Tony Saletan
| Tony Saletan | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Anthony D. Saletan |
| Born |
June 29, 1931 New York City, New York |
| Genres | Folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer, folk dance caller/leader |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, banjo |
| Years active | 1955–present |
| Labels | Folk-Legacy Records, Prestige Records |
| Associated acts | Pete Seeger, Peggy Seeger, Joe Hickerson, Kossoy Sisters |
Anthony D. "Tony" Saletan is an American folk singer and educator, who is responsible for the modern rediscovery of two of the genre's best-known songs, Michael Row the Boat Ashore and Kumbaya. Born and raised in New York City, he attended the Walden School and received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Harvard University. For a brief period during his childhood, Saletan's piano teacher was a young Leonard Bernstein. He was involved as a teen in the Henry Wallace presidential campaign of 1948, in which original music in the folk style was important. Saletan settled in the Boston area, where for several years he appeared on educational television (WGBH), taught music in the Newton, Massachusetts public schools and gave private guitar lessons. He also became involved in folk dancing and calling of contra dances. Saletan has often taught at Pinewoods Camp, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Later in life, Saletan moved to Tacoma, Washington.
In 1954, Tony Saletan had been working as folksong leader at the Shaker Village Work Camp, and was searching the Widener Library of Harvard University for material to teach the Villagers that summer. He adapted the song Michael Row the Boat Ashore from the 1867 songbook Slave Songs of the United States to create the version that's 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." He also spent the summer of 1953 at Buck's Rock Work Camp leading the campers in regular folk song sessions throughout the Summer.
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