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Anita Best (Canada)
Anita Best has spent a lifetime exploring and celebrating the outport Newfoundland lifestyle and culture. In the process she has become one of the province's most prominent traditional singers. Born on Merasheen Island in Placentia Bay (since abandoned under the 1960s government resettlement program), Anita comes from a family of traditional singers. On the maternal side, the Reids of Tack's Beach had fine women singers, including her mother Elsie, who brought many songs with her when she moved to Merasheen Island in the 1940s. Her father Fred Best, and his seven brothers were well known throughout Placentia Bay for their forthright singing style and their extensive repertoire of songs, tunes and ditties. Anita remembers her father and uncles singing tunes for winter evening kitchen dances when she was a child. She remembers also the wonderful stories of Bride Fulford and Kate Wilson, two of the island's most extraordinary women. When her father passed away, Anita started to feel that there was something 'missing' from her life. Her interest in traditional singing blossomed anew. She worked with Noel Dinn and Neil Murray to build a repertoire for the band that eventually became Figgy Duff. For one season, she took on the role of lead singer in the band, and for years after she was no longer a performing member she continued to bring traditional songs and tunes to the group. But she wanted to return to Placentia Bay, so in 1977 she settled in the community of Southeast Bight with Pius Power Jr., a fisherman who also happened to be a traditional singer. Young Pius had learned many of his songs from his father, Pius Sr., who was an exceptional singer and storyteller with a large repertoire of songs and stories. In 1979, she gave birth to their daughter Kate. During the time she spent in Southeast Bight, Anita worked in the inshore fishery and lived seasonally aboard the Annie F and Mary P, probably the last working schooner in Newfoundland. She held a fishing license and worked with her husband and his father in their lobster, cod-trap, gill-net and hand-lining enterprise. She learned songs from the Powers and from Edward Ward, a Southeast Bight native with a solid store of traditional songs, as well as from the various resettled fishermen and their wives who came back to their home communities in the summertime. Anita has worked as an educator, teaching French, English and Newfoundland cultural topics in small communities in Placentia Bay as well as in Corner Brook and St. John's. Currently she teaches a course in Newfoundland Traditional Song at the MUN School of Music. Her deep interest in the culture of this province has led her into various fields. Over the years she has worked as an archivist, a folklorist, a broadcaster and singer. As the host and writer of a popular local CBC radio series, "A Little Ball of Yarns" in 1995-96 which featured singers, storytellers and Newfoundland calendar customs, Anita gained a wide following of listeners. In 2001, she joined Christina Smith and Jim Payne engaged to bring traditional music into the MUN School of Music curriculum. She currently teaches Music 2021, Newfoundland and Labrador Folksinging, for one semester during the year. A particular interest in songs and stories passed down through generations lead to her performing career. She has toured extensively in the USA and Europe as a storyteller and singer, made numerous television and radio appearances and added her voice to several Newfoundland recordings. She is best known for two albums: The Colour Of Amber, a collaboration with Pamela Morgan, was released in 1993. Crosshanded, a collection of twelve songs for solo voice, followed a few years later. In these recordings and in her performances, Anita tends to forego the standard Newfoundland repertoire in favour of the lesser known songs and stories collected from around the province. Anita is an initiator, having founded groups and organizations devoted to our music and culture - founding member of the traditional-rock band Figgy Duff, board member of the East Coast Music Association, and founding member of the Music Industry Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. She is also an active member of many other cultural organizations, and has been invited to sit on various advisory boards including, the Stella Burry Corporation, the Placentia West Development Association, the St. John's Folk Arts Council, the provincial Arts and Letters Awards, and the music jury for the Canada Council for the Arts. Anita is an entrepreneur and an innovator. As head of her own company Newfoundland Voices, she presented a unique concert series at Cape Spear Historic Site (Voices from Cape Spear) for seven years and several other concert series at St. George's Heritage Church in Brigus, at the LSPU Hall in St. John's and most recently, at the MUN School of Music. As a partner with Pamela Morgan in the independent record label, Amber Music, she has worked and performed on several CDs. Her CD Crosshanded, was the first recording of traditional Newfoundland songs by an individual unaccompanied performer. Anita Best is also the co-author of the folk song collection Come And I Will Sing You. She has worked with numerous folk arts councils and heritage groups, organizing concerts and other intangible heritage events. She has received several awards and honours for her contributions to heritage preservation and the cultural life of the province. Anita's contributions have been recognized through the following awards:
Discography: www.ambermusic.ca/artist_anita.htm [ top ] © Festival 500 Designed by AppleCore Interactive |
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