Event Host: Humanities Institute
Short Description: Through recordings, images and new research, Elijah Wald explores the world that shaped Dylan and his music.
Bob Dylan’s electric set at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 is an iconic moment in 20th century music: the folk revival’s prophet and “voice of a generation” took the stage with an electric band and an audience of dedicated folk fans reacted with dismay and booing. The confrontation is often compared to the reaction that greeted Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in 1913 and signaled a new understanding of rock as a modern art form and of rockers as innovative rebels. More broadly, it signaled fundamental changes in American culture—soon to spread around the world—a split between the old and new lefts and the rise of the counterculture; its ripples are still being felt fifty years later.
Through recordings, images and new research, Elijah Wald explores the world that shaped Dylan and his music, as well as the varied worlds of the people who loved him, hated him, ignored him or felt he was betraying them, seeking to understand both the changes happening in that moment and the reasons some people found those changes so threatening. A central figure in that story is Pete Seeger, a complex artist and activist whose work has frequently been oversimplified, including his role in creating the Newport Folk Festivals. It is a story that reaches back to the populist communal movements of the 19th century and remains as relevant as ever.
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