Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 14/05) - Chic Callas is known throughout the North as a flannel-shirted member of the Gumboots and as a versatile musician with a deep, gentle voice who plays violin, penny whistle, cello, harmonica, mandolin, guitar, piano and just about everything else.

Tomorrow, after 47 years in Yellowknife, he's moving to Whitehorse to experience the next step in his musical journey.

As a child, Chic sang in his church choir. He picked up the violin in 1970 at age 13, and the cello, too. The community soon recognized his talent.

He then made his stage debut in CBC's young talent competition. Chic may have been too early for a shave, but he wore a long beard made of wolverine fur that his mom made for him. He sang If I Were a Rich Man from Fiddler on the Roof.

And won.

"After my voice changed I didn't sing much any more," he said.

He played clarinet in the Sir John Franklin high school band, instead.

After graduation, Chic studied at the universities of Alberta and Guelph, where he took two music courses.

"I should have realized then that that's what I wanted to do," he said.

He came back home to make that pursuit happen. In his early 20s he played cello in Handel's Messiah at the Explorer Hotel, a piece he still finds powerful and moving.

He worked as a carpenter, financial planner, civil servant and stay-at-home dad. He continued making music around campfires and in living rooms.

Then 12 years ago Bill Gilday pulled him into the Gumboots and coaxed him to sing again.

Chic's the second-longest lasting member in the band. He's written a handful of their songs and recorded on their last two CDs.

More than that, playing in the band put him on stage with Mae Moore, Murray McLauchlan, Valdi, the Wailin' Jennys and other prominent artists.

"I've been lucky to work with good people," he said. "I've seen some really beautiful things happening artistically in Yellowknife. This town's not old and so I've seen the music community grow."

A few years after joining the Gumboots, he returned to acting with Stuck in a Snowbank Theatre.

He strode the stage in productions of Bush Pilot, Hudson's Bay Boy and Frost Bite Christmas, performing in theatres across the country.

For three seasons he played a supportive co-starring role behind Rene Bourque in the Ballad of Isabel Gunn. He played in amateur theatre, too. "I think the cultural life of a community is, if not the most important, one of the most important components of a community," he said.

Last year, he composed the soundtrack for Tyson Koschik's short film, Changing Rooms, which is still travelling the film festival circuit. He also prepared the only original score included in the Crazy Legs Contemporary Dance performance in May.

"That was one of my musical highlights," he said.

Early this summer Chic released his first solo CD, My Violin and I. He has performed on numerous occasions with his son, Brendan, who has already cut his own musical path.

And Chic started teaching violin this year, as well. He expects to see one of his 12-year-old students, Joel Dragon, on stage soon.

"Joel is the future of fiddling in the NWT," he said. "The kid's got it."

Tomorrow, when Chic leaves Yellowknife, he'll have the countless close friendships he built throughout the arts community still here.