One of the better-known Christmas tunes from Newfoundland and Labrador is Great Big Sea's rendition of The Seven Joys of Mary. I wasn't aware of the song until the boys recorded it 15 years ago,when they were still a quartet, but have noticed it in various settings in the years since. It's often sung gently and quietly ... which of course makes the GBS version, which has a rollicking instrumental break, pretty different. (You can find another version by Kate and Anna McGarrigle, as well as a classical setting by St. John's-raised soprano Meredith Hall, performing with La Nef, among other renditions.)
I wrote to Bob Hallett, Great Big Sea's wizard of many instruments, to learn more about how they came to record the song. It was to be their contribution to Atlantic Standards Christmas, a compilation album first released in the fall of 1994.Their version appears on at least two other Canadian Christmas compilations.
"The arrangement was something we came up with ourselves," Bob wrote back. "We did not have a traditional version as such, but I knew that the song was sung by traditional carolers [in] Green's Harbour, TB, from family sources. I dug around and found lyrics in an old carol book which came from England. We adapted the lyrics to a more local dialect."
Bob says the band pulls the song out occasionally, usually for shows at Christmas. The video below shows an almost a cappella version, accompanied only by bodhran, from a program hosted by Wayne Rostad.
This is the ninth entry in a musical advent calendar I'm writing this year, leading up to Christmas Eve. Check back every day for something new.
Didn't Figgy Duff do this as well, yearsandyears ago?
Posted by: suenew | Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 07:40