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By Daron Letts
Northern News Services
Published Friday, January 30, 2009

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A packed audience at Northern Arts and Cultural Centre (NACC) greeted returning singers Ted Wesley and Pat Buckna with streams of raucous applause last weekend. The former Yellowknife musicians performed in town for the first time in more than 25 years as part of the Northern Performer series at NACC.

Wesley, who achieved national acclaim in the late 1970s when he sold more than 70,000 albums and earned a Juno nomination, split Yellowknife to work at Polaris Mine in the early 1980s. His last local performance was at Folk on the Rocks, which he helped found, in 1982.

Singer Ted Wesley returned to Yellowknife last week for a packed concert at Northern Arts and Cultural Centre. He told the audience he hopes to be back again soon. - Daron Letts/NNSL photo

"The kids had grandkids and life happens," he said of his long absence.

Wesley brought John Matthews with him from Fort McMurray, with whom he performs back home in the makeshift band Bambi Lipshitz and the the Lyrically Challenged. Local musicians Pat Braden and Steve Lacey also backed him up.

When he learned he would be returning to his old musical stomping grounds in the North, Wesley said he worked hard to prepare.

"I started working out and got in shape," he said. "Well, round is a shape, isn't it?"

The North's influence on Wesley's music was apparent early in his set, which stretched longer than an hour. He played the Caribou Song, Tamarak and sang about the Mackenzie Road and black flies, reminiscing about his days playing the Hoist Room between songs.

"I enjoyed it very much," said long-time resident Dave Weaver. "It brought back memories."

Songwriter Pat Buckna, now based in Port Coquitlam, B.C., opened the evening along with Fort Smith storyteller Jim Green.

Buckna left the North in the mid 1980s to organize the cultural pavilion for Exp 86 in Vancouver.

All three performers joined together on stage for a grand finale honouring the midnight sun in song. Wesley played on with an encore at the assistance of the audience.

The Northern Performer Festival continues tonight with Inuvik's Razzmajazz and concludes tomorrow with a performance by Inuvik's Dennis Allen and Yellowknife's own Randy Sibbeston.