Laura Power
Northern News Services
Monday, July 16, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - When Andrea Hansen, co-founder of Strings Across the Sky, walked into the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre in Yellowknife July 10, she found that what she thought was a regular gathering was actually a tribute in her honour.

Left; Andrea Hansen was surprised Tuesday night at the Tree of Peace Friendship Centre in Yellowknife, where a gathering took place to pay tribute to her work teaching Northern kids how to play the fiddle. - Laura Power/NNSL photos

Two decades ago, Hansen played violin with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in a Northern tour. One young girl was very interested in the fiddle and said to Hansen that though she would like to play, she would never be able to do so because there was no one to teach her.

Hansen decided to teach the young girl to play, and from there decided she would like to bring the joy of fiddling to young people all over the territory. Along with Frank Hansen, an Inuvik man unrelated to her, she co-founded the program Strings Across the Sky in 1988.

The program brings teachers to communities to teach young people to play traditional songs. As Drew Rokeby-Thomas, husband of one of the head teachers explained, "it's one of the few things that kids can do that everybody loves."

Strings Across the Sky has touched several communities in the past including Fort Simpson, and for the first time this year, Tulita. Rokeby-Thomas said though the children are not all at the same level musically, when they all play together it produces a "tear-jerking sound."

The surprise tribute party itself was tear-jerking for Hansen. Bob Bromley, one of the teachers in the Yellowknife chapter, said that on top of the first surprise, there were several more. The second surprise was when co-founder Frank Hansen showed up playing a song they had written together called Frank's Delta Dream, and the third was when Tony Alanak, one of her first students from Ulukhaktok, showed up.

Bromley said Hansen's work has had a tremendous impact on music in the North.

"I think it's really been huge," he said. "She has so much energy and she's so dedicated and quite innovative, and I think she's had a huge influence. She really calls on the students to be at their best and somehow she draws that out of them."

Hansen received the Order of Canada in 1999.

"It's not just the music now, it's a lot about human values and respect including self respect, pride of achievement, contributing to the community," Bromley said.

As a result of her work, several of the fiddlers taught through the program now play at community events and memorial services. Some even played at Hansen's tribute party - a celebration that went on for hours with dancing and music.