Tao Rodríguez-Seeger (born 1972) is an American contemporary folk musician. A founder of the Mammals, he is the grandson of folk musician

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weav ...

. He plays banjo, guitar, harmonica and sings in English and Spanish.

Biography

Rodríguez-Seeger is the son of

Mika Seeger Mika Seeger is an American ceramic artist. Although not primarily a musical artist, she did record a definitive version of " Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts". She is the daughter of filmmaker Toshi Seeger and Pete Seeger, a legenda ...

and Emilio Rodríguez, a Puerto Rican filmmaker. After his father was invited by the Sandinistas to document the nation's civil war, Seeger spent nine years of his childhood in

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

. In 1986, Rodríguez-Seeger started performing with his grandfather,

. In 1999 he was a member of the band RIG, with Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion. In 2001, he founded the Mammals with Michael Merenda and Ruth Ungar. In 2006 he recorded an album, ''¡Que vaya bien!'', with Puerto Rican folk singers Roy Brown and Tito Auger of the Puerto Rican rock band Fiel a la vega and he formed the Anarchist Orchestra (now known as the Tao Rodriguez-Seeger band) with Jacob Silver, also of the Mammals, Laura Cortese and Robin McMillan. Seeger had a radio show "The Tao of Tao" on

WAMC WAMC-FM (90.3 FM) is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Albany, New York, United States, featuring a public radio format. Owned by "WAMC Northeast Public Radio" with a legal name of "WAMC", WAMC-FM's primary signal encompa ...

Barack Obama inaugural celebration

On January 18, 2009, Seeger performed with his grandfather

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

and a youth chorus at the We Are One Inaugural Celebration of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. They sang

Woody Guthrie Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer, songwriter, and composer widely considered to be one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American Left, A ...

's famous song " This Land Is Your Land" during the finale, before an audience estimated at 400,000. The performance included two of Guthrie's original verses to the song that have often been omitted; one verse mentions "private property" and the other refers to a depression era relief office. On October 21, 2011, Seeger was part of The Pete Seeger March which walked in solidarity with

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a left-wing populist movement against economic inequality, capitalism, corporate greed, big finance, and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial ...

to Columbus Circle. There he performed with his grandfather Pete Seeger,

Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk music, folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing protest song, songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his fa ...

, David Amram, and other 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)

Notes

External links

Official site
*http://www.themammals.net
''Que Vaya Bien''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez-Seeger, Tao 1972 births Living people Musicians from Poughkeepsie, New York American musicians of Puerto Rican descent American banjoists American folk musicians American folk singers American harmonica players American multi-instrumentalists American male singer-songwriters Seeger family American musicians of Japanese descent 21st-century American singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from New York (state)