Mummers and Janneys on CBC Radio Noon

On Wednesday, December 17, CBC Radio Noon host Ramona Deering will be joined by special guest Chris Brookes for an hour long program on the Christmas mummering tradition in Newfoundland and Labrador. Listen, or phone in with your memories of mummers, janneys, hobby horses, wren boys, oonchicks and naluyuks. Program starts at 1:30 in Newfoundland (12 EST).

You can listen in to Radio Noon over the net through the CBC website:
http://www.cbc.ca/radionoonnl

The Mummer's Song, written by Bud Davidage

Mummers and Masks Documentary

Wanted: Folklife Festival Intern

As part of the implementation of Province’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Strategic Plan, the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL) is looking for a graduate level student interested in applying for a position involving both an internship and a research project. The student will divide their time between the HFNL and Memorial University. The intern will work with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL) on a research project to create a model for an annual folklife festival. As part of that research project, the student will work closely with Dr. Gerald Pocius, Dept. of Folklore, MUN, to investigate issues and approaches to this event.

The student will organize and oversee a one-day festival, and will focus on creating a framework for appropriate cultural presentations following a festival format, sensitive to the needs of grassroots cultural groups. The student will prepare an organizational manual which will discuss details about choices made for performance contexts, issues of choosing presenters for the performances and demonstrations, and issues of repertoire, performance styles, and audience expectations. The event will be documented through still and video photography, and archived through Memorial’s Digital Archives Initiative. The development of a framework for appropriate cultural presentations, and research leading to a manual for community development of folklife festivals, will be of immediate relevance to HFNL in developing an annual provincial folklife festival.

This would be a 4 month internship, starting early in 2009, pending funding approvals. Interested graduate students should send a cover letter, including a statement of research interests and any relevant work experience, with CV, by December 17th , to:

Dale Jarvis
Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer
Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador
PO Box 5171, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada A1C 5V5
ich@heritagefoundation.ca
http://www.heritagefoundation.ca
709-739-1892 ext 2
toll free: 1-888-739-1892 ext 2

Helen Creighton Grants for Folklore Research, Collection & Publication

Grants-in-aid Committee

Applications are invited by the Helen Creighton Folklore Society for Grants-in-Aid to scholars, researchers, museums, and archives for projects relating to folklore research, collection, and publication.

These grants are intended to provide encouragement, not the sole support, for research or publication projects. They can contribute to research equipment, field trip projects, editing and illustrating material about to be published.

They can also assist researchers by offering professional assessment, thereby strengthening the applicant's position in larger competitions.

The Society operates on a limited budget, and tries to assist as many individuals and institutions as possible with limited resources. Grants are normally for $750, with the possibility of renewal; the size of grants may vary.

Announcements will be made by March 31, 2009.

Student applicants should provide a transcript, two letters from academic supervisors, and a prospectus and budget for their project. Scholars and experienced researchers should provide a CV, one supporting letter from a peer, a prospectus and budget.

Archival and museum administrators should outline how their proposal relates to an on-going program of collection, cataloguing or indexing of their materials.

Applications, bearing a postmark up to February 28, 2009, should be addressed to:


The Helen Creighton Folklore Society,
Research Support Committee,
c/o James H. Morrison, Chair,
6289 Yale Street,
Halifax, NS. B3L 1C9
Fax: (902) 420-5141

Newsletter and ICH Booklet in pdf

I've had a lot of requests for copies of the "What is ICH?" booklet, and so I've put it online as a pdf. Also now online is the first edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update newsletter.

What Is Intangible Cultural Heritage? - A introduction to ICH for Newfoundland and Labrador

Intangible Cultural Heritage Update - December 2008 Newsletter

If you would like a print copy of the booklet, please email me (Dale Jarvis). In Canada, you can call me toll free at 1-888-739-1892 ext 2.

Innu Place Names Website a Worldwide First

Natuashish (Labrador). For Immediate Release. 21 November 2008

Labrador Innu made history today by putting on line the first comprehensive cultural website dedicated entirely to Aboriginal place names. Called Pepamuteiati nitassinat (‘As We Walk Across Our Land’), the website gives access to over 500 Innu place names in Labrador, as well as stories, photos, and video clips associated with the names. The website can be explored at www.innuplaces.ca

Innu Nation Grand Chief, Mark Nui, said, “Place names are very important to our people because they are a gateway to our history on the land. Many younger Innu who have gone through the provincial educational system have never learned these names. We hope that the website will help them learn about their culture and history.”

Lots of place names in Labrador come from the Innu (e.g. Minipi-Lake from Minai-nipi, meaning ‘burbot lake’), but others were given by pilots, mining companies, settlers and outfitters and were imposed on places that already had Innu names. The website will enable the Innu and members of the general public to start using the Innu place names, to learn about the meaning of the names and how to pronounce them.

Other Aboriginal groups have been doing place name research over the years, and some are in the process of publishing their own websites (e.g. James Bay Cree and Norwegian Sámi). However, Pepamuteiati nitassinat is the first, comprehensive one put on line to date.

