Songs move us. Albums move us. But can the music of an entire province change our lives?
The song Old wooden bridge from Regina’s Local Onlyz changed mine.
Ten years ago I was commissioned to create an all-sask. Soundtrack for an ice rink in Downtown Regina. As I collected hundreds of local folk, country and rock songs, hearing her song was an awakening. It opened my eyes to the vastness of the music being made here in my own backyard. An awakening that would soon lead to a decade of involvement in our local music industry.
Understand: I am not alone.
From Cape Breton with love
Named after the famous composer, the hamlet of Mozart dedicated itself entirely to music. (Mozart Saskatchewan/Facebook)
Wendy Bergfeldt, host and producer of CBC Cape Breton’s Main road, says music was important in Mozart, Sask., the community where she grew up. Aside from the hamlet being named after a famous composer, there were bands everywhere, a local violin maker and an inspirational trumpet-playing mayor in a nearby town.
“Growing up in Mozart, you knew music was important. You knew that was the root of the community. There was a hall, there was a stage, there was dancing all the time,” Wendy said.
The neighboring town of Wynyard, Sask, is also very musical, she said.
“There were little dance combos everywhere. There was a Mr. Berenson who made and played violins. There were saxophone and accordion bands. Forrest Pederson was the mayor of Wynyard. He also played in a band.”
She said the mayor played the trumpet, which prompted her to do the same.
“So that’s what I did, as did Forrest.”
This community would forever shape the way Wendy thought about music.
Growing up, Wendy Bergfeldt’s life in her community was surrounded by music. (CBC)
Understand the importance of the media
Wendy was later inspired to go into media by a Swift Current radio DJ.
“The very first professional gig I ever had was on a radio station where Art Wallman was the big character. He was the show’s host and his love of country music, and people who live in Southwest Saskatchewan will know that, was unprecedented,” she said.
The influence of art on Wendy’s career would be life-changing.
In 1980, Art Wallman released this album singing one of his favorite songs, Ray Price’s hit Crazy Arms. (https://archive.org/details/@saskmusicproject)
Today, after two decades of immersion in media, music and its community, Wendy has a biography like no other.
This radio host, recipient of the East Coast Music Awards for lifetime achievement, will join Mi’Kmaq tradition bearers to present a talk on creative energy surge in Unama’Ki, Cape Breton at the Society for Ethnomusicology conference in Ottawa.
The Saskatchewan song that most reminds Wendy of home? 1967 Arctic bait by Wroxton’s Smilin’ Johnnie and Eleanor Dahl.
Capturing local music history
For freelance local music historian Kaley Evans, the music produced in Saskatchewan is unique. (CBC)
For Kaley Evans, a Saskatoon-based freelance local music historian, a lucky find – an album created by Prince Albert called Roving Saskatchewan by Jim Munro – changed his whole life. It wasn’t just Jim’s music that inspired Kaley. He soon learned what Munro meant to other artists in the area.
“I was lucky when I stumbled across him first because he’s the top of the pyramid for me,” Evans said.
Munro recorded himself and other artists in his basement.
“It was in the late 1960s and ’70s and he’s doing these things all by himself. There’s no music infrastructure in the province at this point, other than a few really dedicated people who kind of figured it out on their own,” Evans said. “It’s a kind of mentality that I like. The best thing is these people who were motivated and just did it themselves.”
In 1971, Jim Munro released an album that sparked Kaley Evans’ love of local music history. (citizenfreak.com)
Evans later created his own archived Sask-focused online and on-air show prairie to pine.
So why did Evans decide to devote so much time and talent to preserving the music Sask made?
“A lot of it is really fantastic stuff, so it’s pretty original to my ears. I’ve listened to a lot of music in my life, and the very best of this Saskatchewan stuff is unique to me. ” he said..
Get to know the Gardipy
The Saskatchewan song “Evans” celebrates the best of a First Nation duo who wrote a quintessential country song about a topic we all love to talk about – the weather.
The artists were Henry and Dolores Gardipy from the Prince Albert area and the record was Get to know the Gardipyreleased in the early 1980s.
“On the cover you can see the two of them wearing these country outfits with bow shirts and posing behind an acoustic guitar and a wagon wheel,” Evans said. “You see that and you just know it’s going to be a damn record.”
He says the album has a classic country sound from the era, with good songs and great vocals.
“That one lead Our love is like the weather just kind of defies its era. An absolutely perfect little love country love song. One of those stormy love songs that people love so much, no pun intended,” Evans said.
Prince Albert’s Henry and Delores Gardipy wrote what Kaley thought was the perfect country love song. (prairie2pine/YouTube)
Saskatchewan music has had a significant impact on so many lives over the decades. Culturally diverse and historically significant, our heritage helps determine where our music industry will take us in the years to come.
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