THE NORTH’ s LEGACY TO ME By Helen Parker

 

Again, across the NWT, some of my happiest memories are connected with music. How much we enjoyed the dances in community halls or school gyms across the North, to toe tapping fiddle music such as played by good friends Frank Cockney of Tuk, Coppermine’s Colin Adjun, or Richard Lafferty from Hay River, the wonderful accordion music of the Eastern Arctic. Never to be forgotten are the square dances, jigs, and the round dances where the floor was literally ‘jumping’! From the Delta to Baffin Island the dances were often the highlight of the trip. And who can forget the music of the drums? The mesmerizing rhythm of the Dene drummers and the fascination of the Inuit drummers cause their songs to always be with me. One of my most haunting memories is of the Dene Drummers playing at Fort Simpson the night before the Papal visit in 1987. They concluded the evening with Johnny Landry playing his “Hinana Hoho Hine”. The sound of the pulsating rhythm in that beautiful setting and the setting sun is….well, whenever I hear that music; it brings tears to my eyes.