Tony Saletan

Anthony D. Saletan (born June 29, 1931), known professionally as Tony Saletan, is an American folk singer, children's instructional television pioneer, and music educator. Saletan is responsible for the modern rediscovery, in the mid-1950s, of two of the genre's best-known songs, "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" and "Kumbaya". In 1955, he was the first performer to appear on Boston's educational television station, WGBH. In 1969, Saletan was the first musical guest to appear on Sesame Street.

Born and raised in New York City, Saletan attended the Walden School. For a brief period during his childhood, his piano teacher was a young Leonard Bernstein.^[1][2][3] Saletan was involved as a teen in the Henry Wallace presidential campaign of 1948, in which original music in the folk style was important.^[1] After receiving his undergraduate and master's degrees in music education at Harvard University,^[1] Saletan settled in the Boston area, where for several years he appeared on educational television (WGBH),^[4] taught music in the Newton, Massachusetts public schools,^[1] and gave private guitar lessons. During this time he married and raised a son and a daughter. He also became involved in folk dancing and calling of contra dances.^[5] Saletan frequently taught at Pinewoods Dance Camp in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Later in life, Saletan moved with his second wife to Tacoma, Washington and raised another daughter.

Saletan spent the summer of 1953 at Buck’s Rock Work Camp leading the campers in regular folk song sessions.

In 1954, Tony Saletan was preparing to work as folksong leader at the Shaker Village Work Camp. He searched the Widener Library of Harvard University for material to teach the villagers that summer. Out of that research, he adapted the song "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" from the 1867 songbook Slave Songs of the United States to create the version that is well-known today. "I judged that the tune was very singable, added some harmony (a guitar accompaniment) and thought the one-word chorus would be an easy hit with the teens (it was). But a typical original verse consisted of one line repeated once, and I thought a rhyme would be more interesting to the teenagers at Shaker Village Work Camp, where I introduced it. So I adapted traditional African-American couplets in place of the original verses."^[6] Saletan's adaptation was included in the Village's 1954 songbook, Songs of Work.^[7]

During the summer of 1954, Saletan taught "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" to Pete Seeger, who later sang it with the Weavers,^[8][9][10] one of the most important singing groups leading the American folk music revival of the 1950s to mid-1960s.^[11] Saletan shared a 1958 copyright in his adaptation with the members of the Weavers.^[12] A single based on Saletan's version was released in 1960 by the American folk quintet the Highwaymen under the abbreviated title, "Michael",^[13] and reached number one on the U.S. and British hit parades in September 1961.^[14] Out of respect for the original, unknown authors of the song, Saletan kept his royalties from the Highwaymen's hit in escrow "seeking some good use for it."^[15]

Joe Hickerson, co-founder of the Folksmiths, credits Saletan for introducing him to the song "Kumbaya" in 1957 (Saletan had learned it from Lynn Rohrbough, co-proprietor with his wife Katherine of the camp songbook publisher Cooperative Recreation Service).^[16][17][18] The first LP recording of "Kumbaya" was released in 1958 by the Folksmiths.^[19] Folksinger Peggy Seeger was also taught several songs by Saletan, which she later recorded.^[20]

Saletan was the first person to appear on WGBH, Channel 2, when Boston's public educational television station made its on-air debut on May 2, 1955.^[21][22] He sang the theme song for Come and See, a program aimed at preschoolers.^[23] In those years, he also presented live children's concerts, organized by his manager, Manuel ("Manny") Greenhill (1916–1996).^[24][25] Following a 1959-1960 world tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department,^[26][1][27] Saletan released the album I'm a Stranger Here on Prestige Records (1962).^[28] On his return from abroad, he created Sing, Children, Sing for national distribution on educational television, based on an earlier WGBH project, Music Grade II.^[29] In the 1960s, Saletan also hosted several episodes of What's New, broadcast "field trips" to historic locations with associated songs.^[30]

In 1964, a year after their marriage, Saletan and Irene Kossoy (formerly and subsequently of the Kossoy Sisters) joined with Jackie Washington Landrón to form the Boston Folk Trio,^[31] which presented school concerts through the non-profit Young Audiences Arts for Learning. In the mid-1960s, the Saletans similarly performed school concerts in the New York City area along with Happy Traum. The couple also performed as Tony and Irene Saletan. In 1970, they released an album on Folk-Legacy Records, Tony and Irene Saletan: Folk Songs & Ballads.^[32] They also made a 7" vinyl recording of four songs for the Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company, titled The Ballad of Boston and Other New England Folk Tunes.^[33] Tony and Irene performed together at the Fox Hollow Folk Festival in 1971,^[34] as well as with Irene's sister, Ellen, and Ellen's then husband, Robin Christenson.^[35]

On December 16, 1969, Saletan made a guest appearance during the first season (episode 27) of Sesame Street, the iconic children's television program. In the first of four segments on which he appeared, Saletan led the show's children and adult regulars (including Big Bird and Oscar) in an adaptation of the traditional workers' alphabet song, "So Merry, So Merry Are We", as well as a traditional counting song, "Ten Little Angels".^[36] In the second, he sings and takes ideas from the children to invent new verses for "I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground", and then plays "Cripple Creek" on banjo as Gordon demonstrates the limberjack.^[37] In the third segment, he sings Woody Guthrie's "Pick it Up" and then "Mi Chacra" ("my farm"), teaching animal names in Spanish. Saletan concludes the show with Guthrie's "Gonna Take Everybody (All Work Together)".

