Toronto may have had its secret Prince concert at the Sony Centre last week, but Timmins yesterday had its first Vern Cheechoo- Lawrence Martin concert in a long, long time.
They were both in Timmins to attend a conference on health issues facing the James Bay Coastal communities at the Holiday Inn.
“We play frequently as we both now live in Cochrane,” Cheechoo said.
“But it has been a long time since we played in Timmins... It was the summer festival some years ago,” he added.
They hopped across the street to the Day’s Inn for a performance during a reception for an Indigenous People's workshop, Mining in Northeastern Ontario, hosted by Cando and Natural Resources Canada.
Reunited in Timmins, Cheecho and Martin played for two solid hours.
They performed such songs as Martin’s Muskego, Elders, and Time to Get Together.
They also performed Cheechoo’s Lonesome and Hurtin’ and his cover of the Billy Joe Shaver tune, I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal, But I Will Be a Diamond Some Day.
The songs from their 2003 CD were also played and they performed a new song inspired by the Ring of Fire mining area in Northwestern Ontario whose rivers flow north into Cree territory.
Originally, Vern Cheechoo was listed as the guest performer on the mining workshop program.
There was no hint that Lawrence Martin - former mayor of both Sioux Lookout and Cochrane, Ontario and most recently the Grand Chief of the Mushkegowuk Territorial Council - would be performing with Vern Cheechoo.
Vern Cheechoo has been busy as well, serving as the director of Mushkegowuk Council's Lands and Resources Department for the last several years.
A bonus appearance during the evening was that of young Aboriginal mining consultant Steve McCoy from Sault Ste. Marie and a member of the Garden River First Nation.
Cheechoo and Martin have been playing together in bands since high school.
In 1976, they formed a band called Country North with Earl Danyluck and Elmer Cheechoo that used to play around Timmins.
They would also fly-in to perform in the James Bay coast communities.
“We met in high school in North Bay,” said Cheechoo. “I grew up in Moose Factory and Lawrence grew up in Moose River, 40 km down the track.”
Vern Cheechoo comes from a musical family and his father Sinclair Cheechoo was renowned in his own right for being a superb fiddler whose style goes back to the Orkney Islands where many of the European settlers came from to work at the Hudson Bay post.
“I know that my relatives from Fort George were taken to the Orkney Islands years ago to perform and they were told that was the way it was played many years ago,” Cheechoo said.
But the cultural influence worked both ways.
“On the Orkney Islands, they have a dance called the Duck Dance that came from Cree culture, so it seems our music and culture intertwined.”
Martin’s musical career started at an early age when his Aunt Abba bought him an acoustic guitar and taught him to play.
Martin learned three chords and began to write songs at age 12.
“In high school, we played all kinds of music,” Vern Cheechoo recalled. “Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, you name it. But later we formed a country rock band.”
Martin remembers those days, too.
“They thought I was the country hick and they were the cool guys,” recalled Martin.” They were playing the Rolling Stones and the Who and here I was playing Country Road by John Denver.”
“I was country when country wasn’t really cool and now we switched around.”
The chemistry between Cheechoo and Martin - or Martin and Cheechoo if you will - has kept them in tune for 40 years.
“When you play music, you get this vibe,” explained Martin. “We have this connection. Sometimes we have this connection with other people who play in the band, but not as strong as I have with Vern. It is as if he knows what I am going to play next and I know what we are going to play next.”
They last recorded in 2003 when they released their joint CD, The Right Combination, which was nominated for a Juno.
Martin was the very first winner of the Juno Award for Best Music of Aboriginal Canada Recording for his album Wapistan Is Lawrence Martin in 1994.
Cheechoo’s music has been featured in films, including Lonesome and Hurtin’ in Bruce McDonald’s classic, Dance Me Outside.
