Serendipitous Twin Flames to perform in North Bay

By Kelly Anne Smith

NORTH BAY— Twin Flames are husband and wife musical duet Chelsey June and Jaaji. They are thrilled to perform for music lovers in North Bay and area on May 20 at the Capitol Centre as part of their spring tour. They mix English, French, and Inuktitut for an award-winning, unique musical experience.

Jaaji is Inuk from Nunaivik and Mohawk Kanien’kehá:ka from Kahnawake and Chelsey is of Métis, Algonquin, Cree, and settler heritage.  She worked for the federal government while Jaaji was a police officer in Quaqtaq and in Kuujjuaq. Together, their music has been described as indie-rock, synth rock, and folk-pop. Chelsey says the couple takes the audience on a journey.

“We talk about our personal life experiences and where we come from. We also are quite silly. We like to joke around and laugh a lot because sometimes we do talk about more difficult subject matter in our songs and in our storytelling. It’s important to us to make it a really good balance.”

She knows that a Twin Flames audience can expect a lot of harmonies.

“Jaaji and I – we love playing with harmonies. We have a really big sound for just the two of us. It’s a nice energy show. We take the listener from a slower balance to more rock songs. They are all songs we’ve written ourselves. We are always excited to visit and share our music with people from all cultures.”

The band started after Chelsey and Jaaji met on an APTN television show on Indigenous musicians in 2014. Neither were supposed to be there but both of them ended up in Wendake, Quebec, filming on the same day. Chelsey says the sparks were instant.

“We were sitting around the campfire with the whole crew and we didn’t even know each other’s names. Jaaji was singing the song Outside by Staind. It was a song I knew so I joined in and started singing along. Everyone around that campfire had the same reaction as we did when our voices became totally in sync. The harmonies were instant.”

Chelsey feels it was symbolic that they met around a campfire.

“The fire is so sacred in all our Indigenous cultures. That’s what sparked it. We ended up staying in contact. A few months after we met on the show, Jaaji happened to be visiting in Ottawa. We decided to get together and play some music and, in the process, ended up falling in love. We loved the way our voices sounded together.”

“There were so many coincidences around our meeting and around our lives. The definition of twin flames is one soul separated into two bodies that eventually finds itself over multiple lifetimes. It defines how Jaaji and I have been in sync from the moment that we met. We thought it would make a really cool band name and that’s how Twin Flames came to be.”

Singing in his language is important to Jaaji.

“The north, where I come from, language was something that we were scolded about if we didn’t say the right word. The Elders were very adamant on ensuring that language does continue in our communities. These days, those Elders are crossing over to the Spirit World. We’ve been into communities where the last language speaker has left and that dialect is no longer there,” he expresses. “We always hope that what we do encourages the youth to speak in their own language and feel it is a privilege to be able to speak that language, especially one of the oldest languages in the world.”

The couple gives presentations to children. Chelsey says it naturally developed from what they are doing as musicians.

“It was a beautiful accident, the first time we got asked to go into a school and share our personal stories and a few songs. For both Jaaji and I, that connection that we were able to have was instant because of the music. We thought we can use this as a platform to help youth that are going through difficult years. It’s hard to grow up, especially in the world we are living in now,” she explains. “Initially, when we started going into schools, it was mostly in very isolated fly-in communities up in the Arctic. It was very important for those youth to be able to see someone who visibly looks like them and speak their language and who is living their dreams. For us, that has always been really important. It’s showing the youth, not just Indigenous youth but youth across Canada, that we are all here and we all have a purpose. Everyone’s purpose is unique to them. By exploring the things that makes them happy and the things that they are naturally good at, it’s little hints of what they can do with their future… When we are standing up there and we are sharing our own stories of culture, it’s always about trying to bring people together. It’s also inspiring the youth to know that there is no age limit on dreams.”

Twin Flames has over 30 awards and nominations. Jaaji says that accepting congratulations for awards is great; however, believes that the “most precious award is always the people.”

“We always hope that Indigenous as well as non-Indigenous people will attend our shows,” says Chelsey. “We want to bring people together, celebrating being alive and enjoying music.”

Jaaji says venues have told Twin Flames that they have never seen that before.

“They are often appreciative that they are getting the Indigenous communities out to share these spaces. It’s such a sight to see. And I humbly say we are very good.”