Oméigwessi Reel Métis - A Tribute to Walter Flett
Tribute to Oméigwessi Walter Flett: A Man and his fiddle
A True Community Builder and Humanitarian
Walter Flett played fiddle at Old-Time dances at the St. John Bosco Center on Isabel Street in Winnipeg every Friday night in the late 60’s and early 70’s. The dances always started at 8:30 PM and ended at 1:00 AM. The Bosco Centre, at this time, was a multi-purpose, cultural centre where Aboriginal people gathered for socials, political rallies, church services, and youth activities. To play at these dances, Walter was paid 5.00$; his guitar player, Eli Mousseau, 3.00$; and his drummer Maxime Desjarlais, 2.00$. Admission was 50 cents.
Walter was an outstanding fiddle player. He developed his particular style… It was dancing music at its best: accurate rhythms with full notes and a clear sound. He played waltzes, two-steps, Schottisches, fox trots, heel and toe, butterflies, square dances, “Drops of Brandy”, reels and of course the “Red River Jig”. According to one regular dance attendee: “Whenever you heard Walter Play, pretty soon you would have the impression that ants were tickling you under your feet, you would immediately get on the floor and dance right away.”
With his rhythmic fiddle and bow, Walter instantly had people dancing. But in doing so, he also helped people to meet and to make friends. In turn, these new friends would then socialize at the dances. Many people thanked Walter at the time, and many still fondly remember him for getting them off the “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, also known as “North Main Street” – a rough section of Winnipeg. Walter provided these people with good clean fun and entertainment in the form of Old-Time Dances and socializing at the Bosco Center.
Those were dark times for many of Winnipeg’s Aboriginal people. North Main Street had too often become a theatre with all sorts of ugly attractions, some nasty, others violent. The media, at the time, would often paint Aboriginal people with racist stereotypes such as them being lazy, shiftless or drunkards. It was also at this time that Aboriginal political movements such as the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood and the Manitoba Metis Federation were organized. It was in this context of social unrest and tension that Walter Flett emerged with his fiddle and bow, as a true prophet indeed!
Walter’s music attracted people from all walks of life, poor, rich, Aboriginal and non-aboriginal. They came from far and near to dance to his music: from local Metis communities, reserves through Manitoba, and even non-Aboriginal Winipeggers who appreciated well-played Old-Time music.
With his fiddle and bow, Walter contributed to makng Winnipeg a safer place to live. He softened much of the city’s harder edges, and by sharing his music and talent, he made Winnipeg’s two”solitudes” – Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal – live more harmoniously, and in the spirit of friendship.
Walter was a popular person at the center and was highly respected. Those who knew him enjoyed his easy-going style, his soft-spoken manners, and his discreet sense of humour. And yet, in some ways, Walter was very reserved. I came to know him better on a few trips that we made together at Bacon Ridge, Camperville, and Dunsieth, North Dakota. He opened up to me then. After sharing a few beers together, we would also share many jokes and laughs.
If there was one thing that frightened Walter, it was bears. I remember driving with him through the Riding Mountain National Park one late summer evening. And yes, we spotted a bear or two. I told him that I was running low on gas and that he might have to walk half-a-mile to get gas. “Never Father,” he said with a tremble in his voice, “not with bears around!” He continued, “Father, I promise I will no longer sin if I don’t have to walk and get gas.” We eventually made it to the filling station without any problems. Incidentally, Walter always affectionately called me “Father” and never called me by my given name, “Guy.” Walter was, in many ways, my brother.
Walter Flett will probably never have a statue erected in his honour. But if it were up to me, I would have a street named after him in his Winnipeg neighbourhood, or better still, I would erect a statue of him near Slaw Rebchuk Bridge, known as the “Salter” Bridge. From his home on Flora Avenue located in the city’s North-End, Walter crossed that bridge many times with his fiddle and bow tucked under his arm on his way to the Bosco Center located in the inner city. In many ways, the bridge represented and symbolized the many cultural and social bridges that Aboriginal people had to cross to live in harmony with their fellow citizens in Winnipeg.
In light of the above, I have no hesitation in stating that, with his fiddle and bow, Walter Flett was, during the late 60s and early 70s, an outstanding citizen of Winnipeg, a true community builder and a humanitarian. His warm presence and positive impact on his contemporaries was felt and is still felt with great admiration and affection.
We shall never forget Walter Flett, the accomplished musician and community builder. He believed in people, and perhaps more importantly he made people believe in themselves.
Long live the memory of Oméigwessi, our brother and friend, Walter Flett.
Respectfully submitted by Father Guy Lavallee OMI
Omégwassi: Reel Métis
This recording is dedicated to the memory of Walter Flett.
Walter Flett was an outstanding champion of old-time fiddling. This collection of Métis music is a tribute to him as it carries on the traditions of this fiddling style. In these tunes from Ebb & Flow Manitoba, which Walter handed down to his sons Lawrence "Teddy Boy" Houle and James Flett, we hear the influence of Celtic, Scottish, French Canadian, Appalachian and Irish music.
I was introduced to old time Métis music six years ago, when I met Anne Lederman a musician and ethnomusicologist. Anne had traveled the backwoods of Manitoba researching and recording Native and Métis fiddling in Western Manitoba with the help of Teddy Boy. Anne shared many of the tunes she had encountered on this project with my brothers and me. We were excited to learn them– the more crooked the musical phrasing the better. I felt an immediate, intuitive personal and cultural connection when I first heard the music of Walter Flett. At Anne’s suggestion, I called up Teddy Boy when I traveled back home to Manitoba on a family trip. When we met it was as though we had always known one another.
In September 2006, with Anne's continued support, I received a mentorship grant from the Ontario Arts Council to spend two weeks learning fiddle tunes as well as a few Red River Jig steps with Teddy Boy. Teddy Boy took me to Ebb & Flow and Dauphin to jam with some of the local fiddlers. Everyone was amazed to hear music from their past played by a young Métis woman from Toronto. I was surprised at how much of the traditional music was disappearing. This project emphasizes the importance of the oral tradition, sharing music and connecting with people of all ages. It inspires me to continue the journey to know more fiddlers before their songs vanish. I believe that the role of a Métis fiddler is to honour the music of our ancestors.
Miigwetch to the musical support of Anne Lederman, Lawrence "Teddy Boy" Houle, James Flett and the musical collaboration of Conlin Delbaere-Sawchuk and Scott Kemp. Working with a Métis group of such wide and varied disciplines has been a unique pleasure and experience. James Flett has a country music background; Scott Kemp is a jazz musician; Conlin is self-taught on the guitar and is classically trained on the double bass and vocals. Thanks to the Métis Nation of Ontario for their financial assistance and to Bernard Leroux for his photography, design and creative input.
A very special thanks to my Mom and Dad for lending all the support an artist could ask for and more.
Keep your toes tapping!
Alyssa Delbaere - Sawchuk
