A MUSICIAN and filmmaker is hoping to win the race to be the first to perform a live musical broadcast from space.

Joshua Jay, a former Ludlow schoolb oy w h o h a s l i ve d i n O r l e t o n a n d Hereford, hopes to combine his love of music and space to follow in the footsteps of Guy Laliberte, who is due to do a live webcast poetry reading tomorrow.

Mr Jay, 27, hopes to take his Koncept Music, a series of conceptual interactive musical pieces, into space by 2011.

“Friends think I’m crazy, but I’m just a regular guy trying to fulfil an ambition and have an amazing experience along the way,” said Mr Jay, who is better known by his birth name of Joshua Oliver in the area.

Other musicians have the chance to have their own work incorporated into the tracks, with one chosen to join the team performing from the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere.

“For me, it’s not about being a producer or rock star, it’s about facilitating talent and allowing people to be part of something extraordinary,” said Mr Jay.

He plans to go into space on White Knight Two, a unique twin hull all-carbon composite space aviation vehicle, designed to launch the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft above heights of 50,000ft.

The first piece of Koncept Music will be launched tomorrow (Friday) at thelaunch- movie.com, with the remaining nine pieces appearing through late 2009 and 2010.

Tracks will be available for donations of any amount towards the launch fund, set up for people to support the cause.

Mr Jay, who now lives in London, has been producing a film for three years documenting his quest to take music into space. More information is available at thelaunch-movie.com.