Tony Saletan - Kumbaya

Topic: Kumbaya 1955-1961
Tony Saletan introduced “Kumbaya” to the nascent folk revival movement in the spring of 1957 when he sang it at the Swarthmore College Folk Festival. [1]

As mentioned in the post for 11 August 2019, the movement had begun to emerge in the 1930s and become more recognizable with benefit concerts in 1940 for refugees from the Spanish Civil War and drought in Oklahoma that brought together artists like Burl Ives, Josh White, and Woody Guthrie.

Anthony David Saletan was born to Russian immigrants in New York City in 1931. [2]  He grew up surrounded by the kind of people who contributed to those causes. [3]  Barbara Witemeyer remembers her father was friends with Saletan’s dad and that “as children we would go into New York City to have our teeth cared for.  Lenonard Bernstein (‘Lenny’) was a good friend as he also went to Dr. Saletan who often charged his artist patients very little for his work.  Lenny taught David’s son Tony to play jazz on the piano; and we three girls, a few years younger than Tony, always made him play for us.” [4]

Saletan was a freshman at Harvard in 1950 when the recording of  “Goodnight Irene” by the Weavers [5] became the most popular song in the country. [6]  By his junior year, he was the music director for Dunster House and arranging music for the dormitory. [7]  His senior yearbooks listed his interests as: “Vocal, Jazz, Classical” and “Folk Dancing.” [8]

The summer he graduated, 1953, Saletan worked as a counselor at Buck’s Rock Work Camp outside New Milford, Connecticut. [9]  It had been founded in 1942 by Ernst and Ilse Bulova, who had been trained by Maria Montresori in London.  After they arrived in this country, Bulova worked at the Walden School in New York [10] where both Tony and his sister became students. [11]

The next summer Saletan worked at the Shaker Village Work Camp, [12] where Margot Mayo was responsible for folk music. [13]  This may have fit his interests better than Buck’s Rock since she was a founding member of the American Square Dance Group, and taught in New York City. [14]

During this period, Harvey Matusow denounced Peter Seeger as a communist, and the Weavers lost their recording contract in 1953.  The group stopped touring in the spring, [15] and Seeger began performing in New England summer camps.  It’s not known when he first appeared at Buck’s Rock, [16] but he definitely appeared at Shaker Village when Saletan was there. [17]

Seeger became a role model for many aspiring folk singers, especially after he refused to cooperate with House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955.  Apart from politics, he pioneered supporting a professional career by performing for children. [18]

Saletan began working on a Masters in Education from Harvard after he graduated. [19]  In 1955, he appeared on a children’s show produced by the Tufts University Nursery Training School.  Come and See was the very first program broadcast by Boston’s public television station, WGBH. [20]  Saletan accompanied himself with a small guitar. [21]

From there, he became the music consultant for the Newton, Massachusetts, public schools. [22]  This was less a full-time job than it was an opportunity to perform in schools when invited.  For instance, he appeared for second graders in Plainville, Massachusetts, in 1958 [23]  Three years later he gave a concert in Newton. [24]

The programs and the television show not only gave him opportunities to perfect his performing techniques, but probably brought him into contact with Augustus D. Zanzig.  Zanzig retired from the Brookline, Massachusetts, schools in 1956, and began working for Lynn Rohrbough’s Cooperative Recreation Service. [25]  Saletan had to have learned “Kum Ba Yah” from him, either directly or through someone like Marion Roberts who was working with Zanzig in Boston on the songbook for the Girl Guides mentioned in the post for 27 November 2022.

Performers
Vocal Soloist: Tony Saletan
Instrumental Accompaniment: he probably used a guitar

Notes on Lyrics
I have no idea how Saletan sang “Kumbaya”; he may have added his own verses or instrumental flourishes.

