It seems to me in the late 70s and early 80s, people were excited about our culture, at least in St.John's they were. Lots of musicians were performing Newfoundland music and packing the bars: Figgy Duff, Wonderful Grand Band, Barkin Kettle, Jim Payne and Kelly Russell, Emile Benoit, Rufus Guinchard. Sure, they weren't getting rich, but that didn't seem to be the point; the point was the culture and our pride in it. These days you can tread the length and breadth of St. John's most nights and not hear a single note of live Newfoundland music. What's on the go? Is it complacency? Is there an implicit belief that our culture was definitively saved 20 years ago, so we don't have to worry about it anymore?

I feel that the government's chronic lack of interest in this matter is partially responsible. Young people here are not learning about our history and culture; if it weren't for Great Big Sea, there'd hardly be a youngster in the province able to sing a Newfoundland song! Looking back on the almost complete lack of Newfoundland material in the school curriculum in the 60's and 70's it seems to me it was a deliberate attempt by Joey's Department of Education to Canadianize young Newfoundlanders by depriving them of their own stories. For a few years in the more enlightened 80's, there was a Newfoundland Culture course, although it wasn't compulsory or, in some instances, very well taught. I remember sitting in Finnegan's (the Harvey Road Finnegan's, long gone) enjoying an Old Stock and listening to Figgy Duff play The Yankee Skipper. A gentleman beside me was muttering about this "not being Newfoundland music." Like you would, I disagreed with him. He told me that he was a teacher from Placentia, that he taught the Newfoundland Culture course, and that this was most definitely not Newfoundland music. So I asked him, "Well, what would you call Newfoundland music?" He replied, "Makem and Clancey." I just about bit off my tongue to avoid asking him whether it was the St. Mary's Bay Makems and Clanceys or the Fortune Bay ones he was referring to. Thank goodness there will soon be a history course available, at least; but that won't be compulsory either. Can you imagine a young native of Quebec growing up without knowing the first thing about his history and culture? Or a young Irish person?

Still, you know, it's easy to blame everything on the government, and abdicate responsibility. Getting back to the scene in St. John's, this is what you hear downtown: mostly the same 12 or 15 Irish songs, sung the same way, with the same arrangement, or close to, by half a dozen different bands. OK, you can argue that that's what the crowd wants to hear, but unless you slip in a Newfoundland song or tune here or there, how are they ever going to learn to like it? Our Newfoundland songs are as good as Irish ones, just less familiar. And if Newfoundlanders continue to record the same dozen Irish songs the same way the Irish bands did them, we'll never get anywhere. Our own songs will die out. The musicians and music lovers among us need to make more of an effort. There are tons of books of Newfoundland songs available; if you can't read the music, learn how or get someone to read the melody for you and put it on tape. I personally volunteer for duty. As audience members, demand more Newfoundland music from performers. Get rowdy, yelling "Newfoundland Music!" instead of "Rock and Roll!"

It seems to me that among some of us there is a feeling that Newfoundland music is a kind of second-rate Irish music, that it's much better to learn the "real thing" than to waste time on an inferior version. It's that colonial attitude again. The same attitude that made us, in the past, accept a British accent as an actual qualification. This attitude makes us value our own musicians less that the ones we import on CDs. Last summer at the Vancouver Folk Festival, I spoke to Benny McCarthy, the accordion player in the Irish band "Danu." He was raving about Frank Maher, saying "I hope they appreciate him at home. In Ireland he'd be a hero!" How many other unsung heroes do we have? Newfoundland tunes are quirky, independent, fresh, and original, and there are lots of them. They might have roots in other places but they're as much a part of this place as rhubarb and gooseberry bushes in the garden. Personally, I find Newfoundland tunes more rhythmically challenging and interesting than a lot of other music I've played.

The transmission of culture through the generations in Newfoundland has all but stopped; if it isn't happening in schools, then we'll have to take responsibility for disseminating this knowledge. There are already several wonderful examples of dedicated people doing what they can to preserve our culture. Has anybody heard of Joe Aucoin and his Codroy Valley fiddlers? They raised enough money for 30 fiddles, went into the local school, put a fiddle in the hands of each kid in grade five, and taught them to play. How about Ruth Matthews, in Burin? She has been teaching youngsters to dance for years now. It is up to each of us to learn as many Newfoundland songs, tunes, stories, and sayings as we can, and to use them. It's not good enough to write them down or tape them and put them in an archive; if our culture is going to live, it has to pass through us, not pass us by.