Festival du Voyageur is going to start in the city on Friday, February 15.
Due to the fact that the festival celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, it was decided to make a guitar that can reflect the history of the festival. Christian Dupont, a Franco-Manitoban luthier, was the master who was asked to make the instrument.
"Since the festival is a celebration of music and culture, a guitar just fits in so perfectly," said Dupont. "We're celebrating 50 years of our culture and our identity, and our music and our history, so for me this is just a chance for me to be able to contribute to that."
The idea to create a guitar appeared two years ago. Its body is made from a Manitoba flamed ash tree, with a canoe-shaped bridge, and the guitar head is the shape of the province. Beaded leaves of cedar, ash and elm, as well as the music notes of the Voyageur song, Festival's official song, can be seen on its strap.
"I wanted people to, when they saw the guitar … think this is for the Festival du Voyageur," said Dupont.
The luthier said that he spent many sleepless nights creating this masterpiece. Now he can't even say exactly how long it took him to make the guitar. Dupont put all his passion and love for the province and the festival into this musical instrument. He spent about $1000 on materials.
Dupont hopes that the festival will become more popular every new year because it is very important to keep pushing the culture and music of the province through generations. The festival will last 10 days and the guitar will be transferred from one musician to another one.
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