Performance
Performance videos
In 2016 at the Open Tuning Festival
in Toronto, songwriter David Leask
attended one of my multimedia presentations. It was probably his third or fourth time. Some of the stories baked into the guitar were really sticking with him and he was inspired to write some songs. He didn't need to but he was kind of asking for my blessing. I enthusiastically gave it but also offered to let him take Voyageur
for a bit so he could really be inspired. That lead to the composition of six songs comprising the EP "Voyageur in Song", released September 18th, 2020. Five of those songs were lyrically inspired by specific materials in the guitar. The sixth was inspired by David's experience of Voyageur
itself. And the approach to the recording was pure genius, as captured in this video by Big Red Oak.
Part performance, part presentation and part conversation. Jowi and long-time friend and supporter of the Nation, Stephen Fearing, give an engaging overview of the project with thee songs from Stephen, including "Long Walk to Freedom", "Emigrant Song" and "The Longest Road".
Paul O'Brien debuts his song "The Voyageur" - written for Jowi and Voyageur - at the University of Victoria on January 20, 2010 accompanied by the St. Michael's University School Senior Orchestra and Choir under the direction of Donna Williams.
The legendary Barney Bentall plays two songs from his "Inside Passage" album on ShawTV's "Urban Rush" show in Vancouver in 2009:
Film director Michelle Derosier of the Migisi Sahgaigan First Nation performs a song during a house concert at the home of fellow Thunder Bay filmmaker Kelly Saxberg:
Juno Award winning multi-instrumentalist and producer Steve Dawson from Vancouver and Nashville incorporated Voyageur
into his set at Hugh's Room with this extraordinary instrumental on May 1, 2014 in support of his album Rattlesnake Cage.
In one of many performances with Voyageur, award winning blues artist Suzie Vinnick uses the guitar for a Toronto Blues Society workshop session at Hugh's Room.
Using lyrics generated by a group of Peel District students in a workshop with Jowi at Brampton City Hall, songwriter Mack Edwards records the song "Your Voice" in the facilities of the recording program at Ottawa's Algonquin College:
Martin Gould, a book designer who had previously played Voyageur
informally at David Neale's house, plays for colleagues from the book world during the Alcuin Society Book Design Awards at the famed Arts & Letters Club in Toronto, where the Six String Nation book was among the honourees:
Quebec early folk ensemble Genticorum plays Voyageur
during a house concert at the home of David and Sarah Neale. The group later played Voyageur during a concert in the Grand Hall of the Canadian Museum of History:
Songwriter Rodney Brown plays his ode to the city of Thunder Bay, "The Big Lonely" on Voyageur during a house concert at the home of filmmaker Kelly Saxberg:
Renowned Italian finger style champion guitarist Pino Forastiere plays Voyageur
at the Sacro Monte overlooking the Isola San Giulio in Lago di Orta, Piemonte, Italy, during the international guitar festival Un Paese a Sei Corde:
An illustrated reading by the late Robert Dickson of "Générations", the poem Jowi commissioned from the Laurentian University professor and founding member of CANO. This recording opened the proceedings at a show at Sudbury's infamous Townehouse Tavern, broadcast on the local CBC radio station. The poem also appears in the Six String Nation book:
