The Golden Record is described as a time capsule used to introduce and send greetings from humanity to extra-terrestrial life forms. “…the earth’s greatest hits, a gift across the cosmic ocean from one island of civilization to another ” (Carl Sagen as cited in Taylor, 2019, 2:28). Seeing as the record is meant to “contain[ing] sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth” (NASA, n.d), I would include the tracks listed below as they represent most of the continents (excluding Antarctica) and therefore a geographical and cultural diversity of sound, instruments, tradition and some languages. I added on more tracks for the largest of the continents being Asia and Africa seeing as their size means they may contain a larger amount of cultural diversity, history and languages/instruments. I’ve chosen one track representing the far East Asia (Kinds of Flowers- Indonesia) and another for the west part of Asia (Azerbaijan) and a third track, Bhairavi: Jaat Kahan Ho representing India and central Asia as it also has the second largest population in the world. For Africa, I chose Pygmy girls’ Initiation Song from the former area of Zaire in central Africa (now known as The Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Percussion from Senegal located in the west of Africa. That brings the total to 9 tracks so far. The final track I would choose to include would be another artist from Europe being track 5, Brandenburg Concerto No.2 in F Major by Bach, because it includes strong mathematical foundations and therefore could appeal to beings without the same hearing capacity and allow for diversity in that sense as discussed in the Taylor (2019, 8:45) podcast.
Africa:
The Voyager Interstellar Record – 8/31 Pygmy Girls Initiation Song- Zaire
Voyager’s Golden Record: Senegal percussion by Charles Duvelle- Senegal
Asia:
Voyager’s Golden Record: Kinds of flowers by Robert Brown- Indonesia
Voyager’s Golden Record: Azerbaijan bagpipes- Azerbaijan
Voyager’s Golden Record: Jaat Kahan Ho by Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar- India
North America:
Voyager’s Golden Record: Navajo Indians_Night Chant- Canada and USA
South America:
Peru, wedding song, recorded by John Cohen- Peru
Europe:
Voyager’s Golden Record:The Fairie Round performed by David Munrow- U.K.
Voyager’s Golden Record: Bach_Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major- Germany
Australia/Oceania:
Voyager’s Golden Record: Morning Star and Devil Bird_ Australia
References
NASA. (n.d.). What are the contents of the Golden Record?. Voyager. https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-
record/whats-on-the-record/
Taylor, D. (Host). (2019). Voyager golden record [Audio podcast episode]. In Twenty thousand hertz.
Defacto Sound. https://www.20k.org/episodes/voyagergoldenrecord
Hi Alexis,
We both selected our songs to represent the continents! It is so interesting to look at other lists and see the themes and reasoning behind everyone’s choices. I like how you included more songs in the parts of the world with larger populations and more varying cultures.
Thanks for your message Erin! That’s interesting we both chose the same criteria as well! I am keen to see what the graphs look like to see the others’ responses to this task as well.