When Eddie deSouza discovered a new Sing Me a Song program, from the Lieutenant Governor of B.C., soliciting original music for the lead up to Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations in 2017, he knew just the right piece to rework to fit the criteria.
But he needs a little help from the musical community in Quesnel.
DeSouza pulled from his popular 1993 song dedicated to Canada Day and the Alexander Mackenzie bicentennial voyager festival that year. Finding the chorus still worked very well, the songwriter/musician set about writing three new versus to be recorded by three very different local musicians.
With very little time but a ton of passion, deSouza has lined up Quesnel born and raised, John Goodwin to sing the first verse, deSouza, himself an immigrant to Canada, sings the second verse and Nikki Howe, a young Canadian with big musical dreams, sings the third verse.
However, its the chorus deSouza is looking for help with. In 1993 a male choir, made up of the who’s who in the local music scene of the time and the 1993 Correlieu choir students, sang the chorus but with such a short time to get this submission ready for competition, deSouza is taking all who show up at Begbies May 4 for the chorus.
From 4 – 8 p.m. deSouza is hosting an open mic and it’s after that event finishes, he will be recording the voices of those who wish to take part in his musical exercise.
The deadline for submissions to the Sing Me A Song program is May 7 and each entry will be reviewed by a panel of musicians from around the province. An award of $1,000 will be granted annually in each of three age categories. DeSouza says if his song is successful he will use the $1,000 towards this year’s budget for Canada Day celebrations in LeBourdais Park. He has been the entertainment coordinator for the past four years.
Regardless of whether it’s a school or community choir or other amateur musical group, all submissions must have a minimum of 15 voices, be original in content, no longer than five minutes in length and be based on Canada 150 themes.
Come on Quesnel, lend you voice to this excellent effort.
