Paredon Records
By Barbara Dane
At age 93, as I reflect back on the 50th anniversary of Paredon Records, I am as excited and pleased as I was when I and my late husband, Irwin Silber, created the label. Our motivation and goals a half a century ago, all about the relentless human search for justice, peace, and love, keep Paredon relevant today.
Video - See Through the Fog: Generational Conversations (2020)
When we founded Paredon in 1970, few record labels were documenting the music that had begun to burst from liberation and resistance movements all over the world. Decades earlier, when I began my own journey as a singer of this kind of music, celebrating the victories of these struggles as well as describing the conditions which motivated them, I was a youngster in Detroit. There, I was confronted daily with the pain and sorrow left behind by WWI as well as the courage and determination of Great Depression survivors everywhere. A vibrant labor movement had emerged in our country, and the exuberance of the post-war era inspired my young mind. The music that came out of the radio seemed ill equipped to deal with all this, mostly concentrating on banal efforts like the rhyming of moon, spoon, and June. I understood early in life that music has a deeper role; it can actually move people and inspire them to action. Throughout my life, I sang at labor rallies and picket lines, peace demonstrations and wherever I was called upon to lend my voice to the struggle for justice, and I also performed and recorded with some of the greatest musicians in blues and jazz, celebrating Afro-American culture with deep reverence. Despite obstacles, I always managed to speak my mind and follow my own path.