Musician and KARMA Developer Stephen Kay, working with the new Korg KRONOS, has released an inspirational and heart-felt tribute song/video to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster which occurs this Friday, January 28, 2011.

YouTube - The Challenger - a new 25th anniversary tribute

Accompanied by his long-time partner David Alvey on guitars and backing vocals, Kay used the new Korg KRONOS to record and modernize all of the keyboard, synth and drum parts for the resurrection of his 25 year old original composition "The Challenger (Where No One's Gone Before)".

"25 years ago, right after the event when I wrote and recorded a version of this song, the Internet was nothing like it is now," comments Kay. "There was no YouTube, no Facebook or Twitter - no social networking sites and forums to release this on myself. While I received some great responses and positive interest, I was unsuccessful in getting it released back then."

In early 2010 Kay, now the developer of KARMA Technology at Karma-Lab and a partner with Korg and Yamaha, discovered that the 25th anniversary of the disaster was approaching, so he re-visited his effort and realized that perhaps the song might finally be able to find an appreciative audience.

Kay found a challenge of his own in resurrecting the song: the tracks and the equipment used to play them were now decades old, and it would be difficult to restore them, particularly as the original master tape was decomposing and decaying. He could have re-recorded the song anew, though it had been years since he had regularly performed, but he felt the emotion held in his original performance would be more appropriate and vital. He found help restoring the tapes into new digital files, and brought his old equipment out of storage, including his now 30-year-old Apple II+ computer, which he successfully nursed back into working order.

The story of this process, which he figures may be of most interest to "musicians and recording geeks," is related on his site ChallengerTributeSong.com with great care and comprehensive detail, along with the history of the Challenger mission, the astronauts, and other resources related to the production of the song and video:

Karma-Lab :: KARMA Technology

In all, the project took some six months to complete. Not wishing to gain from this financially, he hopes that it will encourage donations to the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, founded by Challenger family members, Challenger Center for Space Science Education. And he merely wishes to once again take the chance to convey the heartfelt message of hope and inspiration to all who would challenge the odds, and to remind the world that "it’s with the brave that the future lies."