Shania Twain has received a custom-made guitar celebrating her Irish heritage from EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum. The one-of-a-kind instrument represents Twain’s rich lineage through intricate artwork by Irish illustrator David Rooney.
The presentation of this guitar at Malahide Castle in the Republic of Ireland was a tribute to Twain’s performances before Irish audiences in Cork, Belfast and Dublin last month.
During the guitar presentation, Aileesh Carew, CEO of EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, emphasized Twain’s significance to Ireland.
“Shania, you are a prime example of the global impact of Irish emigration,” he said. “We are proud to present this bespoke genealogy to you, told in a new and innovative way.”
The Telecaster-style guitar, handmade by Ukrainian Woodstock Guitars, was the result of Rooney’s intensive search for the perfect guitar to house the work of art he had in mind. “It was urgent. Rescue came at Everest Music, Bray – just around the corner from where I live,” Rooney recalls in a interview with Hot press.
“Not five minutes into a conversation with in-house luthier Mark Walsh, he pointed to a pale pink Tele-style guitar on the wall. Handmade by Woodstock, in the Ukraine, and beautifully aged with a light relic finish and dull hardware, it looked perfect. Plus, it played beautifully.”
Rooney then went on to use pyrography (an artistic technique for decorating wood with burn marks) to engrave various elements representing Twain’s family history.
Examples include the Triskele, an ancient Celtic symbol found at Newgrange, County Meath; Kilkenny Castle, which symbolizes her ancestor Thomas Edwards, a soldier at Waterloo who became a “military settler” in Canada; and the salmon, which represents Twain’s return to Ireland and wisdom in Irish mythology.
In her 2011 autobiography, From nowTwain revealed her Irish heritage, saying she was named after her Irish grandmother, Eilleen Pearce, who was born in County Kildare and played an important role in her upbringing.
