2007-2008

News Release

REF NO.: 99

SUBJECT: Musical lineage traced in new issue of Memorial journal

DATE: February 5, 2008

This province’s vibrant music heritage and culture is the focus of the latest issue of the Memorial University of Newfoundland academic journal Newfoundland and Labrador Studies.
For the first time in the publication’s 22-year history, the journal has devoted an entire anthology examining Newfoundland and Labrador’s musical roots. 
The double issue includes research articles on a range of issues including traditional, popular, aboriginal and classical music of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The issue was co-edited by Dr. Beverley Diamond, director, Research Centre for Music Media and Place at Memorial; Dr. Jim Hiller, former professor, Department of History; and Dr. Glenn Colton, an associate professor of music at Lakehead University in Ontario.
“Glenn and I had discussions several years ago about the need for an anthology that represented a burgeoning of research on Newfoundland and Labrador music in recent years,” said Dr. Diamond. “We were delighted that the journal was receptive to a special topics issue on this theme. As we state in the introduction to the volume, the papers are diverse, demonstrating that Newfoundland and Labrador music is not one thing, neither one genre, ethnic practice, nor style.
We are happy to present work on traditional, popular, and indigenous music, as well as media and social identity issues.”
 
Among the articles featured in the new issue are:
 
           Gone to the Mainland and Back Again: A Critical Approach to Region, Politics, and Identity in Contemporary Newfoundland Song by Cory Thorne
           Kenneth Peacock’s Contribution to Gerald S. Doyle’s Old-Time Songs of Newfoundland (1955) by Anna Guigné
           ‘Crooked as the Road to Branch’: Asymmetry in Newfoundland Dance Music by Christina Smith
           Santu’s Song: Revisiting a Beothuk Cultural Artifact by John Hewson and Beverley Diamond
           Hip-hop on the East Side: A Multi-sited Ethnography of Break Dancing and Rap Music from St. John’s and Grand Falls, Newfoundland by Kelly Best
           The Life and Afterlife of a Labrador Folksong Collection by Tim Borlase
 
A full listing of the journal’s table of contents is available at www.mun.ca/mmap/media/publications/index.php.
The journal will be officially launched on Wednesday, Feb. 13, at 7:30 p.m., in the Research Centre for Music Media and Place (MMaP) Gallery on the second floor of the Arts and Culture Centre.
During that event, Dr. Tom Gordon, director of Memorial’s School of Music, will also present a free public lecture entitled Holy Week in Hebron, Labrador 1859 which will offer a unique glimpse into the Moravian Inuit community of Hebron, Labrador and its musical legacy.
Admission to both events is free and all are welcome.
Parking is available in the Arts and Culture Parking Lot.
Newfoundland and Labrador Studies’ roots date back to 1985. Its mandate is to publish original essays, in either English or French, about the society and culture of this province, past and present.
To learn more about the journal, visit www.mun.ca/nls/.

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