Strumming of guitars and harmonic voices recreated the tunes of various Pete Seeger classics as Greencastle residents, DePauw University faculty and staff and children participated in Pete Seeger's Hootenany Tribute.
The Tribute, held Saturday afternoon in the Green Center of Performing Arts, invited the community to celebrate and remember the late folk artist and activist Pete Seeger. Seeger passed away on January 27, 2014 at the age of 94.
When English professor Ron Dye and alumn Michael Van Resselaer, '72, heard of the musician's death, they decided to work together to share Seeger's life with the community.
A "hootenany" is a sort of sing-a-long, and Dye believed naming the event a "hootenany" fit since the word embodies what Seeger was all about.
"Pete Seeger and Gutherie really introduced that word into mainstream culture," Dye said. "It's sort of a get together with music and food."
Van Resselaer led the crowd with the strums of his banjo and an encouraged sing-along of "Once more a-Lumbering Go."
English professors Emily Doak and Rick Hillis also contributed to the sing-along as they performed their favorite Seeger song, "Turn! Turn! Turn!"
In between the swaying voices of each tune, Van Resselaer asked members of the audience to share their first memories of Seeger's music and how the artist made an impact on their lives.
Both Dye and Van Resselaer first recall listening to Seeger's positive tunes growing up. Van Resselaer remembers immersing himself in Seeger's tunes as a college student at DePauw during a time when Americans were fighting for equality. Seeger's message of peace and unity had a major influence in Van Resselaer's life, and he applied that message to his lessons when he taught middle school.
"I taught math," said Van Resselaer, "but it was just an excuse to teach kindness and respect and those things Pete stood for."
Van Resselaer used singing in the classroom in order to bring students together in a way that made them feel important.
Seeger is best known for his activist work singing anti-war songs as a member of the band Almanac Singers. His radical lyrics promoting change in politics caused a stir with many people. His short involvement with the Communist Party USA landed him on the blacklist during the McCarthy period.
Seeger was also known for popularizing affirmative songs from other artists such as "We Shall Overcome" and "This Land is your Land."
Retired professor, Chris Wurster, '69, took part in the Hootenanny Tribute and noticed the diverse crowd of both parents and small children.
"For the people who remember this music or sang this music a long time ago, it's a way to kind of rekindle that spirit of what Pete Seeger stood for." Wurster said. "For young people, it's a way to learn more about it."
Wurster was excited when he performed the song "Guantanamera" in Spanish for the crowd. Both Seeger and Gutherie helped popularize "Guantanamera," a Cuban song, in the U.S with their own versions.
Friends challenged Wurster to learn the song in its original language while he was taking a Spanish class prior to leading a Winter Term trip to El Salvador.
While many of the audience members reminisced about their first experiences with Seeger's folk music, they also recalled other songs sung by other artists who worked with him. Van Resselaer described how the genre of folk allowed Seeger to add on verses to songs, making it relevant to the time.
"Those stories speak to conditions-social conditions, social injustice and sometimes it's just fun," Van Resselaer said.
At the very end of the Hootenanny Tribute, gravelly voices echoed through the room as children and adults sung "Wimoweh," a song aligned with the Disney movie "The Lion King."
Van Resselar sees Seeger's sing-alongs as a tool to pass down stories generation to generation. Through his success in popularizing various songs, Seeger opened the opportunity for his audience to identify with the message.
"It's not like it's your song or my song-it's our song," Van Resselar said.
