Angus Schroff
Arrow Lakes News
What’s in a song? Depending on your disposition, music can make you laugh, make you cry, or make you mutter under your breath about kids these days and their pop music before turning off the radio.
Ty Klassen’s new song entitled Nakusp is a Great Place to Be, sprouted from a long-dormant seed of an idea. Ty wanted to find a way to foster community spirit, and he’d written over 200 songs since starting all the way back in the halcyon days of the mid-80’s, so why not make a song by and for the community of Nakusp?
It turns out there weren’t really any reasons why not. A jaunty little ditty, Ty’s song takes what people told him they loved about Nakusp and puts it into playful, acoustic rhythm. From the scenery to the friendly people to the town’s rich history, the song reminds us all of why we’re lucky to live here — even if we sometimes do have to dig a completely buried car out from under what seems like an entire Greenland’s worth of snow. As the song says, nothing’s ever perfect.
And what isn’t perfect can be improved upon. Ty intends to spread the song among the people of Nakuspand encourages them to add their own verses. Love the quiet, foggy spring mornings, or the bright summer days? Then say so! His idea for the song is not for it to be a purely static piece of music, but something that grows and changes as our community does. The closest parallel that can be drawn is to old folk songs and sea shanties, which, in a century-spanning game of telephone, can slowly morph and change over time with every retelling. The song is written to encourage that as well; a convoluted, 7/4 time, 20-minute long prog rock opera it is not, so no one should have any trouble adding their own twist on things.
“Nakuspitality,” a phrase used in Ty’s song, was orginally coined by the late Milton Parent, who used it in his song for Nakusp’s 100th anniversary. Our town’s 125th is coming up soon, and Ty plans to sing, Nakusp is a Great Place to be live in concert during the event.
