By Kathy Gallant

Local fiddle player enjoys gigs province-wide

Aug 27, 2018 | 12:00 PM

Tristen Durocher has played fiddle for over half his life, and the now 22-year-old recently shared the same stage as the Regina Symphony Orchestra (RSO).

The young man attended and graduated high school in Meadow Lake and currently lives in Buffalo Narrows, working at a local school as a recreation coordinator. The long-time musician was initially nervous that moving to the North would mean less fiddling gigs, but the opposite happened. He’s frequently invited to various events in the north, and opened for the RSO this past weekend at an event called Symphony Under the Sky where he played a half-hour set.

Durocher started playing fiddle at the age of nine after being inspired by his great grandfather, when he heard the fiddle at his funeral and fell in love with the sound. Originally his family wasn’t sure if the interest in the instrument was fleeting or not.

“I was quite persistent. My grandma found a fiddle in Prince Albert at a pawn shop,” Durocher said. “At first I was just messing around seeing what sounds I could make. I was playing in my grandma’s backyard one day, and her neighbour who had worked with the local friendship centre heard about the John Arcand Fiddle Fest and suggested my grandma take me.”

The annual four-day workshop and festival brings together fiddle players from all across Canada, who get together and play, as well as teach each other skills. Durocher attended nearly every year, and otherwise has practiced and learned the fiddle on his own.

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His art brought him some interesting opportunities. This weekend’s RSO gig on Aug. 25 was an interesting one for him, among the various places he’s performed over the years, such as bars and birthday parties. He has been part of bands Just the Boyz and New Horizon. He said his instrument of choice brought him a great deal of enjoyable times and stories.

“It was a lot fun,” he said. “It was one of the biggest stages I’ve ever been on, as it had to be big enough to fit an orchestra. It was interesting to see just one lone chair on the stage. But I enjoyed it. It came about I was playing fiddle at a Métis author’s place, Maria Campbell, and the manager of the Motherwell National Historic site was there and then asked me to play.”

He said he’ll always be fascinated how music brings people together. At this Motherwell gig alone, he ran into three different people he met through fiddling endeavours.  

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @ReporterKath