Anita Best was born on the island of Merasheen the year before we joined Canada. This was a time when singing, dancing and storytelling were the main forms of recreation. Anita has become one of the great bearers of this tradition - collecting, performing and recording these songs and stories.
Anita Best's Songs
From the album Crosshanded. Amber Music. 1997
The Liverpool Pilot. A song she learned from Pius Power, Jr. who would have called it a tuneful heave-up shanty.
Lord Bateman. The first of the very old songs she set out to learn. She got it from Kate Wilson in 1973.
Me Old Ragadoo. A comical ditty she learned from Pius Power, Sr.
The Spanish Captain. One of the wonderful old songs her mother brought from Tack's Beach to Merasheen in 1945.