Israel Goodman Young (March 26, 1928 – February 4, 2019), known as Izzy Young, was a noted figure in the world of

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

, both in

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. He was once the owner of the Folklore Center in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

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, and from 1973 until his death, owned and operated the Folklore Centrum store in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Biography

Israel Goodman Young was born on March 26, 1928, at the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

of Manhattan, to Polish Jewish immigrant parents, Philip and Pola Young. His father was a baker. Izzy Young grew up in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

where he finished high school. He attended

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

. From 1948 to 1952 he worked in his father's bakery in Brooklyn. He later went into the book business. In 1957, at 110

MacDougal Street MacDougal Street is a one-way street in the Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the nort ...

in New York City's

, he opened the Folklore Center, a store for books and records and everything related to folk music. It became a focal point for the American folk music scene of the time, a place where one could find such limited circulation publications as ''Caravan'' and ''Gardyloo'', both edited and published by Lee Hoffman. From 1959 to 1969, Young wrote a column entitled "Fret and Frails" for the folk music journal '' Sing Out''. He served on the "editorial advisory board" for the magazine until his departure for Sweden a few years later. Young arranged concerts with folk musicians and songwriters, who often made contacts with other musicians at the Folklore Center.

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

relates in his memoirs, '' Chronicles'', how he spent time at the Center, where Young allowed him to sit in the backroom of the store, listening to folk music records and reading books. Dylan met Dave Van Ronk in the store, and Young produced Dylan's first concert at Carnegie Chapter Hall in New York City on Saturday, November 4, 1961."Bob Dylan's Carnegie Hall Debut: A Half Century Later"
, ''carnegiehall.org'', The Carnegie Hall Corporation, Friday, November 4, 2011. Bob Dylan wrote a song about the store and Young entitled "Talking Folklore Center". Young gave interviews about their relationship for the documentary

No Direction Home ''No Direction Home: Bob Dylan'' is a 2005 documentary film directed by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th-century American popular music and culture. The film focuses on the period between Dylan's arriva ...

. Other notable figures that played concerts early in their career at the Folklore Center include Peter Paul and Mary, John Sebastian from

the Lovin' Spoonful The Lovin' Spoonful is a Canadian-American folk-rock band formed in Greenwich Village, New York City, in 1964. The band were among the most popular groups in the United States for a short period in the mid-1960s and their music and image influ ...

(Young managed one of Sebastian’s early bands),

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...

and

Tim Buckley Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. He began his career based in folk rock, but subsequently experimented with genres such as psychedelia, jazz, the avant-garde, and funk paired with his ...

. A live album by Buckley recorded at the Folklore Centre in 1967 was released in 2009.

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

used to read poetry there and also became friends with Young. Young was also a keen political activist. He famously led a march in 1961, which became known as “the beatnik riot” in protest at a ban on the public performance of music in Greenwich Village’s Washington Square Park. Young pursued the case through the courts, eventually winning the removal of the ban. He would later champion the plight of Cambodians affected by the US war in Vietnam as well as Palestinians.

Move to Sweden

After developing an interest in Swedish folk music at a festival, Young closed his New York store in 1973 and moved to Stockholm where he opened the Folklore Centrum at Roslagsgatan in Vasastan. In 1986 he relocated the store to Wollmar Yxkullsgatan 2 in Södermalm where he remained till the end of 2018 when he retired from a regular series of folk music concerts spanning decades. The concerts featured prominent traditional Swedish folk musicians, enthusiasts from Stockholm who played music from other places, and international artists from all over the world. In 1974 Young arranged a concert with

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 ...

in the auditorium of Uppsala University. A recording was made and released on the LP record "If A Revolution Comes To My Country ..." (October Stereo OSLP-508). Young's personal diaries, notes, photos, newspaper clips, and other documentation have been transferred to the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, where they now constitute The Izzy Young Collection. A large part of Young's extensive library was in 2018 donated to the museum Mannaminne^{( sv)} at Nordingrå, Sweden. Young's research and documentation of Cambodia's history from the 1960s onwards was donated in 2001 to the "Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies" at Lund University (the ''HT'' libraries). Young celebrated his 90th birthday at the Swedish Folklore Centrum in March 2018. At that time Young remarkably was still opening the “store” on a daily basis and hosting regular concerts there in the same way he had for over 60 years. Due to Young’s fading health, the store closed at the end of November.

Personal life and death

He was the father of the actress and television presenter

Philomène Grandin Philomène Grandin (born 23 September 1974, in Stockholm) is a Swedish actress and television host. She is the daughter of Izzy Young, the folk music expert. She works at theatres and participates in TV series. She is married to the musician ...

. Israel "Izzy" Young died at the age of 90 in Stockholm, Sweden on February 4, 2019. He spent his last days surrounded by his family, closest friends, and live music. Young's life and doings was portraied in the book ”Don't Forget Me” (2021) and the documentary ”Go To Izzy!” (2021). ''Gå till Izzy! i Svensk mediedatabas (SMDB)''
Swedish media Database: Premiere on Swedish national TV 2022-02-21. Läst 2022-03-07.

Publications

* Young, Israel G., My Happy Life On Earth Seems But an Hour - The Poetry of Israel Goodman Young. © 2017 Israel G. Young. Edited by Rebecca Petra Naomi Seeman. * Young, Israel G., I Like Folk Music - The Essays of Israel Goodman Young. © 2017 Israel G. Young. Edited by Rebecca Petra Naomi Seeman. * Young, Israel G.
''The Conscience of the Folk Revival: The Writings of Israel "Izzy" Young''
Edited by Scott Baretta © 2013 Scarecrow Press, Inc. * Young, Israel G., One Night Stands - en square-dance kväll med Izzy Young. © 1983 Folklore Centrum. * Young, Israel G., Autobiography * The Bronx * 1928-1938. Photographs by David Gahr, Introduction by Moses Asch, © 1969 Folklore Center Press, New York City.

References

External links