'This is celebrating the beginning': Sask. musician composing new song for King Charles coronation

Homegrown musical talent Jeffery Straker will perform a new song composed for the King’s coronation during a celebration at Government House in Regina.

Straker has performed over 100 shows across Canada, Europe, and Latin America, his website said. He received the 2020 Roots/Folk Artist of the Year award at the Saskatchewan Music Awards, and in 2019, he was given his first Western Canadian Music Award. He said this was a unique opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

“The challenge with writing a song for an event like this is you're writing a song to mark the start of something,” he told CTV News. “So in this role for King Charles the Third, he's just starting. There's no track record you're celebrating with a song per se, you're marking something.”

Straker said he’s written pieces to celebrate other leaders who are leaving public office.

“This is celebrating the beginning. So it's a different creature altogether. And that's, frankly, the reason why I wanted to do it. This is a really unique challenge. I love that it helps Saskatchewan mark this occasion. So it's a big honour for sure.”

COMPOSING FOR A KING

To prepare the composition, Straker said he did some research and received a little guidance from the Lieutenant Governor’s office, who defined the King as a practical, community-minded change-maker.

“So I had that burbling through my mind, as well as the stuff I'd read about him. What I started to realize is that we kind of look at people like the monarchy as people who are so different than us,” he explained. “However, the more I thought about this, I realized there's something we all have in common, whether you're a teacher, a labourer, a dentist, a farmer, or a lawyer, whatever, as we go about our jobs.”

“One thing I think we all realize at some point in time is we all really should be working to leave this place a little better than what we found,” he added.

And that become the title of the song: Better Than What We Found, he said.

“I am really excited about what I came up with for this tune because it's a song, in a way, that I would imagine is his voice talking to himself in his head. While at the same time, it's his voice throwing out a challenge to all people.”

He said it has been a struggle to keep the song a secret.

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“I've had actually a lot of shows particularly around Saskatchewan in the last couple of weeks and I've been itching to sing this song. It's like having a new baby and not getting to show anybody,” he said. “I have not performed the song yet. I promised the Lieutenant Governor's office that the first time I would sing it is May the 13th at the coronation celebration.”

However, after the event, Straker said he is considering using it for his next recording.

“I'm positive I'll record the song on my next album, which I'm recording this summer, which is even more exciting for me because the song will have a life beyond just the day.”

The celebration will take place on May 13 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Government House in Regina.