Pit Sieger died

On Monday, January 27, in New York, at the age of 94, an American musician, public figure, collector and popularizer of folklore Pete Sieger died.

It is reported by USA Today .

Pete Sieger was born in 1919 in New York in the family of Charles Siger-a musicologist and composer, Professor Berkeley, a teacher of the Julian school and the founder of the American musicological society. Sieger Jr. early chose his favorite musical instrument-Bango. Having studied for some time in Harvard, he decided to completely devote himself to music.

In 1939, Pete Ciger got a job at the archive of American musical folklore at the Congress library in Washington. In the 1940s, he began to act on the radio as a performer of folk songs, then his acquaintance with the legendary folk musician Woody Gatrine occurred.

In the late 1940s-early 1950s, Pete Sieger played in The Weavers , whose many songs gained great popularity, in particular, the song “Goodnight, Irene” in 1950 headed the charts for 13 weeks.

The rise in the popularity of The Weavers was interrupted during the time of McCartism - since 1953 the radio station excluded their songs from the rotation. The fact is that until 1949, Sieger was a member of the US Communist Party. Then he began to oppose Stalinism, but still adhered to left beliefs.

In 1955, Pete Siger was summoned to the commission to investigate anti -American activities, but he refused to answer questions regarding his political views. As a result, in 1956 he was accused of disrespect for the US Congress. In 1961, he was found guilty and sentenced to the year of prison. Siger was released on bail, but in 1962 the court of appeal revised the case and did not cancel the sentence.

Since the late 1950s, there are more and more songs on Social and Anti-Western topics in the repertoire of Siger. He composed such world -famous hits as “Turn! Turn! Turn! " , "What have all the flowers gone?" , “If I Had a Hammer” , popularized the folk song “We Shall Overcome” , which has become the anthem for the Civil Civil rights of blacks in the United States. Thanks to Pete Siger, the world recognized and fell in love with the Cuban song “Guantanamera” .

In addition, Pete Sieger recorded many records for children. On one of them, published in the United States in 1980, he sings his songs and reads Boris Zhitkov’s book “How I Caught Man” .

Pete Sieger came to the USSR more than once, his first performance in our country took place in 1961 in the concert hall. Tchaikovsky in Moscow.

In addition to music, Pete Sieger actively engaged in social activities: he opposed racial discrimination in America, against the Vietnam War, in the 2000s against the invasion of Iraq, participated in the environmental defenders campaigns, and sang to the OCCUPY WALL STREET participants in New York.