Music

Newfoundland Labrador music reflects the diversity of our history. Present-day music draws from the songs and traditions of Aboriginal music and the various European groups who settled the island shoreline and up the coast of Labrador. Over time, the settlers and their descendants reworked the old music and created new songs to tell their own stories.

Much like other disciplines affected by the cultural revolution of the 1970s, Newfoundland Labrador folk music truly emerged from the kitchens and sitting rooms to take its place as a broader cultural industry. In the first half of the twentieth century, several printed collections helped spread and popularize the music. By the end of the 1960s young musicians and artists were taking a new interest in traditional culture, and by the mid-70s young bands were playing the old tunes and ballads with electric instruments and sophisticated arrangements. From the early 80s, and in particular over the last decade, unprecedented optimism about the commercial potential of Newfoundland and Labrador music has developed. Showcased by the East Coast Music Awards and various festicals, Atlantic Canadian music has been promoted as both an industry and a developing economic resource.

The music sector in Newfoundland Labrador has evolved an infrastructure of festivals, educational programs and institutions, private companies, public associations and all the earmarks of a burgeoning cultural industry. The music sector is perhaps one of the cultural community’s leading disciplines in terms of economic growth and development, and certainly one of its most nationally recognized.