Tao Rodríguez-Seeger
Encyclopedia
Tao Rodríguez-Seeger is an American contemporary folk musician. He plays banjo, guitar, harmonica, and sings in Spanish and in English. He is known as a founder of The Mammals
The Mammals
The Mammals are a contemporary folk rock band based in the Hudson Valley, area of New York, in the United States.Current band members are Michael J. Merenda, Jr., Chris Merenda, Ruth Ungar, Jacob Silver and Tao Rodríguez-Seeger.- Band history :...

 and is the grandson of folk musician Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...

.

Biography

Tao spent nine years of his childhood in Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

. Tao's father, Emilio Rodríguez, a Puerto Rican filmmaker, was invited by the Sandinistas to document the nation's civil war. Tao's mother is Mika Seeger
Mika Seeger
Mika Seeger is an American ceramic artist of Rhode Island. Although not primarily a musical artist, she did record a definitive version of Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts...

. When he was fourteen, in 1986, Rodríguez-Seeger started performing with his grandfather Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...

. In 1999 he was a member of the band RIG, with Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion. In 2001 he was a founding member of the Mammals
The Mammals
The Mammals are a contemporary folk rock band based in the Hudson Valley, area of New York, in the United States.Current band members are Michael J. Merenda, Jr., Chris Merenda, Ruth Ungar, Jacob Silver and Tao Rodríguez-Seeger.- Band history :...

 with Michael Merenda
Michael J. Merenda, Jr.
Michael J. Merenda, Jr. is a singer-songwriter with the American folk band, the Mammals. He plays guitar, banjo, ukulele and percussion. He also has a solo career and performs with the Jay Ungar and Molly Mason Family Band....

 and Ruth Ungar
Ruth Ungar
Ruth Ungar is a singer songwriter who performs with many folk bands. She also plays fiddle, ukulele and guitar. She is the daughter of Jay Ungar and Lyn Hardy and is married to Michael J. Merenda, Jr.- Bands :...

. In 2006 he recorded an album, Que Vaya Bien, with Puerto Rican folk singers Roy Brown
Roy Brown (Puerto Rican musician)
Roy Brown Ramírez is a composer, singer and a fervent believer in the cause for the independence of Puerto Rico. Some of his songs have been performed by several renowned international artists.- Early years :...

, and Tito Auger
Tito Auger
Alfonso "Tito" Auger Vega is a Puerto Rican musician most known for being the lead singer of the Rock en Español band Fiel a la Vega. Auger is also the band's main songwriter, together with Ricky Laureano....

 of the Puerto Rican rock band Fiel A La Vega
Fiel a la Vega
Fiel a la Vega is a Rock en Español band from Puerto Rico formed in 1994. Band members Tito Auger and Ricky Laureano come from the northern city of Vega Alta, while brothers Pedro Arraiza and Jorge Arraiza come from the city of Vega Baja, which is next to Vega Alta.-Early years :Childhood friends...

 and he formed the Anarchist Orchestra (now known as the Tao Rodriguez-Seeger band) with Jacob Silver, also of the Mammals, Laura Cortese
Laura Cortese
Laura Cortese is an American singer, songwriter, and fiddler. She was born in San Francisco and attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she is currently based....

 and Robin McMillan.

He had a radio show "The Tao of Tao" on WAMC
WAMC
WAMC is a public radio network headquartered in Albany, New York. As of April, 2011, the network comprised 11 transmitters and 11 translators. The organization's legal name is "WAMC" and it is also known as "WAMC Public Radio" or "WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network."In addition, the station...

.

Barack Obama inaugural celebration

On January 18, 2009, Tao performed with his grandfather Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...

, Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...

 and a youth chorus. They sang Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...

's famous song "This Land Is Your Land
This Land Is Your Land
"This Land Is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk songs. Its lyrics were written by Woody Guthrie in 1940 based on an existing melody, in response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America", which Guthrie considered unrealistic and complacent. Tired of hearing Kate Smith sing it on...

" during the finale of President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

's We Are One Inaugural Celebration
We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial
We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial was a public celebration of the then forthcoming inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States at the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on January 18, 2009. By some estimates the...

 in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, before an audience estimated to be 400,000 people. This performance was noteworthy for the singing of two of Woody's original verses that have traditionally been widely censored. One verse mentioned "private property" and the other made reference to a depression era
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

relief office.

On October 21, 2011, Tao was part of The Pete Seeger March, which walked in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street to Columbus Circle. At Columbus Circle, Tao performed with his grandfather Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, David Amram, and other celebrated musicians.

Discography

With the Mammals
  • Born Live (2001)
  • Evolver (2002)
  • Migration (EP)(2004)
  • Rock That Babe (2004)
  • Departure (2006)


With Roy Brown and Tito Auger
  • Que Vaya Bien (2006)


With the Anarchist Orchestra/the Tao Rodriguez-Seeger Band
  • The Anarchist Orchestra (EP) (2006)


With the Tao Seeger Band
  • Rise and Bloom (2010)

External links

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