Si Kahn

Si Kahn (born April 23, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter, and activist; he is the founder and former executive director of Grassroots Leadership.

Biography Early life and education Kahn grew up in State College, Pennsylvania. When he was 15 his family moved to the Washington, D.C. area, where he graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. His grandfather Gabriel Kahn, his mother Rosalind Kahn, and his father Benjamin Kahn, a rabbi, instilled a strong sense of the family's Jewish heritage as well as teaching him the rudiments of rhythm and harmony as a child. His uncle, Arnold Aronson, executive secretary of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, helped inspire and shape Kahn's career. In 1965, Kahn earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University.

On later albums, Aragon Mill - The Bluegrass Sessions and It's A Dog's Life, Kahn collaborated with the German bluegrass band The Looping Brothers, founded by Ulrich Sieker and Matthias Malcher–two of Europe's best known and awarded blugrass musicians since the 1970s. Kahn himself initiated and featured both albums joining tours in Europe and the United States. It's A Dog's Life (2019) "includes ten previously unrecorded Kahn compositions and features his vocals on three of the thirteen tracks. They include “Government on Horseback," the first single; (Kahn) revives an unrecorded song from 1981."

Discography New Wood (1974, June Appal Recordings) Home (1979, Flying Fish Records and June Appal Recordings) Doing my Job (1982, Flying Fish Records) Unfinished Portraits (1984, Flying Fish Records) Signs of the Times, with John McCutcheon (1986, Rounder Select) Carry It On (with Pete Seeger and Jane Sapp) (1986, Flying Fish Records) I'll Be There (1989, Flying Fish Records) I Have Seen Freedom (1991, Flying Fish Records) Good Times and Bedtimes (1993, Rounder select, family album) In My Heart: A Retrospective (1994, StrictlyCountryRecords.com) Companion (1997, Appleseed Records) Been a Long Time (2000, Sliced Bread Records) Threads (2002, Double Time Music) We're Still Here, with Liz Meyer and Joost van Es (2004, StrictlyCountryRecords.com) Thanksgiving, with Annemarieke Coenders and Linde Nijland (2007, StrictlyCountryRecords.com) Courage, with Kathy Mattea (2010, StrictlyCountryRecords.com) Bristol Bay, with Jens Kruger (2012, StrictlyCountryRecords.com) Aragon Mill: The Bluegrass Sessions, with The Looping Brothers (2013, StrictlyCountryRecords.com) It's A Dog's Life, with The Looping Brothers (2019, StrictlyCountryRecords.com) Si Kahn @ 75, 5-CD set (2019 StrictlyCountryRecords.com) Si Kahn Best of the Rest (2019 StrictlyCountryRecords.com) Labor Day with George Mann (2024 StrictlyCountryRecords.com)

Books authored How People Get Power: Organizing Oppressed Communities for Action (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970). Organizing: A Guide for Grassroots Leaders (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982). The Fox in the Henhouse: How Privatization Threatens Democracy, with Elizabeth Minnich (Berrett-Koehler, 2005). Creative Community Organizing: A Guide for Rabble Rousers, Activists, and Quiet Lovers of Justice (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2010).