INUVIK
A group of music lovers are reinventing the classic kitchen party in the North and across North America.

Musicians such as Manitoba Hal are reinventing the kitchen party as part of the Home Routes entertainment series. He played a private show in Inuvik on Oct. 29 for an audience of about 30 people. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

Approximately 30 people attended what amounted to a private concert by ukelele player and singer Manitoba Hal on Oct. 28. The concert was held at the home of Brian and Maidie-Anne Turner, hence the "home" in Home Routes.

It was the second concert in the Aurora Trail series put together by Home Routes. In September, Julie and Carli Kennedy from British Columbia also performed. In their case, the concert was the only one not to be held at a private home. Instead, the Cafe on Mackenzie was the venue for a similarly small audience.

The Aurora Trail includes 12 communities throughout the North, in the NWT and Yukon. Hal had travelled from Old Crow, Yukon, where he played Oct. 27.

Hal, who plays a unique double-necked ukelele, said he's a fan of the house concert concept, which he said is a direct descendent of the traditional kitchen party.

"I love house concerts," he said. "I love to be actually able to see my audience close up and interact with them and get to know them. They're very much based on the old kitchen parties, but instead of several performers, it's just one."

The house concerts are also a successful means of coping with changes in the music industry in the last several years, Hal said.

"What's happened in the last few years is that traditional folk artists are finding less and less venues. It's been getting harder to fill a normal-sized hall and when you're a folk artist you're getting even less support from the communities.

"So we were looking for places to play and a lot of us started doing house concerts. So Home Routes came along and said, wouldn't it be really great if instead of the odd house concert, we could string together 12 house concerts in a 12-day period and do a circuit."

Hal said the organization put together some of these initial circuits right across the country, and found it a more-than-workable formula.

"So the hosts don't have to look for quality artists, they get sent a package and here are the artists coming through. It's great for guys like me, because if I tried to come to Inuvik I couldn't find enough people to fill your performance hall. So I would end up in some coffee house for five people and making hardly any money. Or I could be sitting here in a lovely living room with 30 people making a good paycheque. That's the advantage of it for artists."

The Home Routes program began in 2007 "with the intention of creating a linked group of community-based house concerts all across North America," the organization's website states. "We recruit and organize brand new volunteer hosts from every nook and cranny and then place them geographically into 'circuits' of 12 houses in 12 communities."

Heather Wheating is a fan of the concept.

"I love the Home Routes idea. It's friends supporting performing artists and it doesn't get any better than that. There's just something about bringing people together to enjoy music and also to really appreciate and support artists who spend so much time refining what they love to do. It feels awesome to do that," Wheating said.

"But look at this, this great house, the location, and we had a ukelele workshop earlier with him. He gave us a few pointers, which is great."

Wheating is a member of the Ukelele Divas, a local group devoted to the lesser-known instrument.

It seemed as if Hal wasn't wasting any time making new fans during the show.

"I've just seen a man who plays the ukelele like it's an extension of his arm," Samantha Kerr said. "And he sings about how much he loves bacon. I love a man who sings about bacon. I should find out if he's married. He looks like my kind of guy."

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