The idea to build the guitar was conceived by Taylor in the months preceding the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty after a chance encounter with Rizsanyi, who was then attempting to build guitars using wood from local sources rather than more conventional exotic woods. While the impending referendum focussed on the political relationship between the province of Quebec as a francophone minority and the Canadian federal government representing an anglophone majority, Taylor sought to represent additional stakeholders within the national debate including multicultural and indigenous communities as well as francophones living outside of Quebec.2 Over a period of eleven years, Taylor researched and gathered contributed materials for the guitar from every province and territory in Canada. A few materials were contributed directly by individuals to Rizsanyi. It was built by Rizsanyi in his workshop near Pinehurst, Nova Scotia, with assistance from Michael McConnell and fretboard inlay work by Sara Nasr. Work on the guitar was completed on June 15, 2006, and tested by musicians Dave MacIsaac of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and Roger Howse of Newfoundland. Additional elements of metal, leather and fabric have subsequently been added to the case and strap.
The Six String Nation guitar made its debut on Canada Day 2006 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa3 at the invitation of the National Capital Commission. Following its official introduction, it was played by Stephen Fearing and subsequently during the show by Kyle Riabko, Michel Pagliaro, Colin James, Jean-Francois Breau and Amy Millan. Earlier in the day, it had been played on ancillary stages by Colin Linden, Tom Wilson, Popo Murigande, Joel Fafard and members of La Volée d'Castors. In subsequent years at the Canada Day main stage on Parliament Hill, the guitar was played by J. Knutson (2007), Ron Hynes (2008), Shane Yellowbird (2009), Wayne Lavallee (2010) and the guitarist accompanying Kardinal Offishall (2016). Over the years it has been played by hundreds of musicians - including Feist, Bruce Cockburn, Stompin' Tom Connors, Gordon Lightfoot, Rob Baker, Catherine MacLellan, the African Guitar Summit, K'naan and many others - at public and private events across Canada. The instrumental "Voyageur" by Don Ross from his "Upright and Locked Position" album (2012), was written for and composed on the Six String Nation guitar. In 2013 Jim Henman, a cofounder of Canada's April Wine, was asked to perform a few of his tunes on the Voyageur at his Toronto show and in 2019, an Ontario singer-songwriter composed and recorded an EP of 6 songs drawn from the stories embedded in the guitar, entitled "The Songs of Voyageur". Taylor and the Six String Nation guitar have appeared at festivals, schools, community, conference and corporate events in every province and territory of Canada.
The guitar officially received the nickname Voyageur - as suggested by Lt. Col. Susan Beharriell4 - at a ceremony launching the 2008 Festival du Voyageur in Winnipeg-St. Boniface.
In 2009, the guitar was part of the Un Paese a Sei Corde international guitar festival in Orta San Giulio, Italy, where it was played by Pino Forastiere and Davide Sgorlon.
In honour of the guitar, a fifty-cent coin was created by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2009.5 It is in the triangular shape of a guitar pick and features a hologram of the Six String Nation logo on the reverse set into a depiction of Voyageur's sound hole and rosette.
On December 11, 2015, Taylor was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal (Civilian Division)6 for his work on the project by Governor General David Johnston in a ceremony at Rideau Hall.
The origins and process of the project as well as the encounters with people across Canada were chronicled in a book by Taylor in 2009, "Six String Nation: 64 Pieces. 6 Strings. 1 Canada. 1 Guitar." (Douglas & Mcintyre publishers)7 accompanied by photos by Doug Nicholson and Sandor Fizli, including photos of the materials and construction process mostly by Fizli and a selection from among the tens of thousands of portraits of people holding Voyageur taken at events in all provinces and territories of Canada by Nicholson - an ongoing project.8
Additionally, the project has been featured in a number of other published texts and workbooks including the grade 9 core French textbook "Tu Parles!" from R.K. Publishing9 and "Mathematics 10" for western Canada from McGraw-Hill Ryerson.10
A proposed television special and series about the building of the guitar and its subsequent travels was aborted by CBC Television Arts and Entertainment part way through the development process just months before construction on the guitar began on April 30, 2006. At that point, CBC Newsworld producer Deborah Smith stepped in to propose a more modest project called "A Canadian Guitar",11 which played several times on the now defunct network.
