I’ve had this song in my head ever since Sunday when I first saw this video, so finally decided I had to post it. Astronaut (and flautist) Cady Coleman on board the International Space Station hooked up with Ian Anderson, founder of the rock band Jethro Tull, to collaborate for the first space-Earth duet. The song, “Bourree in E Minor,” was written by Johann Sebastian Bach, but Jethro Tull made the song famous (again) with their own arrangement of the tune back in 1969, the same year Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the moon. Coleman and Anderson played the song in recognition of 50 years of human spaceflight and the anniversary of the first launch of a human to space by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961.
Coleman played her part from 220 miles above Earth late last week. Anderson played his part while on tour in Perm, Russia, during the weekend. The two parts were then joined.
Just see if you can keep this song out of your head for the rest of the day!
Oh wow. That’s wonderful! And so inspirational as well…more human endeavors should be aimed at the mixture of science, music, art and exploration. Hopefully this will catch on. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
That was great. Next: Earth v ISS dueling banjos.
I like! that tune was an anthem for my g-g-g-generation!
In HS Jethro Tull produced “Heavy Horses,” which I picked up and loved it. I ended up buying all their albums. BTW I play woodwind instruments, in particular the flute. So I have been a JT fan for years, and played Bouree on a number of occassions.
LC
Listening to those lyrics again brings to mind the retiring “heavy” lifting shuttle workhorses.
Very nice! I saw Jethro Tull in concert 3 years ago. I’d love to go to the ISS or even a bigger, nicer place and see them there! (probably won’t beat the Red Rocks setting they were in 3 years ago, but would certainly compete strongly!)
This could be the single most important contribution of the ISS this entire year.