American folk royal to perform

INSPIRATIONAL: Peggy Seeger is donating the proceeds of her concert.

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Peggy Seeger, a key figure in the feminist movement and part of a towering family in the American folk music scene, plays a rare concert in Nelson this weekend, for a worthy cause. Alice Cowdrey reports.

It is almost three years since the Nelson Women's Centre was badly damaged by a fire and still the outpouring of sympathy and support which emerged from the ashes is playing out – this weekend in the form of a rare outing by a legendary figure in feminist and folk music.

As soon as Peggy Seeger strolled down the blackened hallway at the centre after the fire in April, 2007, she offered to play a gig to raise funds to help keep the centre open and maintain its support services for women during times of hardship. On Saturday night, her offer will be realised.

One of the staunchly feminist 75-year-old's major contributions to folk music is the development of a comprehensive body of women's songs, and on Saturday night she will perform about 10 of those songs about the "gender fix that we are in" and women's issues.

Of those, her 1971 composition I'm Gonna Be an Engineer is probably the best known. It was an anthem of the women's movement in America, Australia and Britain and although it's long and complicated, people still sing it, she says.

"Songs are a kind of weapon – they are on your side and not necessarily aggressive, but express an opinion, I suppose the way I see things," says Seeger, an American who now lives part of the year in the Marlborough Sounds.

Despite the feminist movement's decades of struggles, Seeger sees evidence of a patriarchal society everywhere, including in language, the news media, and music.

In North America, folk music was traditionally about men overpowering and abusing women, she says.

"They generally tend to treat women as property. I don't know any happy songs about marriage, and so I felt I had to redress the balance in a way, writing songs about the things the folk songs don't talk about at all.

"They don't talk about domestic violence, maybe one or two songs."

Seeger, has worked in women's houses and sanctuaries in Britain, where she lived for 35 years and has seen some shocking sights. "I have been in a women's house when a husband came for his wife with four of his mates and crowbars."

Seeger writes about other things too, like love, smoking, jobs, abortion, the environment and the tyranny of governance, but says they are all written "on a personal basis, not slogan songs". She plays six instruments, but this weekend will stick to four – the piano, guitar, five-string banjo and English concertina.

Seeger was born into a family which has had a major influence on folk music in America. Her mother, Ruth Crawford Seeger, was the first woman to be awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship Award for Music.

Her half-brother, Pete Seeger, now aged 90, is considered to be the father of the American folk revival. Seeger's late husband was the influential folk singer and socialist Ewan MacColl who, among various famous compositions, wrote the classic The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face about Seeger, a song which has been covered by screeds of musicians including Roberta Flack and Johnny Cash.

Seeger, who was 20 years younger than MacColl, was married to her "beloved" for 30 years, and says they were an "excellent match".

"He was an instinctive musician, lovely songwriter, very passionate politically, and we have three children together."

Much of the work they did together was influential, and included the writing of radio ballads for the BBC in the 1950s and 60s.

Since her husband's death, Seeger has found a partner in her long-time friend Pyper, whom she has known since 1964 and lives with for three months of the year in the Marlborough Sounds.

She says the people in her life have contributed equally to her passion and success.

"Each of them has brought something very, very special to me. My mum taught me theory, I played guitar with my brother Mike, and my brother Pete I learnt banjo from. Ewan taught me politics, passion and performance technique.

"Pyper has taught me humour and not to take myself too seriously. I call her my quality controller. She will tell me when I am going onstage if my dress is on the wrong side out."

• Peggy Seeger and local Celtic group Cairde are donating their talents for the concert in aid of the Nelson Women's Centre on Saturday February 27, performing at the Nelson School of Music from 7.30pm. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased from the Nelson School of Music.

- © Fairfax NZ News