Accompanying Jowi and the Six String Nation team on the journey to Haida Gwaii in February 2006 to obtain the wood from the Golden Spruce was Geoff Siskind, acting in the dual capacity of videographer and audio recordist, the latter for a documentary by renowned CBC radio documentarist Steve Wadhams. Wadhams' experimental audio documentary based on these and other recordings, along with interviews with Jowi and music commissioned from Don Ross, aired in 2007.
An interview on Shaw TV Vancouver's "Urban Rush" show on September 29, 200912 included performances by Barney Bentall.
The project was spoofed on the December 4, 2014 episode (#300193905)13 of CBC Radio's This Is That in a segment about the creation of a Canadian "unity shovel".
Taylor has appeared in dozens of local and national radio and television interviews about the project, most notably in two full length interviews on TVOntario's The Agenda with Steve Paikin on January 2, 201314 and November 8, 2016.15
He was the guest on episode 7016 of the Trailer Park Boys podcast, published on SwearNet.com on December 2, 2016. During the episode, Mike Smith, as the character "Bubbles", played the song "Liquor and Whores" on Voyageur.
The guitar is made from 64 pieces of wood, bone, metal, stone and horn, representing a variety of cultures, communities, characters and events from every province and territory of Canada.
The guitar case was custom made for Six String Nation by Al Williams of Calton Cases Canada in Calgary, Alberta. The strap was made by Levy's Leathers of Winnipeg Manitoba. Additional pieces of significant material adorn both the case and the strap.
Dinosaur Provincial Park
John Ware's cabin.
Upper element of leaf motif.
Wayne Gretzky.
Bridge pin (1 of original 6).
from Hand Hills Lake Stampede.
Standoff
Blood Tribe Buffalo Skull symbol.
Columbia
Haida Gwaii
Kiidk'yaas, "The Golden Spruce".
Goldwood timber mill.
on either side of end block.
Nancy Greene-Raine.
Reinforcing strip #2 from top.
DHC-2 Beaver
Elements #3 and #11, clockwise.
first Chinatown, Fan Tan Alley.
Ukrainian Church.
Rosette element #8, clockwise.
schoolhouse to Louis Riel.
Rosette, elements #5/13
French Frigate, Machault.
& Labrador
motor cabinet.
floating clinic.
Interior top block and end block.
Anglican Church.
Top int. B-L kerning.
Orphanage.
Back int reinforcing strip #3.
(Iqaluktuuttiaq)
Elements #4/12, clockwise.
Elements #2/10, clockwise.
(Kangiqliniq)
Territories
carver Sonny MacDonald.
2 of 4, L-R.
James Naismith house.
Side leaf element surround.
Centre element.
Maid of the Mist II salvage.
Side leaf element inset.
Library of Parliament.
Rosette, double ring.
Centre Block.
Spine laminate elements #1/5
Sir John A. Macdonald, Parliament Hill.
Red element of 6SN logo execution.
restaurant, The Hoito.
Group of Seven "Studio Building".
Back int. Back brace #1
Game 8, 1972 Summit Series.
1 of 4, L-R. Bridge pin (1 of original 6)
Island
author Lucy Maud Montgomery was
raised by her grandparents.
Reinforcing strip #1 from top.
founder Johnnie Reid.
Joe Labobe's prized shucking knife.
Seat for bottom strap post.
oldest family dwelling, Acadian origin.
Top Int. Kerfing at waist.
Spine laminate elements #2/4
1955-56 Stanley Cup ring.
3 of 4, L-R.
Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau.
Truss rod access.
Theatre Capitole.
Struts between upper bouts and waist, L/R.
slaves owned by American Philip Luke.
Duck Lake
aka. "Kisse-Manitou-Wayo" / "Shu-Kwe-weetam"
participants in his community music program.
from Russia led by Peter Verigin.
Rosette element #8.
documentarist J.J. Van Bibber.
Tone bars #1/2. Kerfing at lower bout L
the oldest wood-frame building in the Yukon.
Back brace #3 Top Int.
Kerfing at bottom R.
principal at Tatsikiisaapo'p Middle School.
under headstock pillow.
