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Okay, okay. But what about that other one; Jean,
isn't it?
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.
When
Christina was a little girl, her parents
would often take her and her two brothers on camping trips. After a couple
of hours in the car, the backseat often turned into a war zone when bored
youngsters would start to tease and torment each other in order to relieve
the tedium of the long drive. Mr. Smith, in a valiant effort to cultivate
a cease-fire, taught his children a number of Newfoundland traditional
songs. His hope was that singing would replace screaming and reduce grey
hair growth in the driver's seat! Teaching "Lukey's Boat" might
seem to be a contradictory approach to silencing children, but it did
instill a love for traditional music in the impressionable, blond head
of the young Christina.
In 1978 Christina got a summer job with the folklore department at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her mission? To interview elderly musicians playing at the Newfoundland and Labrador folk festival that summer. Her assignment? Legendary fiddler Emile Benoît. When Emile found out that Christina was a classically trained violinist, the interview turned into a fiddle lesson!
Christina has been playing Newfoundland fiddle music ever since that life altering experience. She continues to play the tunes that she learned from Emile Benoît and Rufus Guinchard, and actively collects tunes from other elderly musicians in the province such as Frank Maher (who would certainly be outraged at being referred to as "elderly"!) and John Joe Pigeon.
As she learned the tunes from her fore-fathers, she is committed to passing them on by teaching the STEP Fiddlers (Suzuki Talent Education Program) . (I guess that makes her a "fore-mother"…) Before recording Like Ducks! with musical partner Jean Hewson, she released a solo recording in 1995 entitled Fiddle Me This. She also produced the STEP Fiddlers' debut recording Galing for a Storm, released in the year 2000. As a session musician, she has more recording credits to her name than Craig Dobbin has helicopters. Some of the more notable ones (albums, not helicopters; pay attention!) include: Jim Payne's Empty Nets and State of the Nation, Emile Benoît's Vive la Rose, Jean Hewson's Early Spring, the Irish Descendants' Look to the Sea and Buddy Whasisname and the Other Fellers 100% Pure.
She's written music for documentaries, arranged music for film and video, she's composed her own tunes, she makes the best darn apple pie in the province, and yes — she does windows. I tell you, some people just shouldn't be allowed.
Christina lives in St. John's with her husband, Chris Brookes. She teaches Suzuki violin and cello, and serves as a full-time arbitrator between her dog Kitty, and her two cats, Pat and Mike. Like many other Newfoundlanders, she maintains a healthy lifestyle by eating properly, getting lots of sleep and shoveling snow. On Monday mornings, she pays her debt to society by playing music and drinking endless cappuccinos with her friend Jean Hewson.