Sharing Music Across The Generations

Valuable lessons in musicianship and in life were learned at an early age, as part of a travelling family band

- Karrnnel Sawitsky

As a musician, I consider myself very lucky for all of the places I get to visit and all the people I get to meet around the world, and specifically here within Canada. These experiences and memories are the things that go beyond any measure of success for me.

Since the age of four, I grew up playing in a family band with my two sisters Kimberly and Kanndece, who are also fiddle players, with my dad Orest on accordion. From our hometown of Saskatoon, we travelled all across Canada playing at dances, jamborees, concerts, fiddle contests, weddings, and pretty much any and all kinds of events you can imagine, playing music under the name, The Sawitsky Family Fiddlers.

Two of the things that I treasure most about those years are the time with my family—including my mom who was the band’s de facto manager— and the places and people I got to know while travelling to these Canadian destinations with the intent of sharing some music.

At some point in my teenage years, I realized that music was what I wanted to do for a career. I wasn’t sure what that meant or what that really entailed; all I knew was that I found extreme happiness and joy in playing and creating music and I wanted to find a way to do that for a living. It was my passion for creating new music that really fanned the flames of my musical aspirations.

I composed my first fiddle tune when I was ten years old, an old time waltz that I called