A Six String Nation birthday story for January 1st (part two).

It’s hard to put into words the depth and breadth of Leo’s impact on the project and on my life personally but I’ll give it a go:

Back in 2004, David Suzuki had suggested that I try to get a piece of the legendary Golden Spruce of Haida Gwaii for the guitar and put me in touch with some key people on the island who might be able to facilitate that. One of those was Guujaaw, then President of the Council of the Haida Nation, and the other was the late David Phillips — a well known community connector living in Masset. If you’ve read the book, you’ll know that the process of getting agreement to allow us to take a piece from this famous felled tree was long, tenuous and fraught with controversy at every step. But really, a huge part of it was just finding a comfort level with me and the project among the community. Perhaps most important among that community was Leo — a carver and hereditary chief-in-waiting who had been designated as the person who would perform the actual cut of the tree should all other forces align properly. So we spent a little time just getting to know Leo and hanging out with him at home, where he was running a little pizza business on the side.

Since arriving on Haida Gwaii, we’d had some food that purported to be traditional Haida dishes but we honestly hadn’t tasted the real thing until Leo cooked us dinner one night at his place. He made the most amazing black cod and k’aaw — which is basically kelp leaves encrusted with herring roe that is awesome.

Through this getting-to-know-each-other process, I predictably managed to reveal that I’m an emotional soft-touch. If I find something moving — whether sad or celebratory — I’m likely to start crying. Knowing this about me gave Leo plenty of ammo for teasing me whenever he could — not least of all during the extraordinary moment when we actually took a piece of the Golden Spruce from its resting place on the west bank of the Yakoun River. “There he goes again”, said Leo.

While we took enough wood for two guitar tops, most of the chunk that we removed from the tree remained with Leo, who was tasked with making various items from it for ceremonial and other purposes. When we went back to Haida Gwaii for the Edge of the World Music Festival in 2008, we popped up to Old Masset to see Leo. If the picture below had sound, you’d hear Leo reciting the various items from across the country that had gone in to Voyageur’s construction and he really knew it quite intimately in spite of this being the first time he’d seen it. You’ll see on the table in front of him the early stages of a mask of Kiidk’yaas, the spirit of the Golden Spruce, made from the tree itself. Leo contacted me over a year ago to let me know that the mask had been completed. I tried in vain to hook him up with a couple of First Nations art dealers and museum curators. If you are interested in seeing the completed mask, please get in touch with me and let me know.

It was my dream to create a second guitar using the remaining piece of the Golden Spruce and return it to the people of Haida Gwaii as a gift. Unfortunately, the material is not in my possession at the moment and my relationship with the luthier has soured but I’m hopeful that one day it will be returned to me so that I can return it to Haida Gwaii in one form or another.

In the meantime, the gift Leo helped give us from Haida Gwaii was extraordinary and the time spent with him even more so.

Happy birthday, Leo!

Six String Nation is a project centred around a world-exclusive acoustic guitar literally built from pieces of history and heritage that reveal the stories of different communities, cultures, characters and events from every part of Canada. The guitar is nicknamed Voyageur.

It offers a conception of Canada that is at once historical, contemporary, dynamic, personal, emotional, generous, inclusive and proudly Canadian.

The photo above was taken at Leo’s house in Old Masset, Haida Gwaii, by Doug Nicholson.

Jowi Taylor is a Peabody Award winning former broadcaster and a recipient of Canada’s Meritorious Service Medal for his work on Six String Nation.