In the year 2064, Dana-Marie Battaglia will be in her 80s and chances are she might be looking for an “antique” CD player to hear her song from the Squamish time capsule buried this week.
The Squamish-based musician, now 33, had her song “The Changing Valley” chosen and buried on a CD on Tuesday in a time capsule to be unearthed in 50 years. Battaglia said it was a thrill to have her CD included with the other items locked in the capsule.
“All week I've been thinking about when they will open the time capsule and picturing myself as an 83-year-old woman filled with nostalgia surrounding my music career and how I got my start in this town,” she said. “The sheer act of imagining myself looking back in 50 years has unexpectedly given an extra spark to the motivation I have for my career's new direction.”
Battaglia said being chosen was an honour and it’s helped spark a new direction in her career.
“It’s so cool because it’s about people in the future and looking at the history but its also for us now looking forward,” she said. “What will our town become but also as people it gives us a moment to take pause and think about it.”
Battaglia is an accomplished musician who performed at the 2010 Olympics and toured across Canada. She released an album in 2011. She wrote “The Changing Valley” in 2009; the song was inspired by her love of Squamish. Battaglia won $1,000 and first prize in that contest and decided to submit the song for the time capsule as well.
“I wrote it for a Wild at Art contest and normally I’m a stream-of-consciousness writer, so this was the first time I set out to write a song about something,” she said. “It was quite a challenge because I love Squamish so much.”
She wrote the song from the perspective of Mount Garibaldi and the Stawamus Chief as old friends who have stayed the same since the start of time and have witnessed all the changes below. The song even has a reference to local watchdog Terrill Patterson.
“If you look at old photos of Squamish, the town and buildings are always different but the background is always the same – that always fascinated me,” she said.
Squamish residents might recognize Battaglia as one of the cheerful front desk employees at Brennan Park, and she also performs musically at corporate gigs and private functions. The Ontario native has been in Squamish for about 12 years and said 2015 is going to be a big year for her music career. She’s going to launch a new “version” of herself and expand more on electronic sound. She said she likes to think of herself as a female version of Moby musically.
“I haven’t set a date on when I’m launching my new brand, but it’s more contingent on when I can get the recording finished,” she said. “It’ll definitely be in 2015 but I won’t even be Dana-Marie anymore – it’ll be something completely different.”
She said she hopes to still be alive and kicking in 50 years and wants to get the chance to experience her song again when the time capsule is dug up.
“Even if I’m living in Paris or Mars, I’d fly or take a space shuttle back and it would feel like I’m coming home,” she said. “When that time capsule is opened, provided I have good health, I would definitely come back for it.”
For more details on Battaglia and her music, visit www.facebook.com/danamariemusic.
