INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The Mid-Atlantic Minstrel Show is, like many recordings of this type, the product of a series of happy coincidences. Indeed, when I mentioned the idea to Stephen to produce a recording of some minstrel songs during an extended research trip to my home of Newfoundland and Labrador, I could not have imagined the number of people that would come to be interested in participating in this project. From the moment my feet touched the ground, this recording took on a life of its own and, in many ways, eclipsed my own research. The trajectory of its development can be charted over a wide cross-section of the local music community: Tom Gordon, Director of the Memorial University of Newfoundland’s School of Music was responsible for putting me in contact with a wide range of musicians; Graham Blair, a Ph.D. student in ethnomusicology and accomplished banjoist put me in contact with an international network of musicians who specialize in this canon; Francesca Swann, the host of the local St. John’s CBC Radio 2 show Musicraft, took a particular interest in the development of the project and encouraged me to speak to members of a local folk ensemble The Dardanelles; and finally Andrew, Kate and Tom approached the material both sensitively and voraciously. On the technical side of things, this recording would not have be possible without the talents of my long time friend, Justin Merdsoy, or, for that matter, Jerry Stamp (the lead singer of my own band), and his fine collection of tambourines.

The idea that drives this project is not authenticity, but rather, channelling. The latter is a word that seems to come up a great deal in Stephen’s practical explorations of minstrel material, but, for the project at hand, it seems to have a particular relevance. As Britain’s oldest overseas colony, Newfoundland and Labrador meets the two countries of analysis halfway, both geographically, and perhaps, culturally. This Canadian province, often cited for its ancient folk customs which draw their roots from the United Kingdom is still physically (and in many ways ideologically) situated in the New World. Current research into the history of blackface minstrelsy in this province is revealing that this performance tradition has had a long history here, if not in its Americanized form, then channelled through its distant cousin, mummering. Coming at the material from this angle, we have taken certain liberties with both the composition of the ensemble itself (the substitution of the bones for spoons) and with the vocal performance (particularly audible in both timbre and pronunciation).

We sincerely hope that, in lieu of authenticity, this recording presents another way in which we can listen to songs from this canon and consequently come to understand this canon’s relationship to other folk music traditions on either side of the Atlantic.

--Mark Turner