A Six String Nation birthday story for January 3rd: Marc Merilainen/Nadjiwan

The Merilainen name reflects his Finnish heritage and the Nadjiwan name reflects his Ojibway heritage. And while those influences and more roll through his various music projects as composer, performer, producer, I’m not sure even the addition of several other names would encompass all the wonderfulness of Marc. Honestly, he is one of my favourite people and I consider myself lucky to be his friend and neighbour. Apart from our mutual love for all kinds of music, we share interests in food, humour, politics and a bunch of other pre-occupations. For example, we both greatly enjoy a good sit! Isn’t that right, Marc?

He has played Voyageur on many occasions, formally and informally. We did a show together with him and our mutual friend Donné Roberts at the Royal Ontario Museum, this portrait was taken at the Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival in BC and he was one of a few people who played it at the Revival Club for a benefit show at the height of the Idle No More movement. The movement, incidentally, for which Marc penned the premier anthem.

If you know much about Voyageur, you’ll know that it contains parts of a soup stirring paddle from The Hoito Finnish restaurant in Marc’s home town of Thunder Bay. Marc visits the Big Lonely a few times a year and whenever I track him down there he is either at or on his way to or just coming from the Hoito. Seriously, you have to try these pannakakku!

Happy birthday, Marc!

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 portrait, part of a collection of approximately 150,000 images of 15,000 different people taken at events in every province and territory of Canada, is by Doug Nicholson.

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