Ray Korona
Encyclopedia
Music and Activism
Ray Korona writes folk and folk rock songs about working, the environment, peace and social justice issues along with songs on the more traditional themes of love and friendship. A founding member of the Travelling Musician's Union, Local 1000 of the American Federation of MusiciansAmerican Federation of Musicians
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada is a labor union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada...
. Korona's songs vary from the satirical and topical to ballads, chorus and story songs. Due to the subject matter of many of these songs, they are often referenced in studies of political and economic issues and used in support of various public causes by their advocates as discussed here.
A number of Korona's songs addressing such diverse subjects as homelessness, downsizing, gay rights and health care policies are included in the directory of some 3,000 songs identified for use in classrooms for teaching purposes maintained by the nonprofit corporation, M.U.S.I.C. In the United States, Teachers' Curriculum Institute has published the lyrics to Korona's "Globalization Blues" song in a classroom text which includes a disc with a recording of the song to promote academic discussions on the subject of globalization. This same song has likewise been published for classroom use in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Another song, "Where Do We Go From Here?" sparked a New York Magazine cover story reporting on the impact of the housing crisis' on the New York City artist community.
Other songs by Korona have been utilized in advocating causes rather than in fostering learning. His health care rights song, "Send Me An Ambulance" was featured on National Public Radio and performed at major Jobs With Justice
Jobs With Justice
Jobs With Justice is a nationally linked network of about 40 local coalitions throughout the United States that bring together labor unions, community organizations, religious groups, and student groups to fight for workers' rights....
rallies for national health care reform. "We Will Have Dignity," a song against child labor, has been published around the world in many languages by the UN’s International Labor Organization to lend support to its work on this issue.
The Ray Korona Band
Korona performs both solo and with a unique collective of musical organizers, The Ray Korona Band. The Band is a core group of musicians—Ivice (harmonies & dulcimers), Barry Kornhauser (bass, cello & mandola), Sharon Abreu (harmonies & fiddle), Ellen Davidson (harmonies & piano) & Gina Tlamsa (harmonies, flute, fiddle, mandolin & bouzouki) that works with a wide variety of players who bring racial, cultural and musical diversity to its work. Occasionally, guest musicians like John McCutcheonJohn McCutcheon
John McCutcheon is an American folk music singer and multi-instrumentalist who has produced 34 albums since the 1970s. He is regarded as a master of the hammered dulcimer, and is also proficient on many other instruments including guitar, banjo, autoharp, mountain dulcimer, fiddle, and...
, Barry Mitterhoff and Perry Robinson
Perry Robinson
Perry Morris Robinson is an American jazz clarinetist and composer. He is the son of the noted composer Earl Robinson. -Biography:...
sit in with the group and Korona often performs in concert with 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...
. The names of those who have shared the stage with him suggest the orientation of his activist views and musical style, such as Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
, Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
, Tom Paxton
Tom Paxton
Thomas Richard Paxton is an American folk singer and singer-songwriter who has been writing, performing and recording music for over forty years...
, Anne Feeney
Anne Feeney
Anne Feeney is a political activist, folk musician and singer-songwriter.- Life and career :Anne Feeney was born in Charleroi, Pennsylvania to Annabelle Runner and Edward J. Feeney. She has a sister, Kathleen, born May 3, 1953. The family moved to the nearby Brookline neighborhood of the city of...
, Richie Havens
Richie Havens
Richard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
, Judy Gorman, Leon Rosselson
Leon Rosselson
Leon Rosselson is an English songwriter and writer of children's books. After his early involvement in the folk music revival in Britain, he came to prominence, singing his own satirical songs, in the BBC's topical TV programme of the early 1960s, That Was The Week That Was...
, Suni Paz, Pat Humphries, Lucy Kaplansky
Lucy Kaplansky
Lucy Kaplansky is an American folk musician based in New York City. Kaplansky also has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University.-Biography:...
, Gary US Bonds. Since many of Korona's songs are topical, he has also shared stages with noted speakers, such as Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman is an American progressive broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter and author. Goodman is the host of Democracy Now!, an independent global news program broadcast daily on radio, television and the internet.-Early life:Goodman was born in Bay Shore, New York...
, Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
, Greg Palast
Greg Palast
Gregory Allyn Palast is a New York Times-bestselling author and a freelance journalist for the British Broadcasting Corporation as well as the British newspaper The Observer. His work frequently focuses on corporate malfeasance but has also been known to work with labor unions and consumer...
, and Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower
James Allen "Jim" Hightower is an American syndicated columnist, activist and author.-Life and career:Born in Denison, Texas, Hightower came from a working class background. He worked his way through college as assistant general manager of the Denton Chamber of Commerce and later landed a spot as...
. Korona was a regular at the Cornelia Street Cafe
Cornelia Street Cafe
The Cornelia Street Cafe, in New York City's Greenwich Village, first opened its doors in July 1977. It quickly became a magnet for the artistic and highly creative folk who loved their art just off the beaten path. On any given night, one might hear writers, poets, or musicians, spilling their...
's Monday night songwriter workshop in the 1980s.
Discography
A Little Too Much Sunshine CDThe Safe Thing To Do CD (includes a peace song co-written & performed with 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...
)
The People Are In Charge! CD
The $5 Working People’s Music Tape CD and tape (new songs on current labor issues)
A Friend Like You CD
It's Still the 60's CD (as long as government and corporations keep beating us up!)
Free Harbors CD
Ray Korona Band Live at the Peoples' Voice Cafe DVD
Send Me An Ambulance tape and video (cassette single in support of universal health care)
Fight the Contract on America and the Stars Who are Selling It! tape (with Charlie King (folksinger)
Charlie King (folksinger)
Charlie King is a folksinger and activist. He was born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1947 and cites the folk music revival of the 1960s, the American Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War era as his as musical influences...
Sanctions -CD single (about the sanctions in Iraq and how they devastated the old, the sick and the children of that country)
A number of Ray’s songs are also featured on compilation recordings, such as the new More Gardens CD, a two disc collection of songs supporting the need for community gardens in urban areas.