Tradition Bearer officially recognized by NL Government

The Honourable Terry French, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, has announced designations under the newly-established Provincial Historic Commemorations Program, which recognizes and commemorates distinctive aspects of our province’s history, culture and heritage.

Importantly for the field of intangible cultural heritage, the Provincial Historic Commemorations Program includes a category for "Tradition Bearer."  This marks the first time that a bearer of a living tradition has been commemorated as a historic resource in the province.

"This program is unique to the country," said Minister French. "In addition to recognizing persons, places and events of provincial historical significance, the Provincial Historic Commemorations Program also acknowledges our customs, practices and traditions – the intangible cultural heritage that defines us as a people and makes us who we are."

Kelly Russell, well-known fiddler and tireless promoter of Newfoundland and Labrador’s traditional music, is the first Newfoundlander to be recognized under the category of Tradition Bearer.

Born in St. John’s, Kelly Russell has been a professional musician since 1974. An original member of such iconic Newfoundland and Labrador groups as Figgy Duff and The Wonderful Grand Band in the 1970s, and more recently The Plankerdown Band, he also spent 10 years working closely with the late, great fiddle masters, Rufus Guinchard and Emile Benoit. Recognizing a need to preserve the music of older performers in Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Russell founded Pigeon Inlet Productions in 1979. The label has since produced more than 30 full length recordings on LP, cassette and CD. 

With wife and partner Tonya Kearley, Mr. Russell also runs music and dance events in Trinity such as Dance Upand the popular dinner theatre show A Time in Pigeon Inlet in Bay Roberts. He has performed locally, nationally and internationally, bringing the unique music of Newfoundland and Labrador across Canada and around the world. Most recently, Mr. Russell performed in Vancouver, British Columbia, at BC Place on February 26 – during Newfoundland and Labrador Day at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

"This event is just the beginning for the Provincial Historic Commemorations Program," said Françoise Enguehard, Chair of the Historic Commemorations Board. "We are hoping that people from all over Newfoundland and Labrador will take a close look at their community’s heritage and will nominate the people, places, events and living traditions that they value.　The important thing to consider will be how these aspects of our heritage and culture demonstrate a broader provincial importance."
Administered by a board of six individuals, the Provincial Historic Commemorations Program is citizen-driven, in that residents of Newfoundland and Labrador can make nominations that they feel are provincially significant and worthy of commemoration.

Establishment of the Provincial Historic Commemorations Program was among the objectives outlined in the province’s cultural strategy, Creative Newfoundland and Labrador: The Blueprint for Development and Investment in Culture (2006).

For more information about the Provincial Historic Commemorations Program, including nomination criteria, please visit: www.tcr.gov.nl.ca/tcr/heritage/commemoration_program.html or call the Commemorations Office at 709-729-6901.

Using Google Maps for Community Folklore Projects

This workshop will teach you how to use the Google Maps feature My Maps to create dynamic, interactive maps for your organization or classroom. During the course of the afternoon you will be introduced to My Maps, and explore its use on a neighborhood-, city-, country-, and world-wide-scale. You will learn how to add text, links, photos, and videos to placemarkers on your map, and how to share it with others. (See Accents and Dialects - Archival Sound Recordings for an example of a project using Google Maps to share audio files.)

Instructor: Jedediah Baker is a graduate of Memorial University's Folklore Department and has worked in at City Lore in New York City, where he worked on the website City of Memory. For the past year, he has been employed as Memorial University's Intangible Cultural Heritage Intern, working with the Digital Archives Initiative.

Note: Participants must provide their own wi-fi enabled laptop for use. This workshop limited to 12 attendees. Preregistration mandatory. RSVP to Dale Jarvis at ich@heritagefoundation.ca or phone 709-739-1892 ext 2.


Tuition: $50
Date: Thursday, March 25, 2010. 9am - 4pm
Location: St. John's, TBA

ICH Update Newsletter for March 2010

In this issue of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update newsletter for March 2010: Newfoundland prepares for a visit from Cecile Duvelle, Chief of the Intangible Heritage Section of UNESCO and Secretary of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage; the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador introduces its technical workshop series with workshops on digital audio and Google maps; schoolchildren on Newfoundland's west coast learn the traditional art of spruce root basket making; poetry and storytelling; a snowshoe exhibit at the Labrador Interpretation Centre in North West River, Labrador; and an invite to a public lecture on spatial knowledge.


Download the pdf version of the newsletter here:
http://tinyurl.com/ycxzace

Digital Audio Recording for Ethnography and Oral History

Description: Both novice and experienced ethnographers and oral historians are often mystified by digital jargon and by the increasing array of options and equipment available for audio recording. Aimed at the requirements of field researchers, this workshop will provide a thorough introduction to: 1. fundamentals of digital audio 2. the selection and use of digital audio equipment for recording interviews. Attendees will have opportunities for hands-on work with recorders and microphones.