In the early 1970s, Tony Saletan hosted three public television series for children, produced by Western Instructional Television (Hollywood, California): The Song Bag, Let's All Sing with Tony Saletan, and Singing Down the Road.^[4] Two record albums were issued from these shows^[38] mostly drawn from American folksongs, including those discovered and developed for teaching young Shaker Villagers.^[39] The first album to emerge from the WIT shows, Song Bag with Tony Saletan, likewise had an associated teacher's guide and songbook.^[40] Saletan also recorded Songs and Sounds of the Sea (National Geographic Society 1973),^[41] Revolutionary Tea (with the Yankee Tunesmiths, Old North Bridge Records 1975),^[42] and George & Ruth (songs of the Spanish Civil War, Educational Alternatives 2004).^[43]

• I'm a Stranger Here (Prestige International 13036, 1962)
• Folksongs & Ballads (with Irene Saletan) (Folk Legacy FSI-37, 1970; available from Smithsonian Folkways) Many cuts available on YouTube
• Songs and Sounds of the Sea (National Geographic Society 705, 1973)
• Song Bag with Tony Saletan (Western ITV Recordings WV-1103, 1974)
• Revolutionary Tea (Old North Bridge Recordings, 1975)
• Let's All Sing with Tony Saletan (Western ITV Recordings WV-1102, 1976) Episode available for viewing on YouTube
• George & Ruth: Songs & Letters of the Spanish Civil War (2004, CD Baby 2006)

• Shaker Village Work Group

• Amy, Ernest F. (1957). "Cooperative Recreation Service: A unique project". Midwest Folklore. 7 (4, Winter): 202–206. ISSN 0737-7037. JSTOR 4317679. OCLC 51288821.
• Eyerman, Ron; Barretta, Scott (1996). "From the 30s to the 60s: The folk music revival in the United States". Theory and Society. 25 (4): 501–543. doi:10.1007/BF00160675. ISSN 0304-2421. S2CID 142024250.
• Hays, Lee; Gilbert, Ronnie; Hellerman, Fred; Darling, Erik; De Cormier, Robert (arranger) (1960). The Weavers' Song Book. NY: Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-06-007231-5. OCLC 16690787. — Includes "Michael Row the Boat Ashore." "Paul Campbell" was a pseudonym adopted from 1950 to 1953 for Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman and Peter Seeger (source Archived 2012-03-24 at the Wayback Machine).
• Lawless, Ray M. (1960). Folksingers and Folksongs in America. NY: Duell, Sloan & Pearce. — Includes short biographies of Saletan (pp. 204–05) and other folksingers, including reference in Pete Seeger bio to 1948 Wallace campaign (p. 211).
• Saletan, Tony; McIntyre, Bruce (1974). The Song Bag: Teacher's Manual. Los Angeles, CA: Western Instructional Television. OCLC 13326352. — With an associated phonograph album (OCLC 12897503) or cassette tape (OCLC 26290685).
• Saletan, Tony (1976). Let's All Sing. Los Angeles, CA: Western Records. OCLC 7904988. — Phonograph album.
• Seeger, Pete (2010). Foreword. Singing Out: An Oral History of America's Folk Music Revivals. By Dunaway, David King; Beer, Molly. New York: Oxford University Press. p. x. ISBN 978-0-19-537834-4. OCLC 432444012.

– Pete Seeger attributes the rediscovery and modern adaptation of the song "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore" to Saletan. Seeger offered the same attribution (calling the song "Michael, Row The Boat Ashore") in his paperback songbook:

• Seeger, Pete (1961). Silber, Irwin; Raim, Ethel (eds.). American Favorite Ballads. New York: Oak Publications. p. 75. ISBN 9780825600289. OCLC 894933338.

• Shaker Village Work Camp (1954). Songs of Work. Pittsfield, MA: Shaker Village Work Camp. OCLC 82064467. — Book of musical scores, compiled by Tony Saletan. Includes the song Michael Row the Boat Ashore.
• Whitburn, Joel (1994). Top Pop Singles 1955–1993. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research Inc. p. 274. ISBN 978-0-89820-104-8. OCLC 31423892.
• Folksmiths. (1958). We've Got Some Singing To Do. New York: Folkways Records (F-2407). OCLC 14186458. — 33 rpm phonograph album. Track 12 is Kum Bah Yah. The liner notes Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine credit Tony Saletan for teaching the Folksmiths several songs. Re-released on audio CD as: We've Got Some Singing to Do: The Folksmiths Travelling Folk Workshop. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways (FW02407). OCLC 47801193.
• American Folklife Center (20 June 1968). "A brief list of material relating to 'Michael Row the Boat Ashore'". Archive of Folk Culture. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
• Saletan, Tony (2000). "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore (lyrics)". Robokopp database of choral music. Retrieved 30 August 2010. — A quote from Saletan on the origins of the song, including his work at the Shaker Village Work Camp. The text is from a personal email by Saletan to the author of the webpage, Richard Kopp.
• Stern, Gary (27 June 2009). "'Kumbaya, My Lord:' Why we sing it; why we hate it". The Journal News. White Plains, NY. OCLC 40979145. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
• Seeger, Peggy (2009). "Heading for Home (album notes)". Peggy Seeger website. Retrieved 30 August 2010. — Album was released 2003 on Appleseed Records. Notes refer to Tony Saletan and the Shaker Village Work Camp of 1954.
• Narrator: Tony Saletan (1966). "Shaker Village Work Group (episode)". Tony Saletan's What's New (1960s). National Educational Television. — Saletan explains the Work Group's activities and shows a music and dance performance by the teenagers (more information). This video is included on the DVD "The Shakers On Television."
• "Tony Saletan". WGBH Alumni website. 2000. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
• Weiss, Jeffrey (12 November 2006). "How did 'Kumbaya' become a mocking metaphor?". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 10 November 2019.

• WGBH Alumni
• Folksongs & Ballads