Grand Chief Nui pointed out that “Over thirty years of research with our Elders went in to this website. It’s a gift from our Elders to younger Innu people. It’s part of our Elders’ legacy. It’s also an important part of our intangible cultural heritage that will help educate people about the richness of our history and traditions.”

The website was made possible by contributions from many institutions and agencies including multimedia company Idéeclic, Environment Canada, Parks Canada, Memorial University Linguistics, and Canadian Boreal Trust. The Innu Nation wishes to acknowledge the generous financial support of the Department of Canadian Heritage through Canadian Culture Online.

"What is ICH?" Brochure released

HFNL has just released a new booklet designed to give a basic introduction to Intangible Cultural Heritage The booklet gives a brief overview of intangible cultural heritage, and outlines the four goals identified in the province’s ICH strategy for safeguarding our living heritage:
1. Documenting ICH and living traditions;
2. Recognizing and celebrating ICH;
3. Supporting and encouraging the passing on of knowledge and skills; and,
4. Exploring the potential of ICH as a resource for community development.

Copies are available by phoning 1-888-739-1892 ext 2 or by emailing Dale Jarvis at ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Pdf available at
http://www.heritagefoundation.ca/media/2239/what_is_ich.pdf

Blackwood talk in celebration of Folklore's 40th

by Janet Harron

David Blackwood, one of Canada's most respected visual storytellers -- and an honorary degree recipient from Memorial -- will give an illustrated public lecture on Thursday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m., in the Great Hall of Queen's College at Memorial. During the talk, Dr. Blackwood will discuss how growing up in outport Newfoundland has shaped his work and his life. His talk is in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Department of Folklore at Memorial.

"David Blackwood is a dominant and charismatic force, not only within Canada but also in the international art scene," said Dr. Paul Smith, a professor in the Folklore department. "His work translates the sagas of Newfoundland's traditional culture and commemorates a way of life quite foreign to the majority of Canadians, let along the rest of the world. I speak for all my colleagues in folklore when I say we are thrilled that he is giving this talk in honour of the 40th anniversary of the founding of our department."

Dr. Blackwood's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally with over 90 solo shows and scores of group exhibitions. He has been the subject of two major retrospective exhibitions and the National Film Board's Academy-Award nominated documentary film Blackwood.

His work may in found in virtually every major public gallery and corporate art collection in Canada, as well as in major private and public collections around the world, including the collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (at Windsor Castle) and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

Seating for the Nov. 20th event is limited. To reserve a seat, please contact the Department of Folklore by calling 737-8402 or e-mailing folklore@mun.ca. Parking is available in Lot 19 in the front of Queen's College and on meters in adjacent parking areas.

Wooden Boat Building, continued

The Wooden Boat Building Conference in Winterton at the start of the month was a great success, but the committee has not been resting on their laurels. They have identified three key areas where work needs to continue:

1. Documenting the boatbuilding life of Mr. Henry Vokey.
2. Action as an Advocacy Group for the preservation of our forest resource and rights of bona fide boat builders to harvest boatbuilding timber.
3. Preserving the secrets locked up in the aging boats strewn across the province by creating an army of helpers through a Field Documentation Course specifically addressing the challenges of traditional wooden boats.

The third goal dovetails nicely with the training and standards goals of the ICH strategy, so keep tuned for future developments on that front.

You can see the Wooden Boat News, Issue 3 in pdf here.

Music in the Wrong Place: Disco Music in Quebec

Memorial University welcomes noted author and editor Dr. Will Straw for the second in this year’s Music, Media and Culture Lecture Series. He’ll deliver a special lecture on Thursday, Nov. 20, entitled Music in the Wrong Place: Disco Music in Quebec.

Through an analysis of artists and recordings, Dr. Straw will show how disco music found its place within a culture marked by an intense debate over language and its political meaning.

“In the late 1970s, the music industry trade magazine Billboard called Montreal one of the three international capitals of disco music,” said Dr. Straw, the author of more than 60 articles on film music, media and cultural studies and the co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Popular Music.

“Dance music flourished in Quebec during the late 1970s. I will focus on the career of Pierre Perpall, a disco recording artist sometimes called the ‘first Afro-Quebecois star’.”

The lecture begins at 7:30 p.m., in the Music, Media and Place Gallery in the Arts and Culture Centre, which is located in the northeast corner of the building.

The lecture is sponsored by the Memorial University’s Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media and Place (MMaP). The series showcases diverse research areas, approaches, and presentation styles in the field of music. The event is open to the public and is free of charge.

Parking is available in the Arts and Culture Parking Lot.

Dr. Straw is a professor in the Department of Art History and Communications Studies at McGill University. He is the author of the forthcoming book Popular Music: Scenes and Sensibilities, as well as more than 60 articles on film music,media, and cultural studies.

He is the co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Popular Music and serves on the editorial boards of numerous journals, including Screen and Theory and Critique.

His current research focuses on New York tabloid culture of the 1930s. Media agencies are invited to send representatives to this event.