I met Charlie Peter Charlie on my visit to Old Crow, although I had certainly heard of him before my arrival, through the reading I had done and conversations with Bill Stevens. He's quite a handsome elder and I could catch site of him walking up and down the dusty streets of Old Crow.

The following article, and the photos too, were entirely stolen. Yes folks. I'm plagerizing big-time. But I have a good reason!

Athabascan Fiddling has not had an official or very comprehensive representation on the Internet. I think its very important that this culture doesn't go away. First Nations musicians have passed down a culture of music and I want to do my part to ensure that it isn't forgotten.

Many websites update and delete their pages, and so at the risk of losing the information, I'll just say that I'm a "backup."

The following is from the Yukon Native Language Center:

"Born in 1919 in Crow Flats, the eldest of Mary and Charlie Tetlichi's nine children, Charlie spent his childhood around the head of the Porcupine River. He grew up speaking the Gwich'in language and learning the traditional ways of hunting, fishing and trapping. These he has passed on to his 14 children and many more grandchildren. Four years after returning to Old Crow in 1935 he married Fannie Tizya.

At the early age of 37 he was elected chief, a post he held for 12 years. He has also been band councillor. Charlie was a key figure in the creation of the Council of Yukon Indians, in the establishment of the Porcupine Caribou Management Board, and was involved in early land claims discussions. For 20 years he worked as the school custodian. With his knowledge of the Old Crow area, Charlie has served as guide and consultant to several generations of anthropologists, archaeologists and other researchers working in the Yukon. Since the mid-1970's he has been recording oral traditions and contributing to Gwich'in language documentation and development with the Yukon Native Language Centre. For many years Charlie has served on the Yukon Geographic Names Board where he has made significant contributions to the naming and understanding, not only of the Crow Flats area, but of the Yukon in general.

About 60 years ago Charlie taught himself to play the fiddle and was for many years the lead fiddler at the International Athapaskan Fiddle Festival held annually in Alaska.

In 1988, at age 69, his many years of service to the community of Old Crow, to Gwich'in language and traditional knowledge, and to the Yukon as a whole were recognized as Charlie Peter Charlie was admitted to the Order of Canada."

Photo credit: Yukon Native Language Center		Photo credit: Industry Canada
Check out that rosin!

"This squeaking and scraping is ... a conscious attempt to replicate the traditional sound of elder fiddlers, a sound aesthetically marked as being Indian.... It's fair to say that among Gwich'in fiddlers, there is a decidedly greater reverence for tradition than for innovation" Craig Mishler, The Crooked Stovepipe(p. 58).

Read about Charlie in the article "Beringia" by Adam Killick, Yukon News reporter