The Canadian province that has discovered the meaning of life

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The highlight of Gros Morne is Western Brook Pond, a deep lake framed by towering gneiss and granite that, dating back 1.25 billion years, is twice as old as any other rock in the park. I made the easy two-mile walk, via cotton grass, black pine and bog, to reach the tour boat jetty. Sailing in between its 2,000ft-high walls, it felt right out of Norway; a landlocked “fjord” of Asgardian epic-ness. I expected to see gods carved into the sides – and the captain did point out phantom “faces” in the fissures, hanging valleys and waterfalls. On the return, the commentary stopped, and we cruised in private awe, to a CD of Newfoundland tunes.

That was fine, but not a patch on the real thing, which I got to hear later. The Gros Morne Theatre Festival is held annually, June to mid-September, at the Cow Head arts centre, in the park’s far north. Performing that night was Daniel Payne, a man passionate about researching, adding to and sharing Newfoundland’s great musical canon. With his red beard tickling his fiddle, Payne and two fellow musicians jammed through songs about shipwrecks and lumber, unlucky courtship and grey foggy days; tunes apt to bring a tear to every Newfoundlander’s eye. I might hail from 4,000 miles away, but I was tapping my toes with the rest.

“I still sell a lot of CDs,” music shop owner Dave Rowe told me a few days later, with a mystified grin. “People want to take home a bit of what they’ve heard, even if they don’t have CD players.”

I’d flown from Gros Morne to St John’s, and was browsing the harmonicas, banjos, accordions and ugly sticks at O’Brien’s Music, a local institution. Dave’s grandfather, Roy O’Brien, founded the place in 1939, at the unlikely age of 16; musician Dave took it on in 2015. “It’s changed over time,” he said, “but I try to keep it true to its original character.”

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Source link : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/north-america/canada/newfoundland-canadian-province-discovered-meaning-life/ Author : Publish date : 2023-09-07 03:00:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source .

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The Canadian province that has discovered the meaning of life

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