Voyageur, a storied guitar made from legends
Yesterday's episode of CBC Radio's As it Happens celebrated Canada Day with an interview with Jowi Taylor, author of Six String Nation: 64 Pieces, 6 Strings, 1 Country, 1 Guitar. The book chronicles the creation of Voyageur, a remarkable guitar that was inspired by the near-separation of Canada as a result of a close referendum in Quebec. Taylor crisscrossed the country, collecting artefacts to build a guitar from, from the national (former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's canoe paddle) to the local (the handle from the oyster shucking knife of a champion Míkmaq shucker); from the wonderful (a piece of a spruce tree held sacred by the Haida) to the tragic (a piece of the Westfahl, Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children). It combines everything from a piece of a hockey-stick from the most famous hockey game ever played (Canada vs. USSR, 1972) to a piece of Newfoundland's floating X-ray clinic, established to treat the post WWII TB epidemic.
After the guitar was built, by master luthier George Rizsanyi, Taylor took to the road again, getting all manner of people to play it, from Canadian musical legends (Gordon Lightfoot on his birthday, in his home) to world-famous musicians touring the country, to hundreds of ordinary people, who were all able to touch, hold and play this remarkable instrument (it has a case that is every bit as storied, of course -- part of it is sewn from the trousers of veteran hockey announcer Don Cherry!).
The net effect is of an instrument -- an artefact -- that is sacred and profane, precious and invaluable, common and unique. Marketers try to imbue their products with stories in order to create emotional ties with customers (think of Apple's Think Different campaign, or the mythology spun around Walt Disney), but this is the genuine article, a genuinely storied thing that is as much socially constructed as it is physically crafted.
I've asked the publisher for a review copy of Six String Nation (it comes out at the end of July) and if it's as good as it sounds, I'll have a review of it up as soon as I can.
Six String Nation: 64 Pieces, 6 Strings, 1 Country, 1 Guitar (Amazon)
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Cory,
You are a patriot yet!
Maybe more importantly, you are a Canadian at heart -- what can possibly unite us (especially given our geography) than our worldview?
Your expat sensibility probably does more to promote the CBC than anything local, never mind a certain mentality that would gladly abandon all Canadian media for a more convenient slice of Americana.
Canada often gets the best of everything, if only we should recognise it -- local and foreign media worldwide!
I've always wanted to ask you -- what do you think of "Little Mosque on the Prairie"?
I suspect your editor might have diacriticalized your text by combining the "i'" into "í" without asking first: it should be Mi'kmaq, not Míkmaq.
http://www.mikmaq.com/
(Bonus: if you visit this site often enough, you can learn all the days of the week and the months of the year.
/A European mapmaker transposed two letters from the Mi'kmaq word Chedaïque to end up with the current name of the town I live in.
//I still think they should have called the 'Fixed Link' AKA The Confederation Bridge, the Abegweit Bridge.
>a piece of a hockey-stick from the most famous hockey game ever played (Canada vs. USSR, 1972)
I'm sure that's the most famous hockey game Canada has ever played, but my money's on USA vs. USSR, 1980. That game in Lake Placid is one of the most famous sports moments ever, IMHO.
This 'artefact' is just as artificial as anything created through a marketing campaign. Disneyland creations have an interesting backstory as well - how is this guitar different? It is certainly an interesting and attention-grabbing idea, but to assert that it is anything but artificial - anything more than a different sort of marketing - is unwarranted.
Um, marketing for whom?
By the way, all artefacts are artificial by definition.
Six String Nation also inspired the Guelph Guitar Project: http://royalcityrag.ca/2008/10/01/making-history-sing-the-guelph-guitar-project/
@Hartwick, if you had any idea what these stories actually are and what Jowi Taylor has gone through with the CBC and government people who haven't given a shit, you would not be dismissing this thing as merely "artificial" and "a different sort of marketing".
If you do learn more, you'll get bigtime payback that has nothing to do with money. If not? Your loss.
@ 3 & 5 - I'm not saying that this is insignificant or uninteresting! Only that this... production is not distinct in the ways that the post suggests.
