By Laurie Sarkadi, Photos by Pablo Saravanja -- With his odd instrument, vice-principal Tyler Hawkins brings a new kind of class to a two-steppin’ corner of Canada. Listen to 3 of his tracks!

Sarabande

Prelude

Gavotte

An urgent cry pierces the silence of a darkened Yellowknife theatre. At just 13 days old, little Nikolas can be forgiven if on this cold February night he seems impatient for the show to begin. The baby’s demanding wail stops when his father, Tyler Hawkins, a lithe middle-aged man in a black suit, walks on stage and picks up what has to be one of the world’s most bizarre instruments – a guitar with 17 strings. Eight of the strings are where you’d expect, then another nine, all bass, attach to a sleek extension that protrudes off the neck, like a pointy extra head on an alien.

There are only four of these instruments in the world, and for Hawkins, a high school vice-principal from Hay River, NWT, this is one of his most prized possessions. He explains to the crowd that the nameless device is similar to a lute – the 11-stringed precursor to the guitar that was the first foreign instrument to arrive on Canadian shores, borne here by French explorers. Hawkins adjusts his microphone and his fingers begin to dance along the frets. The theatre fills with surprisingly deep and resonant tones, which sustain like those of a church organ. The audience is hushed, drinking in sounds seldom heard since the 16th Century – sounds that, North of Sixty, are rarer still.

Hawkins’ presence up north is in many ways remarkable. A classically trained guitarist, he’s not only a master of his distinctive and ancient instrument but is the only person ever to make a recording on it. His CD, Bach on 17 Strings, was produced at his friend’s studio in Hay River and released last fall. And more than just making beautiful music, Hawkins has bolder designs: to turn his frontier town of 3,600 – where musical tastes run more to country and western – into the lute capital of Canada.

Hawkins’ love of stringed instruments started early. Growing up in Woodstock and London, Ontario, he began classical-guitar lessons at age eight and was in his first band by 11. At 25, inspired by a recording by Spanish multi-string guitarist Narciso Yepes, Hawkins sought out a Quebec luthier to custom-build a 17-string guitar from rare green Brazilian rosewood. (He bought it for a few thousand dollars and says it’s appreciated well into the five figures.) Hawkins went on to earn a fine-arts degree from Toronto’s York University, envisioning a future giving classical concerts. But he got wind of a chance to add a teaching certification to his degree, and from there life took a sharp turn north.

Hawkins took his first teaching job in 1989, in the tiny Dene community of Fort Providence, NWT, along the banks of the Mackenzie River. He left his 17-string in Ontario out of fear that the North’s cold, dry climate would crack it to pieces. Like many newcomers to the NWT, Hawkins thought he’d pay some bills and probably move on. Instead, he was “immediately captivated” by the people and the beauty of his surroundings. He especially loved working with the children, so he stayed. He’d gone from playing classical repertoires with the Toronto Guitar Society to “chicken pickin’” in a local country band – much to his, and the people of Fort Providence’s, delight.

In 1994 Hawkins resettled in Hay River, south of Great Slave Lake. His rare instrument was still stowed in Ontario, and he considered selling it. Then, while on leave in Toronto, an old guitar teacher told him he was crazy not to be playing it. So Hawkins bought an airtight case and drove the instrument north himself. “I hadn’t played in 11 years,” he recalls. “I’d lost my technique.” In Hay River, Hawkins practiced five hours a day. In time, he regained his old skills – then, slowly, surpassed them.

It wasn’t easy. “There’s certainly an audience for classical music in Hay River, but there’s not really a large contingency of classical musicians, people I can connect with,” Hawkins says. “So I just maintain a certain level of performance for myself.” But what about moving south? No way, he says. “I love the quality of the lifestyle here. We’re surrounded with fresh air, good water, good food and beautiful scenery.”

It’s the North’s scenery – particularly the stunning aurora – that Hawkins hopes will entice the southern classical world to come to him. Last year, when he invited Montreal lute-player Michel Cardin to travel north, Hawkins took Cardin and his wife ice-fishing until 3 a.m. Wowed by an unbelievable show of the Northern Lights, the couple vowed to return – and did. Cardin and Hawkins are collaborating to bring other “lutinists” north, organizing the Hay River International Lute Festival, which debuted this past February and attracted the UK’s Nigel North – considered the best lute player in the world. It’s all part of Hawkins’ efforts to keep his age-old music, and his largely forgotten instrument, alive.

Ever the teacher, his February performance at Yellowknife’s Northern Arts and Cultural Centre included thoughtful, rudimentary explanations about fugues and preludes and sarabandes, plus juicy tidbits about their Renaissance composers. The music soothed and transported – the perfect balm after a week of temperatures that had plunged to minus-50. The Allemande from Bach’s Lute Suite no. 3 in G minor was especially peaceful, prompting Hawkins to softly ask, “Did anybody fall asleep during that? It’s such a restful piece.” Likely, at least one tiny audience member, wrapped snugly in his mother’s arms, did just that.

Laurie Sarkadi is a Yellowknife writer and musician.