Walter S. Painter Wing, ca. 1910
elder, musician and broadcaster,
William Greenland.
and broadcaster Pierre Berton.
Museum at Brewery Bay.
Mission Patch contributed by astronaut and ISS
Commander Chris Hadfield.
Stratford Theatre Festival ca. 1953
of Canada prima ballerina Karen Kain ca. 1972
Bed, waist.
schools designed by students from Nelson Mandela Park
Public School with designer Kessa Laxton.
touring show.
under Leacock doily.
stick made by Six Nations stick maker Ennis Williams.
hockey broadcasting icon Don Cherry.
in the oyster shucking community.
shooting on January 29, 2017, in which six people died and 19 were injured.
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry - a regiment
founded in 1914 on a grant from Andrew Gault.
Vancouver Asahi, a Japanese-Canadian baseball team
also founded in 1914 and lasting until the 1941 internment.
Royal Newfoundland Regiment, founded in 1795
and awarded the Royal designation in December 1949.
characters of the Trailer Park Boys and woven together usingthe unique Atlantic rug hooking technique of the Grenfell Missionsby artist Holly Boileau.
in February 1998, six days after an attack by bullies at his school.
result of a coyote attack at Cape Breton Highlands National Park
on October 27, 2009, at the age of 19.
consisting of pieces from each of seven suits designed by Izzy Camilleri,feather and felt from milliner Karyn Ruiz and heel and sole shoe leather bycobbler Jeff Churchill.
Shoe leathers on back aboveTaylor Mitchell boot.
'National guitar' to include 600-year-old Winnipeg wood, CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/national-guitar-to-include-600-year-old-winnipeg-wood-1.623542 ↩
Taylor, Jowi (2009). Six String Nation. Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 978-1-55365-393-6. 978-1-55365-393-6 ↩
Country music, The Globe and Mail https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/country-music/article1187532/ ↩
"One Guitar Unites Our Country". The Boundary Sentinel. 2009-09-24. Retrieved 2021-05-02. https://boundarysentinel.com/news/one-guitar-unites-our-country-3307 ↩
"Take Your Pick of Enticing New Collector Coins as Royal Canadian Mint Launches Second Product Release of 2009". www.mint.ca. Retrieved 2018-05-07. http://www.mint.ca/store/news/take-your-pick-of-enticing-new-collector-coins-as-royal-canadian-mint-launches-second-product-release-of-2009-5800006?cat=News+releases&nId=700002&parentnId=600004&nodeGroup=About+the+Mint ↩
General, The Office of the Secretary to the Governor. "The Governor General of Canada". Retrieved 2018-05-07. http://gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=52253&t=15&ln=Taylor ↩
Jowi., Taylor (2009). Six string nation : 64 pieces, 6 strings, 1 Canada, 1 guitar. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 9781553653936. OCLC 302060380. 9781553653936 ↩
"Six String Nation's albums". Flickr. Retrieved 2018-05-07. https://www.flickr.com/photos/sixstringnation/albums ↩
Tu parles! 1. DeBlois, Rachel,, Hendry, Linda M. [Toronto]. 2015. ISBN 9781927548189. OCLC 908168523.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link) 9781927548189 ↩
Mathematics 10. McAskill, Bruce. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson. 2010. ISBN 9780070002470. OCLC 657264090.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) 9780070002470 ↩
"Canadian Guitar". CBC Television. 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2012. http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/canadianguitar.html ↩
SixStringNationTV (2015-06-17), 6SN Bentall UrbanRush, retrieved 2018-05-09 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KbONYjH_OE ↩
French Food Labels, Backwards Driver, Town Amalgamation, The Unity Shovel, 2014-12-04, retrieved 2018-05-09 http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2625553917 ↩
The Agenda with Steve Paikin (2013-01-02), Jowi Taylor: Six String Nation, retrieved 2018-05-09 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-7XlUEvm-8 ↩
The Agenda with Steve Paikin (2016-11-08), Six String Nation Revisited, retrieved 2018-05-09 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_BKBbKJ6rs ↩
"SwearNet is the home of The Trailer Park Boys!". www.swearnet.com. Retrieved 2018-05-09. https://www.swearnet.com/shows/trailer-park-boys/seasons/13/episodes/70 ↩