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A series of programmes first broadcast on the 大象传媒 World Service. Cerys Matthews celebrates the career of Peggy Seeger.

In a programme first broadcast on the 大象传媒 World Service Cerys Matthews talks to one of the most influential figures in modern folk music, Peggy Seeger.

Whilst travelling around the world in her 20s, Peggy Seeger received a phone call from the folk song collector Alan Lomax, who was in London and needed a banjo player. She eventually settled in London, where she met Ewan MacColl, a future musical partner, collaborator, and husband.

They performed together, organised regular club nights, branched into political theatre and activism, and created the Radio Ballads for 大象传媒 Radio, an innovative project that used real voices to tell stories about the working class British.

Since then Peggy has made over 20 solo records and contributed to more than one hundred recordings with other performers. In her 80th year, these energetic endeavours continue apace. In 2015 she won a prestigious 大象传媒 Radio 2 Folk Award for Swim To The Star, an original song about the sinking of the Titanic. That same year, she helped mark the centenary of Ewan MacColl's birth, and between gigs and lectures, she has somehow found time to write her memoirs.

Amongst the incredible stories, we hear some of Peggy's own compositions, as well as recordings from Ewan MacColl and those of her brother Pete.

1 hour

Last on

Fri 29 Jul 2016 01:00

Music Played

  • You Don't Know How Lucky You Are

    Peggy Seeger

    • The F Spot Femmes Fatales.
    • Folkstock Records.
  • The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

    Unidentified

    • NFI.
    • NFI.
  • The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

    Peggy Seeger

    • Folk Heritage.
    • Folk Heritage 3.
  • The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

    Roberta Flack

    • The Best Of Roberta Flack.
    • Atlantic.
  • Raccoon and Possum

    Peggy Seeger

    • Animal Folk Songs For Children: Selected from Ruth Crawford Seeger's Animal Folk Songs For Children.
    • Smithsonian Folkways.
  • Kisses Sweeter Than Wine

    Pete Seeger

    • Kisses Sweeter Than Wine.
    • Collector's Edition.
  • Goodnight Irene

    Lead Belly

    • Complete Recorded Works, Vol 2.
    • Document.
  • Bring Me Home

    Peggy Seeger

    • Bring Me Home.
    • Appleseed Recordings.
  • Gonna Be An Engineer

    Peggy Seeger

    • Peggy Seeger: The Folkways Years 1955-92. Songs Of Love And Politics.
    • Smithsonian Folkways.
  • The Joy Of Living

    Ewan MacColl

    • Antiquities.
    • Recall.
  • Wrong Again

    Kirsty MacColl

    • All I Ever Wanted.
    • Salvo.
  • Swim To The Star

    Peggy Seeger

    • Everything Changes.
    • Red Grape.
  • Birds of a Feather

    Peggy Seeger

    • Love Will Linger On.
    • NFI.

Broadcast

  • Fri 29 Jul 2016 01:00