This surmise is based on the changes he made to “Michael Row the Boat Ashore.”  In the winter before he worked at Shaker Village, he was looking through folksong collections in the Harvard library and found Slave Songs of the United States. [26]  Number 31 is the version of “Michael” collected by Charles Pickard Ware from boatmen working in the Port Royal Islands near Beaufort, South Carolina. [27]

Saletan recalls: “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.” [28]

The changes were slight.  “Michael” is one of the few songs in the original collection to have two part harmony on the second line.  The original had 16 verses.  Many dealt with dying in Biblical imagery which would not have interested adolescents.  Verses 10 through 12 became popular: “Brudder, lend a helpin’ hand,” “Sister, help to trim dat boat,” and “Jordan stream is wide and deep.”

Notes on Performance
Occasion: Swarthmore Folk Festival, Sunday, 14 April 1957

Location: Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles from Philadelphia and reachable by rail

The Swarthmore Folk Festival began in 1945 with a strong emphasis on folk ballads of Appalachia.  Richard Dyer-Bennett was the first guest artist.  Pete Seeger appeared in 1953.  The festival became so popular by 1955, that the administration cancelled the festival because it attracted too many outsiders.  Students claimed the president was offended by the fact many wore jeans. [29]

The administration allowed the festival to resume in 1957 on two conditions: fewer artists and no outside visitors. [30]  John Jacob Niles [31] appeared all three days, with Mike and Peggy Seeger joining him on Saturday and Sunday. [32]  The Sunday concert added Tom Paley [33] and Saletan. [34]

Notes on Performers
In 1958, Saletan worked on a record of Japanese folk songs for Rohrbough. [35]  It supported a collection by Albert Ichiro Suzuki that was edited by Zanzig. [36]  Suzuki earned a masters from Boston University in 1952, [37] and the other singers were BU students. [38]  Zanzig played piano.  Saletan spent the next year on an Asian tour sponsored by the International Recreation Association, and later worked on other CRS records. [39]

Throughout the florescence of the commercial folk-music revival, Saletan remained an active performer.  He also continued to work on projects for second graders.  At the time, the performances were probably the most satisfying.  In retrospect, his work with elementary school music had the more lasting impact.  Kathryn Bornhauser recalled:

“You taught me that I can make up new verses and new songs myself, and that my made-up songs count as REAL songs, too!  I passed that awareness on to my children.  We loved our time with you.  One son took up guitar and still plays for personal enjoyment.  You, your voice and your songs are still in our hearts and on our lips.  Thank you, for your gift to the world.  You did and are making a huge difference.” [40]

Saletan now lives in University Place, Washington, and still performs.

End Notes
1.  Joseph C. Hickerson.  Letter, 8 November 1977.

2.  “Rose Saletan in the 1940 Census.”  Ancestry website; his mother.

“David Saletan.”  Geni website; last updated 2 November 2014.  His father.

“Saul Saletan.”  Geni website; last updated 2 November 2014.  His grandfather, who was born in what is now Latvia.

3.  In 2004, Saletan provided the music for George and Ruth, a play about the Spanish Civil War based on letters written by the parents of one of the authors, Dan Lynn Watt. [41]  A blurb for the book version began: “Recently, Tony Saletan learned that his father, David Saletan, who had a dental practice in New York, provided pro bono dental work for ...” [42]

4.  Barbara Witemeyer.  “Dentist to the Stars.”  Leonard Bernstein website, page 5 of “Memories.

5.  Gordon Jenkins And His Orchestra And The Weavers.  “Goodnight Irene.”  Decca 27077.  Released 1950.  [Discogs entry.]

6.  “Goodnight, Irene.”  Wikipedia website; accessed 19 March 2023.

7.  Milton S. Gwirtzman.  “Dunster Dunces---Charms to Soothe the Savage.”  The Crimson, Harvard University, 9 May 1952.

8.  Red Book, Harvard University yearbook, 1953.  79.
9.  “Tony Saletan.”  Wikipedia website; accessed 17 March 2023.

10.  Douglas Martin.  “Ernst Bulova, 98, Founder Of Camp With a Free Spirit.”  The New York Times, 28 January 2001.

11.  Wikipedia, Saletan.

“Rhoda (Saletan) Goldberger.”  2022 obituary on North Jersey website.

