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The ultimate piece of Canadiana, full of contradictions

Taylor brings guitar crafted from 63 pieces of Canadian history to Whistler
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What: Six String Nation presentation

When: Monday, Sept. 28, 7 p.m.

Where: Whistler Public Library

Cost: Free

It should come as little surprise that a guitar made from 63 pieces of Canadian history sounds much like the Nation itself - understated, but powerful.

"Like Canadians, it's got a lot of good things to say, but it doesn't like shouting," said Jowi Taylor, the man behind Canada's guitar, which has been dubbed the Voyageur.

The Voyageur was a true labour of love for this writer, radio host and producer, involving some science, some alchemy, and a whole lot of hard work.

Six String Nation , the book chronicling the Voyageur (and Taylor's) journey from an initial idea to a very tangible reality, was published just over two months ago. It paints a vivid picture of Canada through stunning portraiture and insightful interviews with a wide range of people who contributed to the project, or who had the opportunity to try their hand at playing the Voyageur once it was finally finished. Now, the author is bringing the book and the guitar to Whistler.

The idea for the Voyageur came about a few months before the referendum was held in October 1995, when Taylor first met George Rizsanyi, a luthier (someone who makes stringed instruments).

"I was kind of preoccupied, as most people were at that time, with questions about Canadian identity because, of course, the Nationalists position of pulling Quebec out of Canada sort of really challenged our notion of Canada," he explained. "At the same time as that all unfolded, it became increasingly apparent that however justifiable Quebec's reasons for wanting to secede - and really, they have a pretty robust culture and economy of their own, they could easily do it - the debate around that notion of Canadian identity failed to include anybody else. It all boiled down to French and English."

Taylor was born and raised in Toronto, to a well traveled, internationally minded family that met on a weekly basis over dinner to talk about different world cultures.

Taylor wanted an opportunity to talk about Canadian identity on a deeper level, exploring issues of multiculturalism and regionalism that are so prevalent in our country.

"It struck me that this is where countries rely on their symbols to address those things, and when you look for Canadian iconography, what you find are donuts and hockey and beaver and loons, and it seems to be, they're pretty thin," he said.

When he met Rizsanyi, the issue of Canadian wood came up in conversation.

"He's a big believer in Canadian wood. As a guitar builder, he doesn't avoid necessarily, but doesn't believe that it's necessary to build guitars exclusively with African ebony and Japanese maple and Brazilian rosewood. So his belief was that you could make perfectly good guitars using Canadian wood and that was a symbol of our lack of respect for our own culture and materials, that we didn't do that more often."

This topic sparked an idea.

"I said, 'George, do you think you could build a guitar using material from every province and territory in Canada?'"

The answer was "yes." The project, which was originally intended to take only a few months, soon snowballed into a multi-year endeavour using repurposed materials from every corner of the country. Now, the finished Voyageur contains 63 pieces of Canadian history, each telling a different story about our nation. There's a sliver of Nancy Greene's ski, a piece of Pierre Trudeau's canoe paddle, Paul Henderson's hockey stick and Maurice "Rocket" Richard's ring in the guitar itself. And since the completion of the instrument, Taylor has carried on, adding more pieces of Canadian culture and history onto the case and strap.

Taylor wasn't really surprised by the wealth of materials he was able to collect. After he got a piece of Trudeau's paddle and a piece of the Bluenose II through personal collections, the project gained instant credibility. Then, the stories and pieces came flooding in.

But there are still objects that Taylor didn't get for the Voyageur: for example, he was disappointed that B.C.'s Japanese community wasn't receptive to including part of Joy Kogawa's tree.

They were just one of many groups who weren't entirely receptive to the idea in the beginning, which made the project that much more difficult to complete. In fact, in the beginning, he faced a lot of indifference to the idea.

"I still do. Maybe I shouldn't characterize it as indifference," Taylor mused. "It doesn't come from regular folks, regular folks are on the whole, very, very taken with the guitar and really get it pretty easily. The problem comes with official Canada, and whether that's been the CBC or the Department of Canadian Heritage or the Canada Council, once you get a bureaucracy involved... they will all tell me what a great idea it is, and then they'll tell me that its somebody else's department."

Despite these obstacles, the finished Voyageur was finally unveiled at Parliament Hill on Canada Day 2006.

"It was pretty surreal, it was a dream come true, quite literally," he said.

But Taylor quickly realized that even though the guitar was complete, his work wasn't over.

"Now, I had this huge responsibility. This was just the beginning - this could not be the end of things. I realized, 'now, I really have to get it out there, or it won't have realized its potential.'"

Though they're past the construction phase and are now focusing on touring with the guitar, things haven't gotten much easier. Recently, for the first time, the guitar was invited out of the country to attend a festival in Northern Italy. Taylor and the rest of the Voyageur crew spent almost a year planning this trip, raising money from donors and the like to help cover the travel costs that aren't provided by the festival itself. Taylor had applied to the Canada Council's Audience of Market Development department to help cover the expense of the trip.

"I figured that this is exactly what this is about - it's about trying to build inroads not only for this project, but also the idea of doing other versions of this project in other countries, and that would also be a wedge for Canadian musicians to come play the guitar, and all this other kind of stuff," Taylor said, his voice trailing off. "And I was turned down."

This is just one of many obstacles that has frustrated Taylor in his quest to build an iconic piece of Canadian culture. But this passionate Canadian crusader isn't ready to call it quits just yet.

"I realized that this does have the power to put people on an equal ground, where they feel that they count and communities feel like they are part of the story - that it doesn't all happen in the halls of power, it doesn't all happen on Parliament Hill or Bay Street."