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OUR 12TH ANNUAL NATIONAL GATHERING The twelfth annual Children's Music Network National Gathering on October 18-20, 2002, was held at scenic Lake Ossipee Conference Center in Freedom, NH. The CMN national gatherings are a multi-generational event attracting people from all over North America, who come together to foster cooperation, cultural diversity, self-esteem, and empowerment through music for young people. The beautiful rustic setting of Lake Ossipee Conference Center was the setting for musicians, educators, radio broadcasters, songwriters, performers, storytellers, children, parents and others interested in children's music to come together for fun and interesting workshops, song swaps for children and adults, and lots of opportunities for networking and learning. A cornerstone of each gathering is the traditional Friday- and Saturday-night round-robin concert, and the gathering this year also featured an impromptu campfire singalong on the shores of the beautiful lake beneath a starry New Hampshire sky.
The 2002 CMN Magic Penny Award honored the great children's songs of Oklahoma-born singer, songwriter and activist Woody Guthrie. Representing the Guthrie family at the gathering was Woody's daughter, Nora Guthrie, Executive Director of the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives. Nora brought a video about Woody's life, and shared her insights and thoughts in a very moving dialogue during the Magic Penny tribute to her father. Woody Guthrie once said, "By far my best audience for folksongs and ballads have been the kids. The story you're telling them in words goes through their minds like a newsreel, only plainer." He wrote dozens of children's songs, eighteen of which first appeared on the 1951 Folkways recording "Songs to Grow On." Chock full of classics such as "Car Car," "Put Your Finger In the Air" and "Don't You Push Me," the album is recognized as one of the most influential collections in the history of children's music in the US. In 1990 during a routine cleaning, a librarian at Sarah Lawrence College rediscovered twenty more of Woody's classic songs, tunes that were presumed forever lost by his family. In 2001, Rounder released "Daddy-O Daddy! Rare Family Songs of Woody Guthrie," a new recording of several of these unrecorded songs plus other Guthrie favorites recorded by artists who love Woody and the music he created. Rounder made a gift of a copy of this CD to all those who attended this year's CMN gathering. It was deeply appreciated by all.
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