Gros Morne Summer Music teams up with Daniel Payne for night of traditional music

by Keith and Heather Nicol

      Daniel Payne is a well known musician from Cow Head who is in demand as a performer across the province. In fact, when we saw his Gros Morne Summer Music performance on Tuesday, August 7 he told us he had just arrived from the St. John’s Folk Festival just before the show was to start. He had planned on getting to the Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre earlier than 7:50 pm (for his 8:00 pm show!) but there was fog on the Avalon Peninsula to which he said “That is no surprise” but then he got a flat tire just outside of Grand Falls “and that was a surprise”. Despite having just driven across the province and with some technical problems with his show, Daniel Payne played on showing his expertise on a variety of different instruments. He started with the wooden flute (which he said he has picked up recently) and then the accordion, the mandolin (the instrument he first learned to play) and finally the fiddle. The fiddle he told us had come from Labrador and was so well worn that in places you could see which notes had been most commonly played. “I just got it fixed up last year and now it makes a great sound” he said before launching into a fiddle tune from the late Emile Benoit of the Port au Port Peninsula. The second half of the show involved projected  video performances of his friends and relatives which he accompanied with a variety of instruments on stage. He finished by playing and singing some of his favourite traditional songs. If you like traditional Newfoundland music then be sure to take in this presentation by one of Western Newfoundland’s most accomplished  musicians. The show-The Wind Through the Window- runs Tuesdays until August 21 in Corner Brook and Thursdays until August 23 in Woody Point and you can get more information at: www.gmsm.ca. 

Daniel Payne uses a multi media show to "play" with relatives and friends (photo R Butt)

      While taking in a Gros Morne Summer Music performance in the evening, check out the Corner Brook Museum and Archives during the day. This museum has been closed for almost 3 years due to the construction of the new city hall and it has just reopened. Our guide, Tyler Locke, lead us through the exhibits which cover a variety of themes. On the main floor we started with a look at various articles from the Corner Brook area households and businesses. These items span many decades including a sewing machine dating from 1868. In another room on the main floor there is a new Captain Cook display including a copy of one of his original maps. There are also panels depicting the first nations presence in Western Newfoundland and information about Newfoundland’s role in World War I, II and the Korean War. Downstairs there are displays on of wildlife, rocks and birds of Newfoundland and a large area devoted to changes in wood harvesting and Corner Brook’s  pulp and paper industry. On the top floor, which used to be the Corner Brook’s court room, there are more photos and other information about Corner Brook’s history.  The museum is well worth a visit and Tyler told us that they have received lots of visitors since it recently reopened.  For more information see: http://www.cornerbrookmuseum.ca/. 

Visitors getting a tour of the wildlife portion of the Corner Brook museum