LISTEN HERE: Derina Harvey Pining for the Fjords
Do they even have fjords in Labrador?
No matter. This rugged, wild, unspoiled slab of Canadian shield is topped by amazing Northern Lights in the winter, according to Derina Harvey, who was born and raised in Wabush, Labrador, pop. 1,906. She hasn’t been back there since the moving to Edmonton 18 years ago, to forge a career built on the rousing Celtic-rocking goodness she grew up on.
“Sometimes I get absolutely homesick,” she says, noting that where she lived, five minutes on a snowmobile would take you to the middle of nowhere with zero light pollution and often spectacular aurora borealis.
The latest song from the Derina Harvey Band is ode to that celestial event: a mellow departure in a sultry cover of the 1970s folk song Northern Lights of Labrador, a regional hit (written by Don Fulford, recorded by the duo Corey & Trina) that became part of the Newfoundlandian musical canon.
Harvey says, “Don Fulford was effortlessly able to clearly give us the images of the night skies of my youth. It’s a simple song, but it’s true, and I tried to deliver it with authenticity. I think people react to that truth. The story of the song stands on its own, and with my memories of the Northern Lights. There’s something to be said for great wonders like that, and you just have to experience it. And if you can’t, hopefully that song will fill the void.”
Harvey and her band will be performing a free show on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 8 pm in Hawrelak Park for the Silver Skate Festival; and March 7 at the Station on Jasper.
Until then, LISTEN HERE:
