Canary Islands musician Juan Mesa, Tibetan flutist Nawang Khechog and Maui guitarist Jeff Peterson are collaborating to send music to other planets. Courtesy photo

On a mission to contact other planets, former University of Hawaii astronomy professor Jeff Kuhn will introduce his vision of finding life beyond Earth using music at a special event Saturday at the ProArts Playhouse.

Joining Kuhn for the “Songs for the Stars” show will be Grammy-nominated Tibetan flutist Nawang Khechog, Canary Islands musician Juan Mesa and Maui guitarists Jeff Peterson and Steve Grimes.

“I retired from UH and took on a project in the Canary Islands called the Laboratory for Innovation in Optomechanics, or LIOM,” Kuhn explained. “We convinced people there that in our generation we could build the technology to find life on other planets. We’re the dog chasing the bus, and the bus is life in other planets around us.”

With initial funding dedicated to finding life around nearby stars, Kuhn is employing pioneering technology to devise “the largest telescope humans have built with technologies that have not yet been used in telescopes,” he said. “Our prototype telescope has been delivered at a place called the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.”

The complex ExoLife Finder (ELF) telescope designed by Kuhn will be powerful enough to detect oceans and continents on distant planets, and even forests or the light of alien cities, if they exist.

“There are many scientists that believe that life didn’t originate on the Earth, and that there’s cosmic ecology that we’re part of,” said Kuhn. “We don’t know about that because we haven’t had the technology to see signs of life, and we will have that technology.”

So, how could we best communicate with life forms in distant solar systems?

“How would you send a message of peace and love into the universe when you don’t have language, you don’t have the same biology or anything else?” Kuhn asked. “One of the ideas is that music could do it. We hit on the idea of finding some musicians that were interested in creating those messages. Those three musicians are Juan Mesa, Nawang Khechog and Jeff Peterson, who embodies some of the best music here. Those three artists agreed to come together and create ‘Songs for the Stars.'”

Intrigued by the project, Khechog reported, “The wise man called Buddha said 2,500 years ago that there are countless worlds and sentient beings out in the space.”

Multi-Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award-winning guitarist Peterson is also down to create music that could be “like a beacon being sent out there,” he said. “I’m always up for a creative project, and I’m willing to give it a try. I love the music that I heard from Juan Mesa, and I’ve listened to Khechog’s music for years.”

Kula musician Grimes is contributing a new song.

“Steve is such a great lyricist and poet, and he wrote a song that ties it all together, a beautiful song, ‘Song for the Stars,’ that talks about intelligent life out there,” Kuhn said.

Keenly aware of the TMT controversy and the Air Force’s plans to build up to seven more telescopes on Haleakala, Peterson said he feels positive about the Canary Islands project. “I’m very sensitive about telescopes and Hawaii, but musician Juan Mesa said he feels it’s a good thing for their area.”

Maui filmmaker Tom Vendetti also has a role in the project, organizing the ProArts event. “Jeff Kuhn asked me and Gary Greenberg if we could get some indigenous musicians from Hawaii and around the world to make music that’s compassionate, and to send that message out to other planets,” Vendetti explained. “Jeff will give a brief presentation in the beginning, talking about his initiative, and then the concert will start. I will be filming it, and Gary Greenberg will be doing still photography for the event.”

“Songs for the Stars” is at 2 p.m. Saturday at the ProArts Playhouse. Tickets range from $37 to $53 at proartsmaui.org.