SURREY — Local musicians Caleb Sung and Brett Janzen peaked at the right time with their song about Simon Fraser University.
Their U2-esque “Engage the World” composition took the Legacy Song Contest held in celebration of SFU’s 50th anniversary.
The anthem beat out 35 entries in the contest, earning the musicians $2,500.
The winning song can be heard here in a live performance last week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj3JNSh7XPs (skip to the 1:06:00 mark)
“(The contest win) was a surprise to us because originally we weren’t winning by votes, but then we got pushing pretty hard for votes on (social media),” said Janzen, who lives in the Guildford area of Surrey.
“We were battling for first and second while the voting period was going on, for about two months.”
Janzen and Sung make music together at a church in Burnaby, where Janzen works as music director and Sung is an intern.
“We were elated to win the contest,” said vocalist Sung, also a fourth-year business student at SFU. “It’s a great milestone just before I graduate next spring.”
The winning lyrics evoke SFU’s mountaintop location in Burnaby: “On mountain high we innovate, build questing minds and educate, with striving hearts initiate,” Sung sings. “We honour this our native land, while visions grow we take our stand, where dreams are held in student’s hands.”
In Surrey a couple years ago, Sung, a Richmond resident, was the top male contestant in a Faces of Central City modeling contest at the mall.
SFU officials hope “Engage the World” will become part of the university’s tradition and “help foster price and school spirit for years to come,” according to Andrew Petter, president of the university.
