Jun
20
2009
Being Buff # 36, Jowi Taylor PAB2009 Keynote: How a guitar brought a nation together
Author: Robin Browne
Tonight I listened to Jowi Taylor’s keynote speech to the 2009 Podcasters Across Borders conference in Kingston. As a result, this episode is about passion and inspiration. It’s about one man’s belief in a project, the Six String Nation Guitar, his unwavering pursuit to complete it – and how it inspired unity in a divided nation.
The story is amazing on many levels that you will hear when you listen to it. The one thing I wanted to highlight was how the project, building a guitar made from pieces of Canadian heritage and culture from across Canada, was a unifying force. From a piece of a tree sacred to the Haida Nation in Britich Columbia to a piece of the house of Canada’s first black cowboy (that almost none of us knew about), the guitar is made of pieces of things from some of Canada’s greatest stories. Some of the stories are well known, most aren’t. Each comes from one of Canada’s diverse peoples and together make an instrument that members of each group have used to play their unique stories. Many contributed to making it. Many have touched and played it. Everyone owns it.
Enjoy, and share, the conversation.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:27 — 50.8MB)
