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ARVIAT - Arviat music lovers can look forward to more performances by Cree gospel singer Jim Felix.

The Saskatchewan-based performer and his band will play three free concerts in the community from Sept. 12 to 14.

Entertainment organizers Janet, Bobby and Angelina Suluk say they are looking forward to a second visit from First Nations gospel singer Jim Felix. Felix and his band will play three free concerts in Arviat from Sept. 12 to 14. - photo courtesy of Bobby Suluk

It's the second visit for Felix, who travelled to Arviat last year with the help of entertainment co-ordinators Bobby Suluk and his wife, Angelina.

"Back in April the community was kind of down because of the fact that quite a few residents had recently passed away. I felt the community needed a pick-up. Gospel music always lifts the spirits. I thought we could try it again," Suluk said.

"It's a great honour to go back there," said Felix, who will return this time with his band.

"I've been travelling for the past 25 years and the communities in the south are very different. In Arviat, it's the young people, the children, the pure joy and the love up there. It is really wonderful to see that."

It was a chance meeting in Winnipeg that got the whole thing rolling according to Felix, who returned from shows in New Mexico, Arizona and California last week.

"We believe that things happen for a purpose, and I ran into Suluk in an elevator ... we just bumped into each other and started talking about it," he said.

The community hall was packed each night the performer was in town last time, and Suluk said he hopes to see the same happen this year.

"The event is going to be free to the people because we believe that more people will show up that way," said Suluk, who said he expects to attract 500 people per show.

Most of the costs of hiring the band were covered through sponsorship and fundraising, but donations will also be accepted at the door.

Felix grew up in a small First Nations Cree community in Sturgeon Lake, Sask., with a population around the size of Arviat's.

He said he wrestled with a lot of bad choices earlier in his life, including an addiction to drugs, before he cleaned up and began writing his own gospel music.

Many of his songs now deal with a healthy lifestyle, "the good life, going back to hunting, fishing, trapping, the things that our peoples have always done," he said.

One memory in particular stood out from his last visit to Arviat.

"When I sang a song of mine, Wonderful to Stand, there were people in the crowd that were very moved by that song. They were brought into tears and that was the first time I really realized its impact," Felix remembered.

"I recorded that song in a studio in 1994 in Saskatchewan, and I never thought it would go that far. People were healing, they were releasing anger and pain. Coming from a small community, Cree First Nations, and being able to touch another nation, that's the thing for me."

Suluk said he remembered the moment, too.

"That song is recognized by a lot of people around town (and) has been heard on the local radio. It was only until Felix came later on that we realized it was his song, that he had written it. That's one other reason why we decided to bring him back."