Buchans Miners - Come Hell or High Water: Songs of the Buchans Miners

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	Cock of the North
	2	The Christmas of ' 49
	3	All Because of ASARCO
	4	The Victims
	5	The Buchans Strike
	6	Solidarity Forever

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	Newfoundland Forever
	2	Unity Forever
	3	Our Leader Our President Don Head
	4	The Bold Union Boy
	5	Aftermath
	6	Drunken Miners

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Information/Write-up

Recorded on location in Buchans, Newfoundland by Peter Narvaez on November 8, 1975, June 6th, 1976 and August 14th, 1976. In 1973 a strike of hardrock miners ( United Steelworkers of America, Local 5457 ) in the company town of Buchans, Newfoundland, against the multi-national American Smelting and Refining Company ( ASARCO ) fostered a series of very militant union songs.

Personnel:
Don Bursey, button accordion; Bill Ivany, acoustic guitar, harmony vocals, lead vocal on Drunken Miners; George Ivany, organ and harmony vocal on Drunken Miners; Gerald Ivany, electric bass and harmony vocal on Drunken Miners; Kitty Ivany, harmony vocal on Drunken Miners; Sandy Ivany, lead vocals; Angus Lane, monologist on Christmas of ‘49 and vocal on Solidarity Forever; Harold Skanes, mandolin and vocal on Solidarity Forever; Len Skanes, acoustic guitar and vocal on Solidarity Forever.

The Newfoundland Herald TV Week, November 9, 1977 — 13

"Come Hell Or High Water"
Songs Of The Buchans Miners

by Neil Murray

Over the past year or so, the local book publishers Breakwater Books have started bringing out records as well. So far they’ve produced two albums. The first of them featured Rufus Guinchard, the great fiddler from Hawke’s Bay, with a selection from his vast repertoire of fiddle tunes.

The second is "Come Hell Or High Water" — Songs of the Buchans Miners", and although it came out a while ago, it hasn’t attracted as much attention from the media as it deserved. Hence this belated review.

The songs on this album are militant union songs written during the Buchans strikes of 1971 and 1973. They were broadcast through the roof-speaker of a car that accompanied the miners and their families as they marched up to the picket line at the company gate every day of the 1973 strike. Thus they served a purpose in rallying the spirits of the embattled strikers. Several years later they were recorded by Peter Narvaez, folklorist and well-known local musician, and this album is the result.

Most of the songs are serious broadsides popular in Irish, Newfoundland, and country and western songs, with new words put to the familiar tunes. For instance, "All Because of ASARCO" goes to the tune of "The Water Is Wide". "We’re Surrounded By Water", "Newfoundland Forever" goes to "Jack Hinks". "Our Leader, Our President, Don Head" goes to "Kelly, the Boy from Killian". "Aftermath" goes to "The Kilgary Solitare", and "The Victims" goes to "The Green, Green Grass of Home".

All the songs were written by Angus Lane, a unionist and well-known local poet. For a brief sample, there’s the chorus of "The Victims": "Yes, they’ll all be there to meet us/ Smiling broadly, trying to beat us/ It’s odd to know we have our friends at home."

One other country-style song on the album, "The Buchans Strike", was written by Hazel and Ron Flight during the 1971 conflict. There’s also a traditional song, "The Duncan Miners", sung in three-part harmony rendition of the internationally known labour anthem "Solidarity Forever". A moving song called "The Christmas of '49" was written by Angus Lane about a terrific incident in the history of the central Newfoundland community. It tells how the miners earned the right to leave Buchans and visit their families at Christmas, which had been denied them by ASARCO.

The musicians heard on the album are all union members and had all played at one time or another with the Buchaneers, a loose-knit local band which has been in existence for thirty years with changing personnel, led by Harold Skanes who plays mentioned on most of the tracks. On the country-style songs "The Victims" and "The Buchans Strike" he’s backed up by his son Len on rhythm guitar, and for most of the others these two are joined by Don Bursey on button accordion.

Because his son has a chance to display his skill on the only purely instrumental track on the album, "Cock of the North". The vocals are taken care of by Sandy and Bill Ivany. The only track with electric instruments is "The Drunken Miners", sung by Bill Ivany and played by the Ivany family rock band "Unity" with electric guitar, bass, and drums.

The Buchaneers’ musicianship is solid rather than flashy, and this album is a simple effective presentation of the lyrics, which obviously take pride of place on a recording of this kind. As a musical record of an important episode in recent Newfoundland history, "Come Hell Or High Water" is a valuable addition to the small but growing catalogue of local recordings.

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