When Smith ponders the problems around creating a digital information storage system, she talks about how crucial it is to consider all viewpoints, and to be thinking about what people 100 years from now (or longer in terms of NASA’s golden record) would want to be studying about us know (1999). She discusses her greatest fear of creating, through curation an “intellectual monoculture” and to actively attempt to document the communities that we are the least comfortable with (2017). This helped me structure my criteria for my reduced Golden Record. There were certainly some songs that I was less ‘comfortable’ with because the instruments, sounds, rhythms, style or language was different from my experience, but I wanted to ensure that there were many of those included. That there wasn’t too many that I, as a person who has grown up in a Euro-centric, Western background would be ‘comfortable’ with. I also wanted to make sure that there was a variety of instruments, and rhythms represented, including the human voice as an instrument. So I chose some songs that specifically used the human voice, and some that didn’t. I wanted to represent different languages within those vocal expression as well, and attempts were made to include different genders of voices. Representing different cultures was a priority, and allowed the culling of many Euro-centric and western songs that were originally represented.
Vocals:
- Peru, wedding song, recorded by John Cohen. 0:38
- India, raga, “Jaat Kahan Ho,” sung by Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar. 3:30
- Mexico, “El Cascabel,” performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México. 3:1
- Zaire, Pygmy girls’ initiation song, recorded by Colin Turnbull. 0:56
- Navajo Indians, Night Chant, recorded by Willard Rhodes. 0:57
- “Melancholy Blues,” performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven. 3:05
Instruments only
- China, ch’in, “Flowing Streams,” performed by Kuan P’ing-hu. 7:37
- Stravinsky, Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky, conductor. 4:35 RUSSIA
- New Guinea, men’s house song, recorded by Robert MacLennan. 1:20 (panpipes again)
- Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. First Movement, Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter, conductor. 4:40
References:
Nasa. (n.d) Voyager-The Golden Record. https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/
Smith, A. (1999). Why digitize? Retrieved June 15, 2019, from Council on Library and Information Resources website: https://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub80-smith/pub80-2/
Smith Rumsey, A. (2017, July, 17). Digital Memory: What Can We Afford to Lose
. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/FBrahqg9ZMc