"Marketers try to imbue their products with stories to create emotional ties..." How is this guitar anything other than an attempt to create an 'emotional' object? How is it really different from other such attempts? The guitar did not accrete stories over time - it was built expressly to be emotive!
It's like an artificial reef - useful, interesting, beautiful - but still artificial.
Hartwich, I think that there's a world of difference between your example, 'Disneyworld creations', and Jowi Taylor working with Nova Scotian George Rizsanyi to hand craft a guitar.
...how is this guitar different?
How many Disneyworld creations have a piece of Rocket Richard's Stanley Cup ring? How many were made from the Golden Spruce, with the OK of the Haida?
Care to step outside and discuss this? (I keed!)
@hartwick
The logical conclusion of what you are saying that all art is marketing. Is that what you meant to say?
If so, it's a rather crass view of creative endeavour.
Amazing story behind the guitar, it's a playable Grail with a soul. Marketing,, Harrumph! I say Harrumph!
Hartwich go about your business selling stock and eating Big Macs, nothing for you to see here.
I've played that guitar, onstage with my (former) band at Manitoba's Festival du Voyageur. It was a surprisingly moving experience for all of us, and we were quite thrilled both to play the instrument and to have our pictures taken with it later. Being an immigrant, I was particularly moved.
Mr Taylor's is a brilliant idea and I urge all Canadians to support the project.
Hey Cory -
The book's out already. It's been on the shelves at my bookstore for three weeks. And yes, it's great!
Rachel
Thanks for the pointer tweet, Cory. My father has been doing a lot of work on stories and storytelling over the past few years and I think he needs to see this, too. Fantastic meta-story. Or even meta-meta-story since it's a story about the story about the storied object.
Just to dip my oar in...pause for penny to drop...the difference between the artifact Voyageur and one of a Disneyland or Apple manufacture is that Jowi Taylor is not making a profit on this project. In fact he has gone into debt significantly getting it made and taking it across the country.
He doesn't charge anyone to have their picture taken with Voyageur or to hold and play it. As far as he is concerned it isn't his, it belongs to all Canadians.
Jowi initially expected funding from Government offices and the opportunity to do a series on CBC about the guitar which would have recouped his expenses building Voyageur but, as any Canadian will happily point out, no-one goes to either of these agencies with dreams of great personal wealth.
I'm sure, my dear Hartwick, it is natural to assume everyone is motivated by personal profit, especially when undertaking a project of this scope but that is not the case with Jowi and Voyageur. Yes it is an artifact but so is a flag and the history of a country.
Hartwick, I see what you're saying, and it's a difficulty that all human endeavor faces. Ultimately it's down to the difference between something made for love and something made for money. The former can make money, while the latter faces a hard road in making love.
I would consider it comparable to the difference between the Talking Heads and New Kids on the Block. They're both groupings of people, both brought about intentionally, but the former was created by musicians that loved music while the latter was assembled by a producer to make a lot of money.
Anyway, that's how I see it.
And I made that comment before seeing that the next post was about Talking Heads. Oh jeez.
Here's why this guitar has no soul. Because it looks like it's something put together by the Canadian marketing board. It's all sunshine and lollypops.
Where's the darkness?
If the maker had included some trinitite (glass from the Trinity bomb blast) to reflect Canada's contribution to the beginning of a scary new era, or wood from a residential school, then it would at least have some balance.
Instead, it has all the substance of a beauty queen. There is nothing to reflect the sorrow or anger that is as crucial to musical process as joy.
@18
Darkness?
While yes, the residential schools would have made a poignant addition, how many of those actual buildings still survive?
Did you read about the origins of the Haida wood? It was a sacred tree attacked by Canadian loggers over protest from the Haida community.
I am actually having trouble finding information of the Westfahl school mentioned, but if it is anything like other 'charity' run schools in Canadian history, it's likely not a pretty story.
I'll on the whole agree, it is no doubt meant to be a feel good piece not a piece of reflection on the mistakes of a country.
