The first-ever anthology disc of songs celebrating space exploration -- as featured on the Discovery Channel, MSNBC, SPACE.com, CBC Radio One, the Seattle Times -- and played on Mars by NASA.

16 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Folk Pop, FOLK: Modern Folk



Details:
Newly Released Anthem Celebrates Spirit of Mars Exploration - on Mars!

Prometheus Music, a U.S. based specialty label has just released a new CD, To Touch the Stars, featuring songs that celebrate the history and future of human space exploration.

This album has received enthusiastic endorsements from astronaut Buzz Aldrin and influential space author and Mars expert Dr. Robert Zubrin among others.

Included in this wonderful collection is Pioneers of Mars, a powerful work written by Toronto partners in life and song Karen Linsley and Lloyd Landa. The composition was awarded first place in the Mars Society's Rouget de Lisle songwriting competition, the purpose of which was to find an official anthem for Mars exploration.

This song was recently honored by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as the wake-up music for the Opportunity rover on sol 20 of its mission.

Co-author Landa did not live to see his dream actualized. Ten days before the song's public debut at the Third International Mars Society Convention, he was taken by a heart attack. Linsley performed with tears in her eyes to a standing ovation. Exhorting the audience of Mars enthusiasts Linsley exclaimed, "Get to Mars. And when the notes of this song are heard on Martian soil, he will live again." In the words of Dr. Zubrin, "I have never been so moved."

The project grew out of a partnership between Prometheus, the Mars Society, and the National Space Society (NSS). "If we are to win the hearts and souls of humanity to the vision of a spacefaring future, the space exploration movement must also develop its songs," says Zubrin. The CD includes forewords by NSS Executive Director Brian Chase and Zubrin.

Buzz Aldrin, the legendary Apollo 11 Astronaut, offered his endorsement for the CD after being moved to tears by Fire in the Sky, another song recorded for the album:

"As someone who has actually set foot on the threshold of space and experienced firsthand its majesty and the incredible potential it holds for the human race, I am thrilled by this new collection of original songs celebrating the beginnings of our great endeavor to reach for the stars."

Tracks were penned and performed by a variety of musical luminaries. New Folk legend Christine Lavin makes an appearance with her Nova-episode-in-8-minutes number If We Had No Moon, inspired by the documentary film of the same name by Martin Ives. Gunnar Madsen, a co-founder of the popular a capella group The Bobs, rips through stunning performances of Surprise! (a "Russian folk-song" about Sputnik) and the ska rave-up Dance On The Ceiling.

New York singer/songwriter Garry Novikoff makes his smash debut with space tourism satire Dog on the Moon.