Musicnl gala rocks Twillingate
Ralph O’brien lauds diversity of performances after winning Lifetime Achievement Award
The Newfoundland and Labrador music scene has come a long way in 50 years.
“I am so in awe of the talent that was here tonight,” Lifetime Achievement Award winner and all-around legend Ralph O’brien said.
“Fifty years ago, we didn’t have all this … this diversity.’
Sunday saw the culmination of Musicnl’s annual conference and awards ceremony, hosted in Twillingate this year. From folk to metal and rock to country, a dozen acts performed on the final night, entertaining hundreds of people in the J.M. Olds Collegiate gymnasium, transformed into an appropriate venue for a provincial event.
According to executive director Glenda Tulk, this year saw the event travel to its smallest community yet, but all to good effect.
“It’s always a challenge to come to a small centre to do this kind of conference and awards show,” she said. “The venues are smaller, but the audiences often aren’t.”
Several artists commented on the welcome they received from Twillingate, promising to return. Tulk said part of the benefit of taking the event to new locations is that it gives those communities the confidence to take on other large events. It also creates connections between artists and venues off the beaten path, encouraging the former to come back for other shows.
“We’ll get an influx, in the next few weeks, of memberships in this region,” Tulk said, noting that Musicnl has to work to represent the whole province and not only the Avalon. “They know it’s for them, too.”