@4, 18: A labor of love resulting in a beautiful, functional instrument that brings meaning and joy to people who have the chance to play it. I don't understand dropping negativity on that. Have a better rest of your day and a wonderful tomorrow.
Canada Rocks !!
I love all this chest thumping, and I love that Boing Boing has a good amount of CanCon.
Now if we can only do something about those damn HULU videos.
There are a number of very intimate performances filmed by shebafilms available on youtube.com showing the guitar...and more importantly hearing the thing.
check out this performance...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zgv52bteEw&feature=channel_page
I just got my copy at Indigo's in Charlottetown.
Thanks for the heads up, Cory!
I wonder how long my Six String Nation's book cover will keep its Pure White 'Servant of TSOTL' Suit, er, book cover as, well, pure white as it is.
(Let's see if it's really the case that "nothing is obscure on the Internet".)
(Was on "1A")
It's not a "marketing stunt" or about the money (apparently the guy is still in debt from putting this thing together), but it's still pretty pointless. It all seems like a rather clumsy attempt to mooch off the cultural significance of others. In trying to combine all these artifacts into one big Cultural Voltron, he just ends up making something that's less, rather than more, than the sum of its parts. Or so it seems to me anyway. Not hating on it, just a big dose of "so what?"
Jowi Taylor has created something wonderful with the Voyageur guitar: an object made out of old stories (and yes, some of them are dark) that can be used to tell new stories.
I've known Jowi for a number of years, and always been amazed and inspired by his determination to use Six String Nation to create a little pride and understanding in Canada's history (too often forgotten by Canadians).
He's never asked for anything more than encouragement and support. He deserves both.
- Ryan (Toronto, Canada)
some made things develop souls.
You know, I really wanted to like that guitar - it's a great story. Unfortunately, it's an ugly guitar.
Why not get Grit Laskin to make it?
http://www.williamlaskin.com/
Dark? Um, okay, I guess the church in the Nova Scotia terminus of the underground railroad was a heck of a lollipop, especially when the people in the pews thought they'd risked so much for freedom only to face as much prejudice, segregation and oppression as they left in the south. Yeah, the "nggr church" is a gosh darn beacon of joy in our history.
And Louis Riel...man, where do I begin? Mr. Chuckles for sure...I think he came up with his best stand-up routines at the battle of Batoush but some prefer his kidding around on the scaffold before he dropped...
Perhaps the uplifting aspect of so much on Voyageur is because we need a bit of inspiration. The story of Canada, however, does not lack for it's dark moments and they are represented if you take a moment to listen.
By the way, the Golden Spruce was cut down by a misguided protester to bring attention to the practises of the local logging company...I laughed...oh my aching sides....
To those who would dismiss this guitar -- one sacred object for a nation traditionally uncomfortable with sacred objects -- as "just" a symbol misses the point.
Symbols and legends do compress complexity down to a "thing," but that's what's so great about them. In the midst of the mental noise and chaos of the distracted Now, they reach an emotional centrepoint and create a space where we can just be still and love.
My parents are immigrants, coming here to escape poverty and persecution. Our history as a family all but disappears about 80 years back. But I do have a heritage, courtesy of the grand experiment that is Canada.
Some day I'll touch that guitar, and I'll say Thank You.
In a nation so large populated by very few – diverse and fractured - proud and indifferent one person’s dream gets realized and all that can be said is ‘So what’– I grow weary of such lazy thinking and trite remarks.
The stories came first - they’ve always been there - Jowi knows that and the guitar came afterward as a vehicle to tell those stories - Because those stories need to be told and heard by Canadians – all Canadians. In a country that at times stumbles around trying to define what the heck it is to be Canadian, Jowi at least has made a damn good stab at it! Creating a symbol is a courageous act; even an audacious act, some might venture to say a foolish act……..how completely Canadian. It brings me great joy!
Yup joy! How emotional of me! Genuine emotion I’m proud to say – not Disneyfied emotion!
Artificial you say? – is a quilt artificial because it is made of many different parts? Perhaps you should ask one of the women of Gees Bend if she views her quilts as artificial!