On Feb. 16, 20 of B.C.'s young fiddlers will travel to Toronto to perform in Olifiddle, a benefit concert for a man who has touched many hearts and influenced many lives from B.C. and around the globe.
World-renowned fiddler and composer Oliver Schroer was diagnosed with leukemia last February and has been in Toronto's Princess Margaret Hospital receiving numerous rounds of chemo since last March.
The fiddlers performing at the show are part of a project called The Twisted String, a unique teaching and performance concept developed by Schroer. It is a series of fiddle squads, each consisting of eight to 12 hot young fiddle players. The instrumentation is mostly fiddle but can include other instruments as well. It is called The Twisted String because it is slightly twisted string music. There is also the sense of twisting a bunch of threads together to make a stronger chord.Schroer launched this program in 2003 with two squads, one in Roberts Creek and one in Smithers. The repertoire is composed by Schroer specifically for the groups. It's rooted in Celtic music and stretches way out from there.
There is also strong visual component to The Twisted String: outrageous colourful costumes, a splash of headbands, scarves, Hawaiian shirts, crazy fun-fur leopard skin pants, a hundred clashing colours, glowsticks taped to the bows and strobe headlamps ready for nighttime playing. A specialty of The Twisted String is Random Acts of Violins. The groups head for the streets in their costumes and create spontaneous parades in the most unlikely places, to the delight of passersby. The Twisted String has performed at numerous festivals including the Vancouver Folk Festival, where they opened the festival on mainstage, Vancouver Island Folk Fest in Comox, (mainstage again), Festival du Bois and the Harrison Festival of the Performing Arts. Apart from these official tours, the squads did many gigs independently in their communities, ranging from concerts to creating music for a silent film showing at a DOXA event in Vancouver. But the first generation of The Twisted String grew up. Most of the kids graduated from high school and have moved on to college. Many are doing something musical.
Two of the String alumni have restarted the next generation of this exciting group. Emilyn Stam, who led the Smithers squad for a number of years, now teaches for Fiddleworks studio on Saltspring Island, and Chelsea Sleep, the senior member of the Sunshine Coast squad, has her own busy teaching studio in Gibsons and also teaches for the Coast String Fiddlers Association.
When they were notified of the benefit concert in late November, it was an immediate dream for the Twisted String members to be in Toronto to perform at the benefit in support of Schroer and visit him in the hospital, inspiring him to keep on fighting and encourage him with the joy of his music.
In total there are 20 fiddlers from the original project and 15 from the second generation of fiddlers. Now dispersed in numerous cities around Canada for school and work, the 20 fiddlers will be flying in from all over the country to reunite and play at Hugh's Room in Toronto on Feb. 18 and 19. The Sunshine Coast squad, known as SCUMBY, encompasses fiddlers from both the Sunshine Coast and Lower Mainland. Going to represent SCUMBY are fiddlers Sleep, Esme Mclaughlin-Brooks and Maya Broeke from the Sunshine Coast and Clara Chrisholm and Raine Lester from Vancouver. Also joining the group in Toronto is Johanna Dalgleish, a born Creeker now studying dance in Ottawa.
The Twisted String is still fundraising, as there are many costs to be covered. To help support The Twisted String in their cause, contact Chelsea Sleep by email at [email protected] or call 604-886-3891.
