TEMAGAMI - Temagami Indigenous musician David Laronde, nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award, wants to help mentor new musicians.
While busy performing and taking care of his growing music career, he also wants to open doors for new musicians and provide them with the kind of mentoring experience he received when he was first starting out.
There is actually a specific door that he has in mind, and that is the door to the Temagami Train Station and its upstairs Raven's Nest Gallery.
He loves that space, he said and wants to introduce other people to its many qualities that are conducive to playing and listening to music and also to the inspiration that it provides.
When he was finishing writing his songs for his third album I Know I Can Fly, he did it while sitting in the Raven's Nest Gallery.
"When I go up there I feel like this is the place to be. I would like to share that."
Laronde is working with Living Temagami on developing a mentoring service to assist beginning musicians.
"The whole thing is to mentor people to give them an opportunity to play and record their music," he explained in a telephone interview. Once the beginning musician has a recording to work with, they can use it to listen to it, alter it, or use it as a demo to secure a gig, he envisions.
There is also a small stage in the mezzanine gallery and there have already been things happening there. Laronde encourages people to visit the Living Temagami website and visit the Gallery and the Raven's Nest soundstage for the featured musical performance.
Darlene Wroe, is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter with the Temiskaming Speaker. LJI is funded by the Government of Canada,
The Raven's Nest Gallery is also available for those who would like to give music lessons to which a fee would be attached, he explained. Laronde is already giving lessons to a couple of students, he said.
"We are especially looking for young talent," he said of the vision.
Laronde credits the Temagami Artistic Collective for helping him get started back in 2005, and believes that is the way that beginning musician can learn and make their way to the next step of getting a gig somewhere in a restaurant or a bar, and then work their way toward a concert.
The goal is "to show people the way if they want to do that."
Laronde envisions opportunities for these kinds of meetings through the fall, winter and spring months. During the summer months, the Temagami Train Station grounds will be featuring the Temagami Community Market again with live music each weekend, and that will be the main focus, he noted.
He also would like to have a monthly concert in the Raven's Nest Gallery, he said. Along with a small stage, the mezzanine gallery has space for about 25 chairs.
"The natural sound up there is pretty incredible without even any kind of sound system," he said. "It's a classy little venue for Temagami."
The space is so good that it could serve as a hub for musicians from throughout the region as far north as Kirkland Lake, and south to North Bay, west to Sudbury and east to Ville-Marie. The Raven's Nest Gallery is in the middle of that area with a population of about one-quarter million people.
"We're right in the middle and Highway 11 goes right by the door," he said. He would also like to have songwriters circles with four or five people at a time taking turns and doing songs which could then be recorded and put on the Living Temagami website.
"I would like Temagami to be known for music as well as art," he said.
To make an appointment with Laronde, contact [email protected] or [email protected].
Darlene Wroe, is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter with the Temiskaming Speaker. LJI is funded by the Government of Canada.
