Anita Best Listings (V)=video
Anita Best Listings (V)=video
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Bold Princess Royal, The ~ Traditional (V) Buns Of Daily Bread, The ~ Peter Leonard Cliffs Of Baccalieu, The ~ Jack Withers (V) I Never Met A Liar (I Didn't Like) ~ Ron & Connie Hynes (V) Kelligrew's Soiree ~ Johnny Burke Lord Bateman ~ Traditional Lukey's Boat ~ Virtue Kean [with Pamela Morgan] (V) Me Old Ragadoo ~ Traditional Rubber Boots ~ Traditional Soup Supper In Clattice Harbour ~ Peter Leonard Spanish Captain, The ~ Traditional Súil A Grá ~ Traditional [with Pamela Morgan] (V) Tobacco Song, The ~ Peter Leonard (V) Water Witch, The ~ Traditional Biographical Notes Anita Best was born in the small fishing village of Merasheen, in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, just before confederation with Canada. On both sides of her family there were wonderful singers of old ballads, tragic sea songs and comical ditties, and the occasional storyteller who gathered everyone around on the long winter nights. Anita married Young Pius Power in 1977 and went to a small fishing village, not too far away from where she was born, Southeast Bight. Pius's father, Old Pius, was a great singer and storyteller, so she added his songs and stories to her family collection while fishing with the Power family. In that collection were also a number of songs from Bonavista Bay and the French west coast of Newfoundland which she came upon while teaching school. She was one of the founding members of the traditional rock band, Figgy Duff, but left the band after a short time to continue teaching and other cultural pursuits. She has followed careers in broadcasting, university lecturing and archiving around the province, always returning to singing and storytelling when she can. In the 1980s, Anita studied folklore at Memorial University and settled in St. John's with her daughter Kate. She works currently from St. John's as a university lecturer, ballad singer and storyteller, as well as a heritage consultant, with a specialty in cultural policy. She travels around Canada, in the United States and Europe in her storytelling and singing career. Most recently she has worked with bookmaker Marnie Parsons on a hand-printed collection of songs by Placentia Bay songmaker Peter Leonard, and a collection of five fairytales as told by her late father-in-law. |
