FOLK, RAP MEET AT N.Y. BENEFIT

The posters outside Carnegie Hall Thursday night looked as if they’d been assembled by trick or treaters.

How else do you explain a musical lineup that goes all the way from Pete Seeger, the grand old man of the folk-protest movement, through Woodstock veteran Richie Havens to hotshot rap stars Afrika Bambaataa and Melle Mel?

But that unlikely gang--as well as folk-singer Odetta, salsa standout Larry Harlow and “new wave folkies” the Washington Squares--did get together at Carnegie Hall.

The evening--a benefit to raise funds to allow wider distribution of the socially activist documentary film “A Matter of Struggle”--was titled “Mixed Bag” to salute its diversity. But an equally fitting name would have been “Krush Groove Meets the Weavers.”

Bambaataa and Melle Mel aren’t in “Krush Groove,” the new movie that celebrates rap and hip-hop music, but their respective hit records, “Looking for the Perfect Beat” and “The Message,” were essential steps in popularizing and defining the colorful, insistent, street-oriented sound.

Similarly, Seeger was the only member of the Weavers on stage, but his warmth and sense of commitment epitomize the spirit of that socially-conscious folk quartet from the ‘50s.

While many in the audience were old enough to have seen the Weavers three decades ago, they responded gamely to the flashy, aggressive preacher-rap showmanship of Bambaataa’s brotherhood message. They also embraced the offbeat style of the Washington Squares, a young trio that combines a ‘50s beatnik persona with a deliberately self-conscious Peter, Paul & Mary folk slant.

But it was Gil Scott-Heron, even though he appeared only in a specially prepared film clip, who seemed to have the most impact on the older crowd--thanks to his biting put-down of what he described as the endless recycling of government corruption and deception. “I swear I’ve seen this somewhere before. . . . We don’t need no re-Ron,” he sang.

At intermission, a woman who had come chiefly to see Seeger and Odetta said that Scott-Heron reminded her of Lenny Bruce. “What was his name again?” she asked.

The evening’s crossing of cultural boundaries was not lost on the concert organizers.

Joan Harvey, who directed “A Matter of Struggle,” described her film in an interview after the concert as an attempt to demonstrate the interrelationship of campaigns against such matters as racism, economic exploitation and nuclear arms.

“A lot of people and groups feel isolated and helpless because they don’t think they have enough power to get anything changed,” she said.

“But if they just realize how much they have in common with other groups, they could wield enormous power. In putting together the concert, we wanted to demonstrate that point by bringing together people who might not otherwise attend the same show.”

This musical interaction has been a dramatic side effect in a year in which pop music has demonstrated its ability to be a social benefactor.

By bringing together Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Willie Nelson, the “We Are the World” recording showed that pop, rock and country superstars could work together comfortably and be accepted by record buyers.

The recent Farm Aid concert mixed country and rock artists even more dramatically in a richly compatible concert featuring such disparate figures as Neil Young, Loretta Lynn, the Blasters and Bob Dylan.

The new anti-apartheid “Sun City” record, however, makes the most pointed attack yet on musical separatism by mixing rock, salsa, reggae, rap, jazz and R&B; figures. The video is a moving carnival that underscores the melting-pot spirit of the project.

Explained “Sun City” organizer Steve Van Zandt, “One of the things we wanted to do with this record was break down our own apartheid--the categorization of artists by radio and the record industry.

“People go through their whole lives, and it’s, ‘This guy is a salsa artist, he’s a reggae artist.’ I’ve never met an artist who feels that way about himself. They are all more than just one thing. Human beings are more complicated than that and we lose something when we don’t take advantage of that diversity.”

LIVE ACTION: Rick Springfield, the Motels, El DeBarge, Cheech Marin and others will appear Nov. 26 at the Universal Amphitheatre in the “Concert for LIFE.” The event will raise funds for LIFE, a program that feeds the hungry in Los Angeles. Tickets for the show, which also features Bill Marr, Tierra and the Yellowjackets, go on sale Sunday.

Tickets will also be available Sunday for Patti LaBelle’s Universal Amphitheatre engagement. She’ll be there Dec. 27-29 and New Year’s Eve. . . . Tickets go on sale Sunday for the Alarm’s Nov. 29 show at the Hollywood Palladium, and on Monday for John Waite’s Nov. 27 date there. . . . The Blasters and the Del Fuegos will be at UC Irvine on Nov. 23. . . . Coming to the Palace: the Del Fuegos (Nov. 22), Nick Lowe (Nov. 25) and Eddie Kendrick & David Ruffin (Nov. 28).