RE: To music blog from SistA

Ok - so - I have to further this discussion that my sis started below simply because she got the gears in my head whirring about the topic at hand.

I have a love/hate relationship with Newfoundland Labradorian relentless support for all things from home.

I LOVE that people at home and away are fiercely proud of themselves for being from "The Rock". Whether I agree with their way of portraying it or not (I hate listening to someone correct a perfectly pronounced word of a mainlander and tell them the way ALL Newfoundlanders say it is some Idiolect* version of the word that only part of the province utters)- there is something to be said about the pride that we portray and our very unique and interesting culture and sense of it.

I HATE that we support things whether they are good or bad simply because they are from here - this seems to happen most in the music industry. Canadian Idol is a perfect example of this - I have been around the music scene long enough to know (whether it is my taste or not) what is considered to be talent/good music - but it seems to be that in order to succeed, even a little bit, on a talent show, all you need is to be from here. People will vote relentlessly for a person based SOLELY on that fact alone. It doesn't matter if you are good or bad at singing, simply say you are from Newfoundland and people will come out in droves to hear the sound of someone torturing a cat in a bag. Simply. Shameful.
What makes it shameful is that you have REAL talent (Hey Rosetta for example) that are really quite good and starting to make a name for themselves through diligence and a unique sound and an alarming amount of people from Newfoundland Labrador don't even know who they are! But say the name Craig Sharpe out loud and BINGO, instant recognition and the opinion that he is the best thing since sliced bread (even if he hasn't done anything since CI and forgot the words to Dreamer on stage with Roger Hodgeson).
****Tara Oram is a bit of an exception to this rule, but she barely had the same support as other NLers on CI and one could argue that was because there was some confusion about where she was REALLY from. Yet without this blind backing she has become something quite significant in the music industry.

A Little closer to the point that sis was making. Listening to Jiggs and Reels simply because you think it is the Newfoundland thing to do is kinda "poser". Not actually listening to the music because you enjoy it and feel it is good (like LLoyd Barlett, Masterless Men, Great Big Sea, Celtic Connection, Irish Descendant's, Buddy Wassisname and the other Fellers) and listening simply because it is from Newfoundland (Gazebo Unit, Crooked Stovepipe, Bernie Sheaves, or UGH Jimmy Flynn ((Who is not ACTUALLY FROM NL but people refuse to remember that as he parodies us relentlessly))), It is an uneducated decision and the same as cultism.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I am all about supporting your own, and having your own taste, but doing something because you feel you HAVE to in order to be a "TRUE" Newfoundlander is bull.....the same as with religion - it is something you feel on a personal level. And you don't need to have it plastered all over your car, body, home, and tape deck for it to be a show of faith. It is possible to choose what you like and dislike about what this province has to offer and it not be sacrilegious.

Believe it.

*Idiolect has no reference to the word idiot - it is a reference to individual dialect that occurs when you are surrounded by various different dialects over a period of time. A hodge-podge of different accents and words from different cultures/dialects.