Instructor: Andy Kolovos is the Archivist and a staff Folklorist at the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury, Vermont. He earned an MA in Folklore and an MLS, both from Indiana University. He has worked as an Instructor for the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University, a researcher and archivist for Traditional Arts Indiana, a fieldworker for the Polis Center at IUPUI, project assistant for the Folklore volume of the MLA International Bibliography, and the librarian and archivist of the American Society for Psychical Research. His research interests include audio field recording, audio preservation and the history and development of folklore and folklife archives. He maintains the Vermont Folklife Center's Audio Field Recording Equipment Guide.

This workshop limited to 12 attendees. Preregistration mandatory. RSVP to Dale Jarvis at ich@heritagefoundation.ca or phone 709-739-1892 ext 2.


Tuition: $50
Date: Thursday, March 11, 2010. 9am - 4pm
Location: The Lantern, 35 Barnes Road, St. John's

Gander and Marystown Folklore and Oral History Workshops

In the first week of March, the ICH program will be offering two more workshops in its ongoing project planning workshop series.

Entitled “How to Plan an Oral History or Folklore Project,” the workshop will take participants through the process of planning a project, from establishing goals, doing preliminary research, addressing issues around ethics and consent, choosing personnel, documentation methods, processing collected materials, equipment, and budgets.

This workshop will be beneficial to people who are contemplating folklore and oral history projects of all sorts, ranging from short-term projects involving a single researcher to complex, long-term projects involving many researchers.


Instructor for the workshop is folklorist Dr. Anna Kearney Guigné. Guigné holds a Ph.D in folklore from Memorial University of Newfoundland where she is currently an adjunct professor for the M.A. and Ph.D. Programs in Ethnomusicology, at Memorial’s School of Music. From 2006 to 2008 she was the initiator and Artistic Director for the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention (NAFCO), which crossed over to St. John's, August 2008.

Guigné currently works as an independent folklorist and conducts research in the areas of community history, biography, contemporary legend, ship building, heritage gardens, traditional folksong and family genealogy.

Through her community work with such organizations as the Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (1980-81), the Grace General Hospital (1982-1988), and the Seniors Resource Centre Association (1989-1991), she has considerable hands-on experience in such areas as fund-raising, project planning, and volunteer organization. Since 2000, she has owned and operated Kearney’s Watch Repair, a small family business located in the Avalon Mall, St. Johns.

Tuition for each workshop is $25.

Gander Workshop
Date: Monday, March 1st, 1pm – 4pm.

Location: Salon "A", Hotel Gander, Gander.

Marystown Workshop
Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 1pm – 4pm.

Location: Salon "C", Marystown Hotel, Marystown.

To register, call Dale Jarvis at 1-888-739-1892 ext 2, or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca
For a full list of folklore and oral history workshops, visit our webpage at: http://www.mun.ca/ich/classes/

What is in your pancake? Explore the history and folklore behind Pancake Day

What is Pancake Day? Where does it come from? What do you put in a pancake for Shrove Tuesday?

Listen in to find out!





As part of his Archival Moments series, Larry Dohey, then with the Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John’s, wrote:

Mardi Gras literally means "Fat Tuesday" in French. The day is also known as Shrove Tuesday (from "to shrive," or hear confessions) or Pancake Tuesday. The custom of making pancakes comes from the need to use up fat, eggs and dairy before the fasting and abstinence of Lent begins.

GIVE HIM “SHORT SHRIFT”

On Shrove Tuesday, Catholics were encouraged to confess their sins so that they were forgiven before the season of Lent began. To shrive someone, in old-fashioned English (he shrives, he shrove, he has shriven or he shrives), is to hear his acknowledgement of his sins, to assure him of God's forgiveness, and to give him appropriate spiritual advice. The term survives today in ordinary usage in the expression "short shrift". To give someone short shrift is to pay very little attention to his excuses or problems. The longer expression is, "to give him short shrift and a long rope," which formerly meant to hang a criminal with a minimum of delay. 

WHAT IS IN THAT PANCAKE? 

Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent. Pancakes are eaten on this day because they contain fat, butter and eggs which were forbidden during Lent.
Pancakes were a simple way to use these foods, and one that could entertain the family. Objects with symbolic value are cooked in the pancakes, and those who eat them, especially children, take part discovering what their future will be as part of the meal.
The person who receives each item interprets the gift according to the tradition: a coin means the person finding it will be rich; the thimble finder will be a seamstress or tailor, a pencil stub means he/she will be a teacher; a holy medal means they will join a religious order; a nail that they will be (or marry) a carpenter, and so on.

image:  The pancake woman, Rembrandt, 1635.

Oral History Planning Workshops in Port Union, Gander, Marystown

How to Plan an Oral History or Folklore Project
The workshop will take participants through the process of planning a project, from establishing goals, doing preliminary research, addressing issues around ethics and consent, choosing personnel, documentation methods, processing collected materials, equipment, and budgets. This workshop will be beneficial to people who are contemplating folklore and oral history projects of all sorts, ranging from short-term projects involving a single researcher to complex, long-term projects involving many researchers.

PORT UNION WORKSHOP
Instructor: Dale Jarvis, ICH Development Officer
Tuition: $25
Date: Thursday, February 18th, 1pm – 4pm.
Location: The Factory/Advocate Building, Coaker Foundation, Port Union.

