Six String Nation has been a lifetime passion for Jowi Taylor who was so moved and a little outraged by the 1995 Quebec referendum, that he built Voyageur— a guitar, case and strap out of 72 items reflecting both little known and well known pieces of Canadian history.
“I was so disillusioned by that referendum, that something that affects all Canadians came down to a battle between politicians and red vs. blue. So all people ended up doing was going to Montreal, which was just paying it lip service,” he said.
He is in Southern Alberta for the week visiting schools, reserves and capping off his visit at the Community Foundations dinner on Thursday night, Oct. 2
Taylor has brought the Six Sting Nation to countless schools, conferences and music festivals since 2006.
“ The Winnipeg Folk Festival in 2006 was the first proper music festival I did. Since then we’ve clocked 300,000 km. We’ve seen 150,000 people and had 115,000 portraits taken with it,” he said.
He began his Southern Alberta tour at the Father Leonard Van Tieghem school in Lethbridge and has since visited schools in Nobleford, Nanton, Claresholm, Vulcan, Cardston, Magrath and several schools in Lethbridge. He is going to the Piikani First nation and Kainai First Nation on Sept, 30 and winds up at the Community Foundation banquet on Oct. 2.
Six String Nation is the brainchild of Taylor, who set out in 1995 to create a guitar as a symbol of national unity and to explore Canadian identity. Over a period of 11 years, he collected 64 pieces for the guitar from every province and territory in Canada. It made its official debut on July 1, 2006, at the Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
“There is more to Canada than Tim Hortons and the NHL,” he said adding those two things are usually what first comes to mind when people talk about Canada. But there is so much more.
The front of the guitar comes from the Golden Spruce and albino Sitka tree tragically cut down in 1997 that was sacred to Haida First Nations. There are pieces of seat from the Massey Theatre., Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s canoe paddle, a pieces form the Nova Scotia Fishing Schooner the Bluenote, a piece of the home of James Naismith who invented basketball
“ This tour is a homecoming for several of these items,” he said.
“ There is an Ammolite Buffalo skull from the Kainai First Nation that is in the guitar,” he said adding the guitar attracts plenty of professionals and amateurs who want to play it but more importantly, it sparks discussion about what it means to be Canadian.
“People have pretty strong opinions about being Canadian, but other than Tim Hortons and hockey, it is a struggle to express it,” he said adding people will always come up and tell him their own personal stories about the items in the guitar.
The dinner will be held at the Lethbridge Lodge Hotel and Conference Centre at 7 p.m., with doors opening at 6:15 p.m., on Thursday, Oct. 2. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased through the Community Foundation office by calling 403-328-5297, or via email at
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To learn more about Six String Nation and Voyageur visit www.sixstringnation.com
