How important is francophone heritage in traditional Newfoundland music?
Newfoundland is covered with French place names. The French and English vied for control of the islands rich fishing grounds for years. The French capital of the island was Placentia, or Plaisance, before the English finally took control. But that was in 1713. So francophone culture is generally pretty much buried. Normally, francophone music is not what you first associate with Newfoundland traditional music. Irish, definitely, Scottish to a lesser extent. But the dominant rhythmic patterns and instrumentation of traditional Newfoundland and French Canadian music are very similar. And the pocket of francophone culture in Newfoundland in the Port au Port Peninsula (an outcropping of land on the west coast of the island along what is called the French Shore), while small, is very rich. Newfoundland traditional music was in danger of dying out in the 60s and early 70s. mile Benot and Rufus Guinchard – two old men who had been community fiddlers since childhood – were fading into obscurit
