Chris Hadfield and Barenaked Ladies: I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing)
Rarely am I left speechless,but this video and its song leaves me crying with tears of hope each time I watch it.
posted by Wonji Dharma at
February 13, 2013
2 Comments:
As if being an astronaut and making it into space weren’t a cool enough ambition as it is, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is going all out to prove that it can be an awful lot of fun as well. He’s been snapping photos, burning up Twitter and even chatting up Star Trek’s original Captain (if you don’t count the pilot’s Jeffrey Hunter), William Shatner. On Friday, Hadfield found a way to top himself, using the guitar he managed to bring aboard the International Space Station to debut a new song — co-written and performed with the Barenaked Ladies , no less — while in space. “I.S.S. (Is Someone Singing)” had its debut on CBC on Friday morning with a live performance by Hadfield, Barenaked Ladies and a choir from Toronto’s Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts.
If you haven’t already, now might be a good time to add Hadfield to your list of geeks you follow on Twitter, ’cause who knows what he’s going to do next.
he first song ever written and recorded in space comes from a collaboration between astronaut Chris Hadfield and Barenaked Ladies singer Ed Robertson.
The singer and astronaut performed a live recording of the song, titled “I.S.S (Is Somebody Singing)”, from radically different locations. Hadfield was located aboard the International Space Station while Robertson was earthbound at CBC Music’s studio in Toronto.
The Canadian Press reports that the talented duo are longtime friends and thought the song would be a fun project.
After writing the first verse Robertson wanted to add some specific scientific elements to the second. The singer asked Hadfield for some technical information and received a pleasant surprise:
“Instead, he created a really poetic, laced-with-technical-info second verse. I was like: ‘Dude, you’re the astronaut. I’m supposed to be the songwriter.’ But it was an awesome surprise.”
Taking part in the first song to be written and recorded in space was an ideal project for Robertson. The melding of music and science is a subject of interest for the Barenaked Ladies singer:
“It’s a natural, easy collaboration. I think science and music share a sense of wonder, and a sense of reaching and striving for something. And I think there’s an awful lot of parallels between the two that could be further explored.”
According to The Daily Mail, the technical aspects of the live recording are pretty impressive. During the live satellite broadcast Commander Chris Hadfield sang and played guitar from a space station hurtling through space at 17,500 miles per hour.
Hadfield’s collaboration with Robertson appears to have encouraged the astronaut’s musical side. Now that he’s recorded the first song in space, Hadfield plans to record a full album of songs he’s written while aboard the International Space Station.
Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/517609/first-song-in-space-astronaut-barenaked-ladies-singer-record-historical-tune/#fhOP8uBZFLCzYDme.99
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