Six String Nation

Schoolchildren in the U.S. are taught about the pilgrims and pioneers who persevered through hardship and fought unruly natives to settle this country. We learn about the huddled masses stirred together in a great melting pot, as if we invented immigration.

Our single-minded concept of "a real American" excludes our neighbors to the south, and the north. Many Canadians are more circumspect over just what "Canadian-ness" is. Canadians tend to look more critically at the genocide of "first nations" people, at identity, at sovereign populations and policies. From this tentative nationalism comes Six String Nation, an idea, a book, a website and one composite guitar making its way across Canada.

Jowi Taylor is Peabody Award-winning broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He came up with the idea for Six String Nation in 1995, on the eve of a referendum for Quebec’s sovereignty. The guitar was crafted by luthier George Rizsanyi and made its debut eleven years later, in 2006. Jowi Taylor joins us with more about this project, which reflects an ongoing quest for Canadian identity.

View the guitar from Six String Nation

(Photo by quartertonality via Flickr/Creative Commons)