Twin Flames | Bishop Hill, IL

🍉 6pm - potluck/social hour

🎤 7pm - show

💵 $20-30 suggested donation

👨‍👩‍👧 All ages, family-friendly

Tickets at xroadscc.org/events.

https://twinflamesmusic.com/

Since Twin Flames began making music together in 2014, they’ve released four full-length albums and amassed an impressive collection of 44 music awards and nominations. Among them, four Canadian Folk Music Awards, three Native American Music Awards, and the 2022 Capital Music Award (Group of the Year).

Twin Flames were also selected as artist-in-residence for the 2019 Folk Alliance International conference and partnered with UNESCO to write ‘Human,’ the official song to celebrate the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages and a track that reached #1 on the Indigenous Music Countdown.

Twin Flames have toured extensively; playing over 2,000 shows in Canada, Greenland, the United States, Australia, France, and the Cayman Islands, while also spending substantial amounts of time in Canada’s Northern and Arctic communities.

Originally from the Arctic, Jaaji (Inuk from Nunavik and Mohawk from Kahnawake) was raised by his grandparents in traditional Inuit ways. Chelsey June grew up in Ottawa and Gatineau with her mother, who originated from Maniwaki, QC, and left a steady job in the civil service to pursue music exclusively.

Both had an early aptitude and passion for music. Chelsey June recalls sitting on a plush carpet listening to vinyl records on her parent’s old school stereo and later, literally shocking a room into silence when singing a boisterous happy birthday to her grandmother as a child. Jaaji, by comparison, speaks of his desperate long-time desire to play music, his first halting steps as a guitarist and singer, abandoning music for a time, but ultimately deciding to honour his late cousin’s memory (a guitar player himself) by seriously committing to music in 2014.

Having reached a point where the love of music and song writing prompted them to eschew their straight jobs and embrace an uncertain future as creators, after crossing paths on the set of APTN's Talent Autochtones Musical in 2014, each recognized the other as a kindred spirit and soon found themselves touring extensively in Northern Canada.

In addition to their substantial chops as songwriters, singers, and instrumentalists, Chelsey June and Jaaji share a sense of adventure and a love of travel, which made their near-constant touring during the first year and a half of the band’s existence more a pleasure than a hardship. “Although it was still an eye-opener”, Jaaji says, laughing at the recollection of duct-taping a lamppost and a broken hockey stick in a venue without mic stands.

“I think, rather than hard touring, we see adventure,” the duo says, “and we don’t tour like a normal band. It’s Vancouver one day, Nunavut the next, or down to the desert in California – all over the map. But it makes us feel alive, and we both feel extremely privileged that we get to go to places that many people will never see in their lifetimes and the beauty and the resilience that exist in the tiniest places.”

Chelsey June and Jaaji have shared the stage with many session musicians, but the band, at its core, is made up of Chelsey and Jaaji.

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The potluck is optional, but is a great chance to meet others in the audience and maybe even share a meal with the artist. It also helps ensure the artist isn't having to have a meal from a gas station. We'll provide the plates, bowls, silverware, napkins, and, if you need it, serving spoons. Feel free to bring anything you'd like, an entrée, appetizer, dessert, or drink to share. I recommend to bring something you will enjoy eating, because if you enjoy it it is likely others will as well.

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This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Host or Publisher Bishop Hill Creative Commons