John "Jack" Langstaff is, even at age 80, one of the great voices of traditional music, in every sense of those words. A genuine love of the old songs, and an understanding of the people from whom they came, radiates through Jack's singing. But in addition Jack is also a carrier of more than 65 years of the folk music and dance revival, and the people he has known and the places he has been and sung form a major part of the evolution of the revival to its present richness.
Jack was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1920. He was already a soloist as a young boy soprano in church choir and had performed in major concerts before he was 12 years old. His parents both sang and had books of folk songs, principally Sharp's collections, in the home. Music gatherings, including folk songs were a regular part of family life, and the earliest songs he remembers were sung to him in his bed by his mother.
Jack first heard the living tradition when a teacher took him down to the White Top Festival in North Carolina in 1934. He first came to Pinewoods Camp that same summer, and he started the first Folk Music Week in 1952, out of which grew so many of the folk societies that are now spreading the music far and wide. He has had a life-long career as an educator as well as a singer, and is a staunch advocate for the power of traditional music, dance, and movement in the growth of children. Through his teaching, his books, through Folk Music Week and the Revels, and through the countless people he has inspired, Jack, perhaps along with Pete Seeger, is probably more responsible for getting people, including many who have never heard of him, involved in the music than anyone alive.
It is perhaps unique among concert-trained singers to find someone who can bring the listener into the song and into the tradition in the way Jack can. He carries true magic in his performances.
He will be accompanied by Jerry Epstein on concertina, guitar, and piano. Bring your voices and be prepared to get up and dance. You won't be able to resist.
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