Have you ever heard of Peter Paul
Wz8khalain? Probably not. But over the last
several years, as I’ve become more familiar
with his life story, the journeys he took, and
the work he did during that complex span
of some 90 years, I’ve come to consider
him one of indigenous America’s most
fascinating early writers and publishers.
He also was a true Native son of New
York State, born in the Adirondacks on the
Raquette River around 1800.
New York State
Remembering Pete Seeger 1919-2014
It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of friend and longtime New York Folklore Society member Pete Seeger. Pete contributed in many ways to the conversations and discussions of the Society.
From the Editor
What a blow to hear of
Peter Seeger’s death on
January 27, 2014 at the
age of 94.
I thought the man
would live forever.
What a champion of so
many causes over the
decades of his life, and
a master of weaving music into this activism.
I’m so glad to have joined recent
celebrations of his life’s work.
NYFS News and Notes
NYFS hosts the Folk Arts Roundtable December 2-4, 2014, in Troy. NYFS presents two separate traveling exhibitions: “Farm and Field: The Rural Folk Arts of the Catskill Region” and “Stable Views: Voices and Stories from the Thoroughbred Racetrack.”
Good Spirits
Upstate and downstate, New Yorkers can
find bars with reputations for being haunted.
New York City has more haunted bars than
any other metropolis, but there are haunted
bars all over the state. Something about bars
invites ghost stories, especially when the bar
is in an old building. When people drink and
hear stories about the dead, strange things
may happen.
Reflections & Vision
NYF Presidents Gabrielle M. Hamilton (2010-14) and Tom van Buren (2015-17) share their thoughts about the organization’s infrastructure, its history and role in the state and the vision for the NYF.
Artist Spotlight
George A. Olsen, Jr., practices the art of wood turning to craft tools, including rolling pins, spatulas, and pepper mills.
A Transitional Interpretation
The curator for the exhibition, A Transitional Interpretation” at the Folklife Gallery, Crandall Public Library, 2015, presents stories behind five photos on exhibit of Lyle Lovett, Frank Zappa, Mal Waldron, Dave Van Ronk, and Lucius by their photographers (Lawrence White, Enid Farber, Joe Deuel, Bryan Lasky, and the curator Andrzej “Andre” Pilarczyk.)
Voices of New York
Sara Milonovich, a brilliant fiddler, singer, songwriter, and bandleader, released her CD Daisycutter in 2009. Described as “rural roots with an urban/world edge,” this album’s songs and music encompass folk, bluegrass, Celtic, zydeco, and American roots-rock music.
Songs to Keep
This essay describes the Traditional Arts of Upstate New York (TAUNY) project to share the documentation of traditional folk music of the North Country with recordings made between 1942 and 1967 by Marjorie Lansing Porter (1891–1973), with the production of a 40-page songbook, a 17-song CD, and a PBS documentary.
Good Read
A book review of Saratoga Springs: A Centennial History, edited by Field Horne.
Book Review
A book review of Legends and Lore of Sleepy Hollow and the Hudson
Valley by Jonathan Kruk.
The Danzaq of South Peru in New York
This article discusses, from the perspective of transnational cultural studies of performance-based symbolism, the practice of New York-based dancers, who learned the tradition in urban migrantcommunities in Lima and have practiced the dance there, as well as in the rural settings of their origin and now abroad in the US.
Good Spirits
Some Binghamton legends describe ghosts who struggle to reach their lost loved ones…. we think about connections between the past and the present, and bonds between the living and the dead. The column describes notes that Rod Serling’s ghost is said to haunt a carousel in his hometown of Binghamton.
Upstate
What was on the minds of Adirondackers in 1906? Through its weekly column “Neighborhood Notes,” The Warrensburgh News gave simple sketches of what mattered. The author wandered away from a genealogical search to discover the flavor of everyday life in upstate New York over a century before.