Lauren Follett has been playing guitar for years, but on Thursday at G.S. Lakie she was able to play something truly unique.
“I think it’s a beautiful guitar. It feels really nice to play and it’s just beautiful.”
Follett had the opportunity to play ‘Voyageur’, a guitar crafted out of 64 pieces of Canadiana. The instrument is a way to tell Canada’s story, one bit at a time. Parts of the guitar include a piece of Maurice Richards’ Stanley Cup ring, and a piece of the oldest rock in the world found in the North West Territories.
Jowi Taylor has criss-crossed the country as Six String Nation, sharing his project and the stories that go along with it.
“I got this wonderful invitation from Community Foundations of Lethbridge and Southwestern Alberta,” said Taylor. “We’ve been talking for about a year putting this tour together and the idea was to kind of reach out into the region and get the guitar into as many situations as possible.”
‘Voyageur’ contains pieces from every province and territory, including an addition from near Lethbridge.
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“From right around here from the Kainai first nation, a piece of ammolite,” said Taylor. “From the Blood tribe, the Blood tribe symbol that’s mounted inside the guitar.”
Since it’s been built, ‘Voyageur’ has been all across the nation, and has been played by the likes of Fiest, The Tragically Hip and Gordon Lightfoot. But what is more important to Six String Nation is that the guitar reaches the hands of musicians like Lauren Follet, so that stories of Canada’s history can continue to spread.
“It was amazing to be able to play the same guitar (as) all those amazing people,” said Follett. “And all those pieces of history in that guitar was just amazing.”
“It’s all kinds of people who find some connection with this thing and share their story with me,” said Taylor. “The whole idea is to share stories.”
To learn more about the ‘Voyageur’ guitar, visit: sixstringnation.com
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