Newfoundland folk tradition kept alive: ‘Recitation’ on the stage [Video]

On Thursday morning, Dave Penny officially ended a suggested hundred-day isolation period that followed his diagnosis and stem cell treatment for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

On Thursday night, Penny returned to a stage at a downtown St. John’s bar, regaling a small crowd with songs and stories with a distinctive Newfoundland flair.

The musician has mounted a comeback, more than a year after a cancer diagnosis derailed his career as a distinctive Newfoundland storyteller.

“All guns blazing,” he said before the show on Thursday. “Can’t wait.”

Penny is one of the few public performers of recitations, a Newfoundland tradition — stretching back as far as anyone can remember — that blends song and poetry and storytelling.

“It’s not a commercial thing,” he said. “It’s something that you would do at parties. … It’s not a moneymaker, I can attest to that.”

It’s a mix of Irish, English and European influence that arrived …