I grew up in a home surrounded by music. Whether it was my older sister singing Italian opera at the piano, or my dad teaching us a simple folk melody while strumming his guitar -- music has always been a part of my life.
Although I love most styles of music, I become nostalgic when I listen to folk music. I was listening to a folk music program on our local public radio station when I first heard the music of singer-songwriter Dar Williams. I felt an immediate connection to her songs.
Her song topics range from the beautiful ballad on teaching our children love and then letting go in "The One Who Knows," to tackling the issue of obedience to authority, in the song "Buzzer" which relates the 1960s Stanford University Milgrim experiments to our society today.
In the 1960s several musicians created protest songs to rally public opinion on social issues such as female empowerment in Aretha Franklin's song "Respect," James Brown's song "I'm Black and Proud," or folk singers Peter, Paul and Mary performing the anti-war song "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?"
Today, YES Magazine published the article, "Dar Williams: Why the Music of Protest is Still Worth Defending." Do you agree with what she says happens if political music dies?
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