Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Apr 07/00) - Students and residents around the Beaufort Delta had a blast last week thanks to a bassoon and four very talented musicians.

On hand to delight and enlighten audiences in all eight communities was Canadian bassoonist virtuoso George Zukerman and the Edmonton-based Cafe Musique trio. Zukerman said the four visited the North last year, when they played the Great Slave region, but this time, co-sponsored by the Beaufort Delta Education Council, they made a bigger impact in the schools.

"We felt we'd done past trips backward. Playing for the public first and schools second," said Zukerman. "This time the schools came first."

At age 72, Zukerman knows his music well, and did his best to get it across to his audiences. He said he chose to play with Cafe Musique -- comprised of cellist Christine Hanson, Raylene Campbell on accordion and flutist Bill Demur -- specifically for its unusual combination of instruments and range of performance.

Speaking at a public concert at Sir Alexander Mackenzie school last Tuesday night, Zukerman played the role of both bassoonist and showman. He alternated between explaining the history of his unusual instrument, telling stories, showing off its power and introducing tangos, waltzes and concertos performed by the ensemble.

"Everyone thinks the bassoon player only plays with large orchestras and has time to pop out for a quick beer or to do a crossword puzzle," he said, "but there's much more to it."

Indeed, Zukerman proceeded to illustrate the bassoon's low-range humour and characterization, as in Peter and the Wolf, its middle-range melodic quality and high-range Oriental tones. Playing solo and then together with Cafe Musique, Zukerman also delivered the strikingly familiar Simpson's theme song, a performance which had the kids sit up and pay rapt attention earlier in the day, according to teacher Aileen Connor.

"They loved it but were saying, 'It's too long to be the real song, they stole it!'" she said.

Getting through to the kids was the whole idea, of course, but Zukerman also played selections of the "Eskimo poem" Anerka by Toronto composer Milton Barnes for the adults. He said afterward that he also picked up a 1915 book on Eskimo melodies from Boreal Books in Inuvik, and might one day try his own hand at composing on the North.

Chaperoned by Michelle Tomasino from the education council, the visitors said they thoroughly enjoyed their entire trip, and are targeting a South Slave tour next time around.

Asked for a Beaufort Delta highlight, Zukerman said it had to be the night they arrived early in Holman and found themselves in the middle of an impromptu jam session. Cellist Hanson agreed and said it was quite the experience to play with the local fiddlers and their French-Canadian style and then sit back to be serenaded by three teens on classical guitar.

"We were received with real warmth by the community," she said, "and the Holman dancers were incredible. Obviously the young people there are really in touch with their culture."

"It was wonderful the way they gave us something back," added Zukerman.