Songs of Labrador

Desmond Maley is the music librarian at the J.W. Tate Library,
Huntington College, Laurentian University.

More than 130 songs are brought together in this delightful compendium
for elementary-school choirs that also serves as an introduction to the
land and people of Labrador.

The triangular-shaped peninsula that now forms the mainland of
Newfoundland has been known to European explorers since Jacques
Cartier’s first voyage to North America in 1534. In fact, Labrador
boasts some of this continent’s most rugged, splendidly isolated
scenery, with mountains in the north and valuable timber reserves in the
deep interior. The cold Labrador Current has a powerful influence on the
climate, and winter lasts six to seven months a year. Music has played
an important role in contributing to the survival of the people, who
today number about 36,000.

Finely illustrated with drawings and black-and-white photographs, Songs
of Labrador contains songs in Inuktitut, Innu-Amin, English, and French.
Themes include love, faith, hard times, fishing, trapping, games,
animals, the land, the people, and children’s songs. Oral histories
chosen from Them Days: Stories of Early Labrador give the collection
added color and flavor.

I was especially taken with the sprightly “Tishialuk Girls,”
presented both in its original version and in an attractive choral
arrangement by Canadian composer Nancy Telfer. “Starvation Song” was
written during the harsh winter of 1948–49, when Labradorians voted in
large numbers to join Confederation. Also noteworthy is
“Ittu-laite,” an Inuit nonsense song meant to be “sung very
quickly, with spitting at the end of each verse.” Each song has
introductory notes and chord information. Most of the Native songs also
have English translations.

This excellent anthology is a significant addition to Canadian
folk-song literature.