StorySave
Anita Best - The Tin Table
The Tin Table: Tales and Songs from Newfoundland
Newfoundland’s Anita Best was chosen as the 2023 StorySave Teller! Her nominator, Catherine Wright, writes that Anita “has had a long and distinguished career as an educator, archivist, folklorist, broadcaster, singer and storyteller. With a particular interest in oral history, she is well-esteemed for her collection and performance of lesser-known traditional ballads and stories that reflect the rural Newfoundland lifestyle and culture. An inspiration to peers and younger generations, Anita has received several awards and honours for her work, including The Order of Canada, The Marius Barbeau Award and an Honorary doctorate from Memorial University.”
Anita Best is a ballad singer disguised as a storyteller. Originally from the island of Merasheen in Placentia Bay Newfoundland, she is recognized for her work preserving Newfoundland’s rich culture and oral history. She currently lives in Gros Morne National Park in western Newfoundland.
“This collection of tales and songs forms a small sampler of the oral tradition I grew up in and am so proud to be a part of,” says Anita. “They are glimpses of an earlier time. I feel honoured to pass them on to another generation of Newfoundlanders and to the world at large.”
The Tin Table is a three-disc collection including 2 discs of stories and 1 disc of songs. Purchase The Tin Table: Tales and Songs from Newfoundland in our shop here.
For an academic discussion of the tales on this album, please refer to Clever Maids, Fearless Jacks, and a Cat: Fairy Tales from a Living Oral Tradition by Anita Best (Author), Pauline Greenhill (Author), Martin Lovelace (Author), Graham Blair (Illustrator), Utah State University Press, 2019.
For extended descriptions of the songs on Disc 3, click here.
Purchase the CD in our Shop. Buy the digital album on Bandcamp.