Newfoundland Culture

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Telling stories and putting them to music are important ways in which Newfoundlanders stay in touch with their heritage and pass it on from one generation to another.

The people of Newfoundland know how to kick up their heels and have a good time or spontaneously tell a yarn that can leave you in stiches. A love for their own culture has inspired a strong storytelling and song writing tradition.

It is but a natural consequence that folk songs composed in Newfoundland should have as their main theme the experiences of a race that has earned its livelihood from the sea. (Wave Over Wave) Occasionally there are instances of other phases of life with these isolated people. There are love affairs (Lovers), the eternal triangle, and the sense of loss by some love-lorn man or maiden (Useta Love Her). There are humerous situations, portrayed in a style all Newfoundlander's own (Is You Appy?). There are even lullaby songs, composed from race experience and still crooned around the baby's cot. Much history has been written in songs that tell of outstanding events (Barrett's Privateers), of depression and failure of fisheries (Fisherman's Lament) and of political animosities of party government. (Nothing Out of Nothing) Many local sea shanties are parodies on the traditional British originals.

Language is a significant part of Newfoundland culture. Numerous speech patterns and accents truly set Newfoundland apart from other Canadian provinces. Hundreds of dialects, especially in the outports, are as rich as any poem and as lyrical as any song.

Most Newfoundlanders also seem to possess the ability to speak rather fast. Listen to these musical examples to see what I mean. Mari-Mac, End of The World and Rattlin' Bog.

I would say that for most Newfoundlanders this song sums up what "The Rock" is all about: Song For Newfoundland.

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