GANDER WORKSHOP
Instructor: Dr. Anna Guigne, Folklorist
Tuition: $25
Date: Monday, March 1st, 1pm – 4pm.
Location: Salon "A", Hotel Gander, Gander.

MARYSTOWN WORKSHOP
Instructor: Dr. Anna Guigne, Folklorist
Tuition: $25
Date: Wednesday, March 3rd, 1pm – 4pm.
Location: Salon "C", Marystown Hotel, Marystown.

For a full list of workshops, visit our webpage at:
http://www.mun.ca/ich/classes/

To register, call Dale Jarvis a 1-888-739-1892 ext2 or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca

Intro to Interviewing Techniques Workshop

On February 12th, the Intangible Cultural Heritage program of the Heritage Foundation of NL will be offering a beginner’s workshop for researchers doing folklore and oral history interviews. The session will cover selecting informants, doing a pre-interview, applying the best interviewing techniques, tips for recorded interviews, and suggestions on processing the interview data for preservation and dissemination.

The workshop will be run by Dr. Philip Hiscock of Memorial’s Folklore Dept. Hiscock specializes in the folklore of Newfoundland and Labrador with active interests generally in language, folksong, the relationship between folklore and popular culture, and the evolution of custom.

Hiscock was editor of Foaftale News, the newsletter of the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research. For two decades he was Archivist of the MUN Folklore and Language Archive and retains an active interest in field research, archival organization, and conservation. In 2006-07 he was President-Elect of the Folklore Studies Association of Canada (L'Association canadienne e'ethnologie et de folklore).

Dr. Jillian Gould teaches in the Department of Folklore, and argues that interviewing is the heart of any folklore or oral history project. “It is how we learn first-hand about people’s experiences, thoughts, and beliefs,” says Gould. “While we all have had in-depth conversations with friends, family, and community members, interviewing requires different skills – since you will be documenting with purpose.”

“These skills not only will pave the way for smooth and substantial interviews, which will become important community documents, but also, should make the interview experience an enjoyable one for both the interviewer and the interviewee,” she says.

Dr. Hiscock’s workshop will take place Friday, February 12th, 2010, from 1pm - 4:30 pm. It will be held at The Lantern, on Barnes Road in St. John's. Participants are asked to bring notebook and writing tools. Call Dale Jarvis at 1-888-739-1892 ext 2 to register, or email ich@heritagefoundation.ca. Tuition is $25.

For a full list of workshops see:
http://www.mun.ca/ich/classes

A Look at Classical Native Music through Indigenous Eyes

MMaP, the Research Centre for the Study of Music, Media and Place is pleased to announce that Dawn Avery of Montgomery College will be spending the month of February in residence at the MUN School of Music.

About her visit to MUN, Ms Avery said: “I’m delighted to be at MUN with such enthusiastic students, talented faculty, and the brilliant mind and generous spirit of Bev Diamond. I look forward to exploring ideas of tradition and modernity in the sounds and sentiments this place evokes as I work with the World Music Ensemble on a new classical Native composition and collaborate with Bev on a scholarly paper on Indigenous composition.”

While she is here, Ms Avery will be actively participating in the teaching, performance and research life at the MUN School of Music, as well as pursuing her own research. Her activities while at MUN include:

· Participating in a workshop and concert at the Newfound Music festival

· Teaching a module in the World Music Ensemble where students will learn several of her own compositions that draws in Native American musical elements

· Giving a lecture in MMaP’s Music, Media and Culture lecture series on February 16: Tekeni – two worlds: a look at Classical Native Music through Indigenous Eyes

· Collaborating with Dr. Beverley Diamond on a research project on Indigenous composition

· Editing a manuscript for Mohawk Elder Janice Longboat on a project sponsored by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation using culture as a means for healing aboriginal women from the legacy of residential school abuse.

· Writing a string quartet

Ms Avery specializes in the performance of contemporary Native American music. Her recent recording Tulpe was nominated for a Grammy award in the classical crossover and chamber music categories. She has also produced an annual World Arts Festival for the past seven years. She also has two CDs that feature a unique combination of classical music and Native American music.

A composer, cellist, vocalist and educator, Ms Avery is equally comfortable performing at Lincoln Centre as she is in a sweat lodge. She specializes in the performance of contemporary Native American music with her own ensemble, as a soloist for the North American Indian Cello Project and in her native classical trio, Three Sides Taagi.

Working with musical luminaries from Luciano Pavarotti to Sting, Ms Avery has spent years honing her musical talents, collaborating and performing with the likes of John Cale, John Cage, David Darling, Reza Derakshani, Sussan Deyhim, Ustad Sultan Kahn, Karsh Kale, Mischa Maisky, R. Carlos Nakai, Baba Olatunji, Joanne Shenandoah and Glen Velez.

For more information, or to get in touch with Dawn Avery, please contact: Kristin Harris Walsh, Project Coordinator at MMaP, kharriswalsh@mun.ca, 737-2051.