If there's a circle of Newfoundlanders gathered in someone's kitchen inthefishing community of Flatrock, there's a good chance Madonna Wilkinson isthefocal point, snapping her fingers to cuethenext song she'll sing and playonheraccordion.
The79-year-old has been playingtheinstrument since she was 15, when she picked one up that had been left behind at one of her parents' rollicking parties intheoceanside town about 25 kilometres north of St. John's, N.L. She has played Sunday masses and St. Patrick's Day parties, and community events of all kinds.
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"You're invited to a lot of parties and they'll say, 'Bring youraccordion!'" Wilkinson said in a phone interview, laughing. "I still love it. Musiccando a lot of wonders for you. That's what I feel, anyway."
Wilkinson is exactlythekind of person historian and musician Heidi Coombs had in mind when she and two friends launched I'se NottheB'y, a monthly performance session for women, non-binary and gender-diverse musicians playing traditionalNewfoundlandmusic at a downtown St. John's pub.
"I used to notice as soon as I'd saytheword 'accordion' people would say, 'My nan playedtheaccordion!'" 49-year-old Coombs said in a recent interview. "That, combined with my personal experience of very few women atthesessions here in town, got me thinking, if everyone has a grandmother who playedaccordion, why are there so few women atthesessions?"
Both Coombs and Wilkinson say they grew up in musical families in ruralNewfoundland. Wilkinson said that when she was a little girl, her father would gather her and her two sisters intheliving room, and they'd dance while he playedtheharmonica and her mother cooked Sunday dinner.
She bought herself her very own instrument when she was 19, using her very first paycheque from what became a 32-year teaching career. It was a second-hand buttonaccordion, and it cost $20 — an extravagance atthetime. "That was an awful thing, paying $20 for anaccordion!" she said, laughing.
Coombs remembers her grandmother playingaccordionwhen she was a child, and her father is a drummer. Her parents hadtheradioonevery Saturday morning, listening totheNewfoundlandmusic programs. She learned to play piano, guitar and bodhran, which is a traditional Irish drum.
It wasn't until she moved to New Brunswick for a few years as an adult that she really understood how centralNewfoundlandmusic was totheisland's culture — how it becomesthesocial glue at so many events, from house parties tothelakeside dancing attheRoyal St. John's Regatta.
But when Coombs moved back home, she found it hard to jointhedowntown sessions, where people get uponstage and play music together without any invitation or prior booking. Though she had played at plenty of sessions in New Brunswick, Coombs said she felt intimidated bythecalibre ofthemusic in St. John's and by how male-dominatedthestage often was.
Wilkinson says she was more focusedonfamily thanonperforming, though she did play a few timesonstage with Shanneyganock, a successfulNewfoundlandtrad rock band.
"That was my only bit of fame," she said. "I enjoyed beingonstage, I wasn't shy or anything .... I just didn't gettheopportunity."
Wilkinson raised three children — a daughter and two sons — and she now has six grandchildren. When she retired from teaching schoolchildren, she began teaching seniors how to playtheaccordion.
She said it's been a joy to find through TikTok that many otherNewfoundlandwomen playtheinstrument, and many younger people are picking it up, too.
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Newfoundlandnans playingtheaccordionis definitely "a thing," Coombs said. She recently began a research project about them, and she said Wilkinson's story is familiar. Many of these women focusedonraising families, but were celebrated players in their communities.
Minnie White, Newfoundland's "first lady oftheaccordion," is perhapsthemost well-known example, Coombs said. White recorded several albums and touredtheprovince, but not until she was in her 50s and had finished raising her children. She wasonstage well into her 80s, before she died in 2001.
And while Newfoundland's nans oftheaccordionare part of Coombs' inspiration fortheI'se NottheB'y sessions, which take placeonthefirst Sunday of every month atTheShip pub in St. John's, she saidthepoint is to create a welcoming, inclusive spot for every woman, non-binary and gender-diverse trad player, no matter what instrument they play.
She and her co-creators oftheevent, Than Brown and Heather Patey, are trying to "build critical mass," she said. "There's so many women and gender-diverse folks who sit at home by themselves playing their instruments, and there hasn't been a space like this for them to get together."
Wilkinson was thrilled bytheidea. If she could get a ride into town, she said she'd go in a heartbeat.
"I think it's wonderful," she said. "I'd love that."
This report byTheCanadian Press was first published May 20, 2024
