Music and art that accompany a
social movement are usually considered to be "folk art" or "folk
music". Folk music is normally associated with acoustic guitars, vocals,
and other organic timbres. However, what could be more suitable to accompany
the technology driven pro-space movement than technology driven music?
Elaine Walker is an artist and
musician who feels this way. Her all-electronic band, ZIA, debuted in 1992
performing their own brand of aggressively futuristic music with an optimistic
edge. It is a strange blend that parallels the pro-space movement. They
aggressively strive to conquer each technological milestone, with the long-term
goal being an optimistic outlook for humanity.
The pro-space movement is also a
social movement. As engineers and entrepreneurs are building hardware and
carving out new markets, pro-space advocates are promoting a new outlook for
humanity on a social level. Pro-spacers are forever finding creative ways to
promote the idea of a spacefaring civilization with outreach projects,
magazines, local chapters, lobbying campaigns, books, art and even music. There
are a lot of stories to tell, with a lot of potential lyrical content.
As we strive toward our goal of a
spacefaring civilization, stereotypical walls are broken down to make way for
fresh new ideas, such as SpaceShipOne's unique
design, or Pathfinder's bouncing landing gear. In the same spirit, Elaine has
broken down walls of artistic conformity, creating her own electronic musical
instruments such as her "Planetary" and "Chaos Controller"
instruments, and has even created her own musical tunings, often deviating from
the standard western 12-tone scale.
Pro-space music works on a few
different levels. Like most folk music, it can tell the story as it's
happening. It will serve as one more record of the movement from the
perspective of someone who experienced it. It also is meant to spread the word
and enlighten the pop culture and others who may have not otherwise thought
about the idea of a spacefaring civilization. Pro-space-music can be an
advertisement for space ventures, literally as an accompaniment to video
animations, or as theme songs.
But more importantly for Elaine,
it can be an encouraging accompaniment to the people who are accomplishing the
real milestones - the people building hardware, inching out new markets and
etching out legislation. From time to time, Elaine can be found singing to
these pro-space-heroes downing margaritas during a hospitality hour at a
pro-space conference. These relaxed and reflective moments during our movement
are highly deserved by these soldiers of space.
When Elaine became President of
the Boston Chapter of the NSS in 1996, she decided to bring together her love
for space and futuristic music even more than she had in the past. At Robert
Zubrin's urging, Elaine entered two songs, "Frontier Creatures" and
"Ad Astra" into the first National Space Society song-writing
contest. After hearing these songs, Marianne Dyson invited Elaine’s band, ZIA,
to perform for the main banquet at the 1999 ISDC. This performance spawned
invitations to play and sing at many other pro-space conferences in the years
that followed.
The electronic-pro-space-music of
Elaine Walker and her band, ZIA, can be heard on their website
http://www.ziaspace.com/ZIA in the MUSIC section. ZIA is currently working on a
music video featuring a song written about humans-to-Mars, with video footage
of Elaine on Devon Island during the NASA Haughton-Mars Project 2003 field
season. ZIA is also working on a 4th album and a DVD compilation of sexy,
spacey live shows, videos and interviews.