Builders
George Rizsanyi
In October of 1956, Hungarians chafing under Soviet rule initiated a revolution. The uprising lasted just 12 days as the Soviet Army moved in to quash it. As a result, more than 200,000 Hungarians fled the country. Over the course of the next several months, Canada welcomed more than 37,000 Hungarian refugees with most arriving through the immigration port at Pier 21 in Halifax. Among them was a 1-year-old George Rizsanyi. Soon after, the family moved to the Lake Scugog area in Ontario, a short distance from Toronto.
After high school, woodworking and instrument building was a hobby for George while he worked at the General Motors assembly plant in Oshawa. But after studying with the renowned Canadian luthier Jean Lárrivée and others, he quit the automaker to take up working on guitars full time until he was himself a luthier of note. He has since made guitars for a number of high profile artists including Keith Richards, James Taylor, Noel Redding and others.
It is fitting that the X-brace on the inside top of Voyageur
is made from a rafter from Pier 21 where Rizsanyi first arrived in Canada.
Sara (Sahara Jane) Nasr
Sara Nasr was one of the talented students George had mentored in his private luthierie school and she was chosen to do the delicate work of inlaying the various stone, metal, antler, ivory and bone elements into the fretboard and headstock of the guitar.
Shortly after completing this work, Sara travelled to Mumbai to study Indian music. The great Ustad Sultan Khan introduced her to the sarangi - a complex instrument she has incorporated into her music now as an expert player along with guitar and other instruments.
As Sahara Jane, she has toured the world as a solo performer as well as in a variety of ensembles - including one with her sisters Kamila and Ariana - playing music from Indian classical to fusion to folk to "gypsy jazz". You can find her online here.
OTHERS
Lutherie is both art and craft and George and Sara brought the best of their abilities - along with a healthy dose of magic - to the project. Of course, there's a lot of grunt work to be done and various others were enlisted at the workshop to do various tasks. Mike McConnell was the chief workshop assistant but others helped as well. Even Jowi got a chance to apply some clamps in the forming of Voyageur's sides!
