Canadian Mennonite
Volume 12, No. 19
Sept. 29, 2008
All in the family
Alberta dad, mom and five kids perform in churches and schools across the Prairies
EDMONTON
 |
When he’s looking for someone to play music with, Chris Friesen doesn’t have to look far—he’s got his family. Friesen is the guitarist and musical leader of the Friesen Family Band, an Alberta-based music group rounded out by his wife Louise and children Silas, Simone, Godwin, Amos and Junia.
“Every musician wants to have people to jam with in a comfortable setting,” Friesen says in a phone interview from Edmonton. “For me, it’s like, wow, I have my own kids! That’s a non-threatening jam session!”
Like most family bands with Mennonite roots, the Friesens got their start playing “special” music on Sunday morning at their home congregation, Lendrum Mennonite Brethren Church. It was at a church banquet in December 2006 where they first performed as the Friesen Family Band. After another performance or two, they played a concert with Kim Thiessen and Darryl Neustaedter Barg.
“I was blown away when I heard those kids play,” says Neustaedter Barg, director of media ministries at Mennonite Church Manitoba. “Just the sound, the blend, the ability on the instruments, and how young the youngest who participates was.”
He invited the family to travel to Winnipeg and record some of its music at MC Manitoba’s recording studio. Neustaedter Barg donated his time to record the family himself.
“I think these opportunities need to be made available to these people who have this commitment to what they’re doing, and who are skilled at doing it,” Neustaedter Barg says. “The lyrical content also made it clear that this was something that would serve the church.”
What resulted from the two weeks the band spent in the studio was a 17-track CD released in August 2007. We Are Seeking consists of original songs written by Chris between 1991 and 2007. Tracks include:
• “Abide With Us (Morning)” and “Abide With Us (Evening),” two a capella tracks that bookend the recording;
• “At the Crossroads,” an upbeat song with a Celtic flavour about experiencing God in nature after turning off the TV and escaping the distractions of city life;
• “God’s Grandeur,” a hymn-like number with text borrowed from the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins; and
• “For He Is Good” and “Where Can I Go,” which are based on psalms.
Silas, 14, plays trumpet and electric guitar; Simone, 11, the violin; nine-year-old Godwin, the piano; and seven-year-old Amos, the glockenspiel. All the children (including one-year-old Junia on “Where Can I Go”) contribute vocals.
Friesen says the CD has given the family an incentive to pursue more performances. They have already spent time touring churches, schools and first nations in Alberta and B.C.
“We believe sharing this music sows good seeds in the world for all kinds of things,” says Friesen, who in the past has worked as a teacher and associate pastor.
The family has developed a specific program for performance at public schools. “Many Colours of Music” is a 50-minute show that incorporates the family’s origi-nal material with covers of songs like Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” in an effort to show children all of the ways humans use music in everyday life. Whether or not they are singing songs that are explicitly Christian, Friesen says the show has an affect on the children who see it.
“I think the impact is more [from] seeing children and parents creating the beauty of music together, which on its own speaks of God,” Friesen says. “Wherever we go, we’re encountering kids who don’t have a really grounded experience of family. I think it’s an encouragement to them to see that much cooperation is possible for a family. That’s my hope, and I think that that’s happened.”
The Friesen Family Band is eager to share its music with more people, at schools and churches alike. A tour through Saskatchewan and Manitoba is planned for the second half of October.
One of the band’s messages, Friesen says, is that everyone can make music. “It’s not only Bruce Cockburn that can pluck the strings of a guitar,” he says. “Everybody can do it if you practice.”
To book the band or order We Are Seeking, visit friesenfamilyband.com.