundscapes he creates around them, it seems that Appalachia, and his home state of West Virginia specifically are on his mind.




 |  Andrew Munn

One of the things I love about the Highlander Center, perched on a hill in eastern Tennessee overlooking the Smokey Mountains, is that it points to the history and continuing possibility of cultural appreciation and political alignment between rural and urban working class communities.




 |  Andrew Munn

So, how do we get from the austere and atonal grandeur of Ruth Crawford’s lament “Sacco and Vanzetti,” to the uplifting hymn tune and civil rights anthem of “We Shall Overcome.” First, shout-out to composer Nate May for making the connection. In 1932 Ruth Crawford married fellow composer, musicologist, and political lefty Charles Seeger Jr, father of then thirteen-year-old Pete Seeger.




 |  Andrew Munn

The process of making music with Steve Blier and NYFOS is always an exploration that demands equal parts intellectual and emotional integrity. I’ve been back in the studio with Steve this month as we gear up for the upcoming Protest concert at Merkin Hall, bridging the gap, or finding a union between, my activist and musical impulses. Inspired by that work, I’m going to take this week of posts to trace a line through progressive American song writing of the 20th century