Title: Music from the heart : compositions of a folk fiddler /
Authors: Quigley, Colin.
Publisher: University of Georgia Press,
Year: 1995
Subjects: Benoit, Emile,; Folk music Newfoundland and Labrador Port au Port Peninsula History and criticism.; Fiddle tunes Newfoundland and Labrador Port au Port Peninsula History and criticism.; Fiddlers Newfoundland and Labrador Port au Port Peninsula Biography.
Abstract: The subject of this study of musical creativity in the oral tradition is Emile Benoit (1913-1992), an exemplary traditional fiddler from French Newfoundland. Music from the Heart follows Benoit through a rapidly changing musical milieu as he moves from a small rural community to international musical and folk festivals. Benoit was the preeminent dance musician to Newfoundland's Port-au-Port Peninsula, a role he maintained until the early 1960s, when local musical tastes began to change under the influence of mainstream North American culture. In the late 1960s and early 1970s a movement for Newfoundland cultural revival provided new opportunities for his musical expression, and Benoit once again found himself the preeminent performer in what then became a musical community of international scope.