Music and memories

Bob Wepruk, Sam Matichuk and Don Hughes volunteer to play for old timers and say the response makes it fun and worthwhile.

"It makes me want to keep playing," said Wepruk. "We are not getting any younger, but we do enjoy it so much that we just keep on playing.

"As long as we can play, we will play," he added.

"If this becomes a job, then I will quit," said Hughes. "As long as I enjoy it then I will keep trucking along."

They play venues like the Koochiching Senior Center, the Good Samaritan Center in International Falls, and Rainy Crest Home for the Aged in Fort Frances. They are told that the number of people taking lunch or attending a regular function grows considerably when there is live music.

The Borderland Pioneers will perform at 2:30 p.m. New Year’s Eve at the Good Samaritan Center.

The band members say they enjoy that people dance, even in walkers and wheelchairs, as others sing along and clap to the music. What they really enjoy is when people that appear to be unresponsive most of the time suddenly are moving their lips to the song lyrics or waving their hands. Once in a while, the band will sneak up with a microphone to let everyone hear when someone is really singing and having a good time.

The music defines the chapters of their lives and a familiar song will spark memories that bring smiles and tears. They believe it has a positive impact and even physical improvement, said Matichuk, noting that the reactions make performing fun.

"That really picks me up," he added.

The three say they don’t play professionally, but will perform the occasional wedding or dance hall event. These venues are disappearing as taverns turn to recorded music and karaoke. There are polka fans that pack the annual northland events, but the week-to-week venues are disappearing along with the music that once permeated the northland.

The aging demographic forced the music off radio and television as local shows like Chmielewski Fun Time were replaced by syndicated programming geared toward the younger audience.

The Borderland Pioneers have a unique sound. Matichuk adds that all bands and individual musicians have a unique sound. The natural sound of the all-acoustic band translates well to the small groups.

Hughes plays the accordion with an almost percussion like beat. Wepruk is the lead singer and strums an acoustic guitar.

Matichuk plays the melodies on his mandolin, rounding out a very soft presentation. The mandolin is a substitute for a violin or steel guitar as a leading instrument.

"We play laid back," said Matichuk.

"I have been told a lot that the mandolin enhances the accordion," he added. "You just can’t have a violin and a mandolin playing together because they play the same notes."

All three learned the music as youngsters in western Ontario, and put it away to work and raise families.

Hughes was raised in Fort Frances and played various instruments including the accordion. At one time he played with Marvin Heek and the Pinetoppers. He played with Wayne Omatica for a time, when he learned the Immigration Waltz and other songs that people remember but don't hear too often anymore.

Then he worked in St. Cloud for the next several years, and didn’t perform again until coming back to the Falls.

Hughes decided to start playing again around 1999, when he visited Less Harkenen, who had since retired, and now has his Menghini accordion. He installed the internal microphone pick ups himself and makes his own repairs. From there, it was just getting back to performing level.

"It wasn't easy, said Hughes. "I was really rusty."

The band mates enjoy performing or attending polka festivals in Hoyt Lakes and Ironworld. After organizing an event themselves, Matichuk said they found there were around 140 polka bands in the Rainy River District and Northwest Ontario. Most of them are low key, and like the Pioneers, will play voluntarily at local events.

Matichuk said years ago people held dances in barns, where the floor was found to be a good dancing surface after the hay was removed. He said people also wore shoes that would slide to dance. Today, he added, most people are wearing sneakers or boots that grip the floor and so can’t dance very well.

As a youth, Matichuk spotted a mandolin in the corner at an event. He was encouraged to figure out the instrument and would go on to learn others including the violin, guitar and the banjo. He put them all away to work as an electrician in the mines and for the railroad, and didn’t play again until his kids had grown.

By 1997, he was in bands again.

"I sure missed it," he added.

Wepruk was raised in Fort Frances and began playing guitar and singing publicly in high school. He recalled playing "teen town" events at the old Catholic rectory.

"That was when Elvis and those guys were singing and we did his tunes," he said. "That was before I had to go to work."

After graduating high school in 1955, he said there would be not time to play again until the 1990s. He would follow his father into logging and trucking for nearly 50 years.

Wepruk is a guitarist but also plays the harmonica, the five-string banjo and the mandolin. He started playing again about 10 years ago and formed the Borderland Pioneers with Hughes.

When they are not performing for elders at the Falls nursing home, senior center and at Rainy Crest, the Borderland Pioneers play music for square dancing, round dancing and line dancing.

The band enjoys going to Stratton, Ontario, for monthly "mixers" where they are sometimes joined by a dozen or more walk-on musicians. They said it is nice to see younger musicians show up to play with the old timers.

Wepruk said the occasional flutist or drummer helps expand the possibilities. He recalls one gentleman who came with a box full of mouth organs to play in every key needed for a given song.

"We do it to enjoy our own music and take turns playing," said Wepruk. "We go on to the next one and everyone plays along and it makes for a fun evening."