12.  Wikipedia, Saletan.

13.  “Shaker Village Work Camp Is Novel Camping Experience.”  The Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 13 August 1947.

14.  “Margot Mayo.”  Wikipedia website; accessed 19 March 2023.
15.  Pete Seeger and The Weavers are discussed in the post for 6 October 2019.

16.  In 1957, campers attended a Weaver’s concert at the Berkshire Music Barn. [43]

17.  Saletan recalled he taught “Michael Row the Boat Shore” to Pete Seeger during the summer of 1954. [44]

18.  The influence of Ruth Crawford Seeger’s American Folk Songs for Children is discussed in the post for 18 August 2019.  She was Pete’s stepmother.  The book was published in 1948 by Doubleday.

19.  “Dirty Old Boston.”  Facebook website, 2 May 2021.
20.  “WGBH-TV.”  Wikipedia website; accessed 18 March 2023.

21.  The photograph for the “Dirty Old Boston” entry shows Saletan and his co-host, Mary Lou Adams.  He is sitting behind her with his guitar.  Later photographs show him with a banjo.

22.  Telecourse Catalog 1967.  Bloomington, Indiana: National Center for School and College Television, 1967.

23.  Harriet F. Washburn.  “Music.”  Forty-fourth Annual Report of the Town Officers of Plainville, Mass Year Ending 31 Dec 1958.  131.

24.  Item.  The Newton Graphic, Newton, Massachusetts, 9 November 1961.

25.  L. R.  “Dedication.”  65 Friendly Songs.  Delaware, Ohio: CRS, Inc, 1963.  Edition for Ohio Music Education Convention, 12 January 1963.  L. R. is Lynn Rohrbough.  For more on Zanzig, see the column at the right of the screen.

26.  Wikipedia, Saletan.

27.  “Michael Row the Boat Ashore.”  31 in The Slave Songs of the United States.  Edited by William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison.  New York: A. Simpson and Company, 1867.

28.  Wikipedia, Saletan.  It gives no source; by now Saletan probably has told the story so often he has an internal script he uses.

29.  Will Treece.  “The Swarthmore Folk Festival.”  The Phoenix, Swarthmore College, 31 March 2011.

30.  Treece.
31.  Niles is mentioned in note 24 of the post for 28 April 2019.
32.  Mike and Peggy are children of Pete’s father by his second wife, Ruth Crawford.

33.  Paley was interested in the string-band music recorded in the 1920s and 1930s by Southern white artists.  He, Mike Seeger, and John Cohen formed the New Lost City Ramblers in 1958 to perform that music. [45]

34.  “Swarthmore College Folk Festival 1957 Setlists.”  Setlist website.

35.  A Sampler of Japanese Folk Songs.  Delaware, Ohio: Cooperative Recreation Service, 1959.  10" LP.

36.  Albert Ichiro Suzuki.  A Sampler of Japanese Songs for Group Singing, edited by Augustus D. Zanzig.  Delaware, Ohio: Informal Music Service, 1958.

37.  Boston University website.

38.  Taeko and Masako Fijii were Fulbright Scholars at BU;  San'ichi Kesen was a graduate student in psychology. [46]

39.  Larry Nial Holcomb.  A History of the Cooperative Recreation Service.  PhD dissertation.  University of Michigan, 1972.  145-146.

40.  Kathryn Bornhauser.  “38 thoughts on ‘Tony Saletan’.”  WGBH Alumni website.  Comment added 20 January 2019.

41.  Molly Lynn Watt and Dan Lynn Watt.  George and Ruth: Songs and Letters of the Spanish Civil War.  Cambridge, Massachusetts: Educational Alternatives, 2004.  CD.

42.  “George & Ruth-Songs & Letters of the Spanish Civil.”  Deep Discount website, 27 April 2004.  The website no longer is available.

43.  Buck’s Rock Work Camp Yearbook.  New Milford, Connecticut: Buck’s Rock Work Camp, 1957.  44, 61, 65.

44.  Wikipedia, Saletan.
45.  “Tom Paley.”  Wikipedia website; accessed 20 March 2023.
46.  Holcomb.  145.